LAKE COUNTY ? As efforts to make potential manufactured housing buyers aware of their rights statewide are on hold for the moment, Spring Valley residents and instigators Janice Paris and Paul Frindt are doing their part to help in Lake County.
The Spring Valley couple founded the Manufactured Housing Citizens Group (MHCG) after having problems with their manufactured home in 2003.
In September 2007, the Lake County Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance at the couple”s request to require dealers in the county to give buyers a one-page, reader-friendly disclosure of buyers” rights when a down payment is made. Paris said she and Frindt hope to make the county”s ordinance a model for the state.
“We”re going to get together and see if our assembly person and state senator would like to sponsor this in 2009 to extend the disclosure ordinance to the state level,” Paris said.
The disclosure informs a potential buyer of the right to hire an attorney to review the purchase agreement, the right to require penalties if the dealer does not deliver or install the home in a timely fashion, the right to sue and the right to the protection of an escrow account.
In the meantime, MHCG is holding its sixth annual seminar to educate new buyers about some of the things to watch for in the purchase process that Paris and the approximately 50 people on the MHCG mailing list have learned the hard way.
“We find that some people, after they are burnt and have a bad experience, tend to jump to the conclusion that they will never do this again, they will never buy a manufactured home again,” Paris said.
“We think this is a marvelous alternative for affordable housing, and because it is a bit caveat emptor (“buyer beware”), we”re trying to preserve and support manufactured housing. We think this will make it better in the future,” she said.
The seminar, entitled “How to buy a new manufactured home,” will take place Friday March 28 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Lucerne Senior Center on Country Club Drive and 10th Avenue in Lucerne.
Topics will include “site preparation and foundations” by soils engineer Keith Gregory of RGH Consultants, financing, contracts and suggested upgrades. A donation per person is suggested and registration is required. For more information, call Janice and Steve Hatfield at 274-1486.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com
