fritterer

fyi....

Jean Hart called and said there was a story on TV channel 8 about a modular home park being sold to its renters by one of the people that owns this park, Brian Fitterer. Research on the net revealed this story from the Keizer newspaper. We've put here for your information.CLICK HERE FOR THE STORY

Residents meet, fear property loss

Published: February 11, 2005

By ERIC A. HOWALD of the Keizertimes



Last month, the owner of a Keizer manufactured home park used a relatively recent Oregon law to try to force park residents to buy the land on which their homes sit or have it sold from underneath them.

On Monday, residents of another Keizer park owned by the same man gathered to discuss how they could prevent that from happening to their homes.

Residents of Briarwood Estates, off Chemawa Road North, met to discuss their options if the park owner, Brian Fitterer of Newport Beach, Calif., decides to convert the park into a subdivision and sell lots individually.

Contacted by phone this week, Fitterer said that he has no plans to convert the park right now.
In November, Fitterer notified residents of his other local park, Iris Village in North Keizer, that they would either need to purchase their lots or risk having the land placed on the open market.
Fitterer is allowed to sell lots individually once a park has been converted into a subdivision because of a bill passed by the Oregon Legislature in 2003.

He contends that by allowing the residents to purchase the land on which their home sits residents will build greater equity in their property.

"For some reason, it hasn't been explained well to the residents at Iris Village, but many of the ones I have talked to personally have decided to purchase their lots. Right now there is a lot of miscommunication which we're trying to sort out," Fitterer said.

However, according to Pat Schwoch, executive director of Manufactured Home Owners of Oregon Inc., Fitterer is abusing a law intended for different use.

Schwoch has been an activist for the rights of manufactured home owners for more than six years, and MHOO was an active participant when the legislation was drafted.
"We wanted park owners to be able to sell lots to fill empty spaces with stick-built homes, but we never intended for it to be used as a tool to remove people from the property they are renting," said Schwoch.

Schwoch attended the meeting of Briarwood Estates residents Monday because of her role as an activist, and because she's encountered Fitterer before.
"He owns several parks in Oregon, and he's the poster boy for the reason why our organization exists," said Schwoch.

Swoch's organization is investigating the situation at Iris Village and hopes to draft legislation to prevent the tactic at other parks in the future.
Advocates for the residents of Iris Village say the tenants should have been notified in writing that their park was being converted to a subdivision. Instead, survey crews inspecting the park's qualifications for conversion to a subdivision were the ones to inform most of the residents.

"That was the first time we heard anything about it," said Donna Burleigh, a former assistant manager at Iris Village.

Residents were told that they would have until Jan. 29 to either purchase their property or risk it being sold. Since the story mhttp://www.keizertimes.com/admin/images/addstory.gifade headlines two weeks ago, the deadline has been extended to March 1.

Fitterer said the window was extended to allow residents the right of first refusal, which began Jan1.

Two vacant lots have already been placed on the market and a few residents have secured financing to buy their lots, but many are opting to move.

Even if residents can secure financing, loan approval can entail a host of expenses including the condition that the home be placed on a foundation prior to or after the approval.

Since conversion to a subdivision has not yet begun at Briarwood Estates, the residents still have options. They can appeal to the city to disallow conversion or they could opt to form a non-profit corporation and purchase it themselves - a solution that has worked in both California and Oregon.

"At least know we know what's coming and we can act to prevent it," said Schwoch.