Shirley Warner
My name is Shirley Warner, and I lived in Baltimore Terrace in Hastings, Michigan for about two years.
A photo of a woman in front of a manufactured home. She has white hair and glasses.
I had moved to Florida because my brother was sick, but he passed away, and I got very, very sick. All of my family is around here. I needed to be around family (I am not a young chick anymore!) I was able to buy this for cash, and it was just the lot rent. The location was great. We’re from a small town, but we could get to Battle Creek if we needed to pretty easily.
Between when bought it and when I moved in, the lot rent went up 37%, and I thought I could make it work. Then the rumor was that it was going up another 80%. I had to think about what I would do and look around for other options. That is hard to do at my age and with the economy the way it is.
From talking to people in the park, we know some who are paying the higher lot rent. We have lost several neighbors, but there are some who don’t have anywhere to go. They own their home, and the company is telling us we can’t sell our home unless we give them the option to buy it first.
I got three identical letters since Homes of America took over saying how they were going to bring in new homes and improve the common areas, but nothing happened. It’s bad when you have to be ashamed of telling friends where you live because it has been run down so badly. They have homes that have been vacant since before I moved in here.
One neighbor in her 70s or 80s tripped in one of the potholes, and she was seriously injured. She ended up with a plate in her foot. But we’re heard that the park has no plans to fix the roads.
I’ve never lived that way or been treated like that, and I was fortunate to be able to get out. I did as soon as I could. I went back out there to pick up a package that got shipped to my old address about six months later. I thought it was bad when I was there. It was even more dilapidated, if that is possible. It just breaks my heart.
We hear similar stories from other communities, and our hearts go out to them. It seems like we’re just a money pot for this company. They really need to be stopped.