Written by John Sisker
(The
following in my personal opinion and is presented here for your
information only. It is not intended to render any specific
and/or legal advice, nor to disparage, slander, and/or libel
any person and/or organization.)
I
have had many requests, seemingly from everyone from park owners
to knowledgeable residents, to include the results of the Huntington
Beach, California, Mobile/Manufactured Home Residents Survey
on-line for all to see and share. This request kept increasing
as more and more people shared in the effectiveness and truth
of the information. For years, our apparent mode-of-operation
as residents, has been to continually beat the drum and emphasize
what we ourselves perceived as the problems with mobile/manufactured
home park living. Yet, most of these so-called issues are now
coming back to bite us, mainly because of our lack of the true
awareness on the subject.
However,
in dealing with mobile/manufactured home park issues and concerns,
it’s becoming quite obvious people everywhere may indeed have
their own particular set of problems to deal with. In one area,
it’s so-called high rents. Another part of the country, the
population is concerned about park purchase. Defects, shoddy
workmanship, and failure to honor the warranties by selected
manufactured home builders and dealers, may be the primary matter
somewhere else. Yet, another concern may be an issue entirely
beyond our current scope and realm of thinking, simply because
we’re not involved in that particular issue at this time. While
apparently none of our business to some of us, it may indeed
be important to someone else. Therefore, we do need to look
beyond our own noses, for the problems of others that we may
ignore today, may very well be the issues we ourselves have
to face tomorrow. And quite honestly, I should really use the
term "problems" lightly. For even in a format such
as the Manufactured Home Owners Network, we have a tendency
to emphasize the negative. The fact of the matter is, 90% of
all residents in any mobile/manufactured home park are experiencing
no problems, issues, or concerns at all, as evidenced by this
survey itself. That's a mighty big number of happy people, but
unfortunately it's the 10% we hear from. Yet, even the goal
of the Manufactured Home Owners Network is to inform and educate,
so if the concerns of the 10% can make the pleasures of the
90% even that much better, then so be it.
Yet,
nothing is as important to people as the very issues and concerns
happening right there in their own backyard. However, at times,
it seems the real issues are sometimes obscured, not with facts
and truth, but with hearsay and innuendoes. Is the most vocal
of distracters toting their own agendas, or are we simply caving
in once again to their plea for attention? Are we all trying
to fix preconceived problems that really don't exist in parks
that don’t need help, while simply ignoring the real issues?
Or, are we only focusing on the so-called problems that a few
vocal distracters have actually created themselves?
This
being said, the City of Huntington Beach finally gave in to
the years of clamoring and commissioned this survey. At a cost
of $15,000, the results were quite the opposite of what many
of these distracters has been saying and toting for years. Basically,
around 80% of all mobile home/manufactured home owners within
the City of Huntington Beach are quite content with everything
-- including rents. But, where’s all these problems and concerns
they have been telling us about? Where have all these problems
gone? As pointed out by Dr. Lawrence, who performed the survey,
most people are quite happy. The few that aren't are the ones
you’ll find down at City Hall making all the noise. However,
in all fairness, this survey was performed quite a number of
years ago. Since that time, rents have escalated greatly in
some of our parks, so I wonder what this survey would produce
today?
This
survey is no secret and is public information Yet, I suppose
those who wanted it the most, but now don’t like the results,
wish it were not. However, the truth speaks for itself! Remember
though, I didn't make up the questions or even commission the
survey, or even had anything to do with it for that matter.
I
can also assure you, I don’t get paid one red cent, or receive
any type favors whatsoever from anyone - park owners or residents
alike, for doing any of this (however, that would be nice).
But all joking aside, I’m totally independent and under nobodies
influence or hidden agendas. I do this to hopefully help and
inform you -- the mobile/manufactured home owner.
The
How, When, Why and Who in Reference to the Survey
The
results of a City of Huntington Beach commissioned telephone
survey of the residents living in the City’s privately owned
rental parks has been reported by Dr. Gary Lawrence of Lawrence
Research. The City’s decision to have Lawrence Research personally
contact and talk with mobile/manufactured home park residents
was made in order to gain a better understanding of how all
the residents in the sixteen to eighteen (16-18) different communities
feel about a variety of issues.
The
telephone poll was conducted over six days awhile back by Lawrence
Research. A total of 400 mobile/manufactured home park residents
were interviewed by telephone. Each resident was asked a number
of different questions. According to survey director Dr. Gary
Lawrence, "the results from a study of this size have a
margin of error of less than 5 percentage points from the results
which would be obtained if every individual in all of the parks
were interviewed. In other words, a survey of this type literally
tells how ALL of the residents of Huntington Beach mobile/manufactured
home parks feel about the questions asked."
Dr.
Lawrence added in his report that when survey results are higher
than 60% or lower than 40% the margin of error is proportionally
smaller. In other words, if 75% or 85% of the residents responding
to a particular question answered in the same way, which means
nearly the same percentage of all of the residents feel the
same way.
Disclosure...
