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They're safe now

Residents of the Ranchero Village Mobile Home Park in Largo closed Tuesday on the purchase of their park.

By LORRI HELFAND
Published January 18, 2006

	[Times photo: Kathleen Flynn]
	Keith Dooley, 70, and Mimi Musil, 73, hug after residents of Largo's Ranchero Village Mobile Home Park closed on its purchase Tuesday.

LARGO - Ranchero Village homeowners bought their mobile home park for $60-million Tuesday, possibly setting a record for the largest mobile home park in Florida ever purchased by its residents.

But unbeknown to most homeowners, the deal was at risk as recently as last week.

"Toward the end, I lost a couple nights' sleep," said Keith Dooley, 70, a retired telephone company worker who chaired the acquisition committee.

Homeowners had to come up with $52,000 for each lakefront lot or $49,000 each for the remaining lots. They took out a $43-million bank loan for the purchase.

Initially, the committee thought it would need 360 residents at the 946-lot park to buy shares in a new ownership cooperative. But after homeowners celebrated their future purchase with a champagne toast two months ago, they learned they needed at least 400 residents to commit.

Committee members knocked on doors and called seasonal residents to meet the new goal. Then last week, residents started dropping out for health and financial reasons, Dooley said. There were a few anxious moments before the number stabilized at 408. At the same time, the group raced to meet a deadline last week to raise about $19-million for closing and down payment costs. On Friday, Dooley had to run a check to the attorney's office when the bank delayed a transfer of about $300,000.

Most residents had no idea about the action behind the scenes. Many who bought in had no regrets. They saved their homes, protecting them from developers who have been scooping up mobile home parks to build townhomes and condominiums.

"It's the best thing we ever did," said Steve Posgai, 84, who was taking a break during a shuffleboard game. "No two ways about it."

Norma Pfeiffer, a 13-year resident, couldn't fathom the idea of being uprooted from the park, which is for residents 55 and older. Ranchero Village has three clubhouses, three pools, four tennis courts, a billiards room, shuffleboard courts, a sauna and whirlpool.

"It would have broken up a family, the Ranchero family. Everybody knows everybody and takes care of everybody," said Pfeiffer, 74.

After the closing, homeowners who worked the hardest on the deal seemed relieved.

"Everybody is kind of on a high," Dooley said.

Some of the residents wrote checks for their shares. Others took out mortgages.

"It's a shame at my age," said Mimi Musil, 73. "I have to take a mortgage out when I've been debt-free for four years."

Two years ago, residents tried to buy the 126.2-acre park, but it wasn't for sale.

That changed.

The park's previous owners, Herbert Kendall and Mandell Berman, gave residents a chance to buy the property, even refusing to hear an offer from a Palm Beach County real estate company. Florida law requires mobile home park owners to give residents a chance to match a developer's purchase offer when the park owner puts the park up for sale.

In September, Ranchero Village residents found out they had until Nov. 15 to decide if they could buy the park for $60-million.

Each owner will pay $250 monthly to satisfy the park's mortgage and cover a maintenance fee. Those not buying into the cooperative can continue to rent their lots but will pay more.

Ranchero is one of three success stories in Largo in recent months. Homeowners in Stella Del Mar in Largo closed on their park in October and residents of Island in the Sun plan to close on theirs in two weeks.

It's a happy ending, but it's not the scenario many of the homeowners had in mind at this time in their lives.

"They're running a $60-million business now and that's not exactly why they retired to Florida," said David S. Bernstein, who represented the homeowners in the sale.

Now that Dooley helped save his park, he's encouraging his group to help others.

"We have got to band together and do something in the political arena to help the ones who are forced out on the street," said Dooley, his voice breaking. "Thank God we don't have to worry about that."

Lorri Helfand can be reached at 445-4155 or at lorri@sptimes.com

LOCATION: In Largo on Ulmerton Road, between Belcher Road and 66th Street N

HOW BIG: 946 lots, 126.2 acres

WHEN BUILT: 1971

ITS FUTURE: Is secure. Residents closed on a $60-million purchase of the park Tuesday.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING: "It's the best thing we ever did," said Steve Posgai, 84. "No two ways about it."

[Last modified January 18, 2006, 01:10:21]