“Derecho” Storm – Yes! Communities Says No? Marion Village Resident Blasts Yes Communities for Caring for Rentals over Manufactured Homeowners

DerchoStormYes!CommunitiesSaysNoMarionVillageResidentBlastsYesCommunitiesCaringForRentalsOverManufacturedHomeOwnersManufacturedHomeProNews
Christina Mullins image is a still from the video found at this link here and is provided under fair use guidelines for media. Text graphics and collage by MHProNews.

I feel neglected,” Christina Mullins, of Marion, Iowa said to ABC affiliate KCRG 9.I feel left behind. I feel that we are being forgotten and swept under the rug.” Mullins Lives in Marion Village, in Marion, Iowa near Cedar Rapids. The Yes! Communities website identifies Marion Village as one of their land-lease communities. Mullins says management, including their corporate office, has failed to assist resident homeowners, while purportedly caring for corporate owned rental units in the wake of the derecho earlier in the month.

As KCRG stated, “Wind and tree damage from the August 10 derecho is noticeable on countless homes, buildings, as well as the mess of tree damage left behind.” The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) website says that “A derecho (pronounced similar to “deh-REY-cho” in English…) is a widespread, long-lived wind storm associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms variously known as a squall line, bow echo, or quasi-linear convective system.”

 

 

The videos from Marion resident above and the local media video below illustrates the wind force and resultant damage caused by the August 10 derecho storm.  It is a sobering reminder that all forms of construction are subject to mother nature, not just decades old mobile homes or manufactured homes. Learn more from a video and report found at this link here.

 

 

More than 2 weeks have elapsed. The August 26, 2020 KCRG news report states that “management” – i.e. Yes! Communities – had not returned their call earlier from earlier that week.

But KCRG said that a letter from Yes! Communities to residents on Sunday stated that food, water, and baby essentials would be made available. The management letter also said crews would be on-site to help clean up but didn’t say when that would occur.

Marion Village resident Mullins said the corporate office informed her that disaster recovery would be provided, but when it arrived, it focused on company owned rental units only.

When I talked to corporate they said the disaster recovery team was sent out to help everybody clear the brush,” Mullins stated. “They weren’t doing that. They were doing the rental [unit] properties; not any of us that owned [their manufactured home] ever got touched.”

Yes! Communities is an award-winning Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) member with long ties to Clayton Homes and other Berkshire Hathaway owned brands. Their self-promotional video below says that “everything that they do is always customer or resident centered.”

 

 

At a different Yes! property, a large lawsuit is underway, per news items last May. See more on that in the report linked below.

 

Lawsuit Charges Harm by Giant Mosaic, Yes Manufactured Home Community Operator/Developer, plus Manufactured Home Investing, Stock Updates

We want to know what exactly is going on,” Yes! Communities resident Mullins said. “The court hasn’t communicated to anyone what the plan of attack is or how they going to get us cleaned up. What are they going to do about the people who still have trees on their homes?”

Leases at this Yes! Communities property apparently makes residents responsible for their own tree-related issues.

However, the AVVO legal help website – which claims that “97% of US lawyers are rated by Avvo” – said in a post dated December 19, 2014 that “A manufactured park landlord has a duty to maintain any tree larger than 8 inches diameter that was not placed by the tenant that is determined to be a risk.” A Mobile Home University post by “Greg” dated October 2018 said “Trees are the park owners property and responsibility. I tell tenants that I do not remove healthy trees unless they are a danger to property. If they want a healthy tree removed I might approve it at their expense. Dangerous trees/limbs I pay to remove. A danger would be broken limbs or limbs touching a home…”

A lot of people don’t have cars out here and have to rely on public transportation,” Mullins said. “How are they going to be able to get it out of here? If we can’t get it out of here then maybe we need to let the city come in and pick up the brush. We know its private property, but we have it to our curbs. Somebody needs to help us come in and get rid of this.”

BetterBusinessBureauRatingYes!Communities114ComplaintsGoogleRating3.4StarsMarionVillageMarionIowaManufacturedHomeProNews
Click here to open and see this image full sized.

 

Yes! Communities is rated as one of the largest MHI/National Communities Council (NCC) in the U.S. Yes! Communities is also one of “The Private Equity Stakeholder Project along with MHAction” evaluated firms specifically named in their report linked here, which was used by HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver in their viral satirical slam inappropriately dubbed “Mobile Homes.

 

HBOJohnOliverLastWeekTonightMobileHomesVideoManufacturedHomeCommunitiesFactCheckMobileManufacturedHomeLivingNewsDBN
https://www.manufacturedhomelivingnews.com/hbos-john-oliver-on-last-week-tonight-mobile-homes-video-manufactured-home-communities-fact-check/

Yes and the other firms specifically named in that report are as follows.

RV Horizon’s has since rebranded as Impact Communities. While not named, one of the video clips in the report was an SSK Communities location which features as a partner Nathan Smith, politically connected and an MHI/NCC insider who was MHI chairman for a time. Smith’s SSK Communities has since been rebranded as Flagship Communities, perhaps to mask their “F” rating with the Better Business Bureau.

HomeShoppingAlertBBB-F-RatedSSKCommunitiesRebrandsasFlagshipCommunitiesNathanSmithPhotoKMHIlogoBettyWhitakerPhotoMHLivingNews
https://www.manufacturedhomelivingnews.com/home-shopping-consumer-alert-bbb-f-rated-ssk-communities-rebrands-as-flagship-communities/

MHAction itself is a beneficiary of Warren Buffett largess. Buffett, as longtime readers know, is the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK), see the report linked below for more details.

 

ManufacturedHousingAction(MHAction)LogoKevinBordenPhotoFundedByWarrenBuffettPhotoChairmanPrivateEquityBerkshireHathawayLogoMHProNewsLogo
https://www.manufacturedhomelivingnews.com/manufactured-housing-action-mhaction-funded-by-warren-buffett-chairman-of-private-equity-berkshire-hathaway/

 

The Iowa Attorney General, Tom Miller, has probed the manufactured home community sector for predatory practices, that are routinely tied to MHI/NCC member firms.

 

Attorney General Tom Miller Slams “Predatory” Manufactured Home Community Operators, plus Manufactured Housing Investing, Stock Updates

MHProNews plans to monitor this scenario and updated as deemed warranted. To learn more about related issues, see click on the linked images/reports herein or those below the byline and notices.

 

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All on Capitol Hill were welcoming and interested with the discussion of manufactured housing related issues on our 12.3.2019 meetings. But Texas Congressman Al Green’s office was tremendous in their hospitality. Our son’s hand is on a package that included the Constitution of the United States and other goodies. MHProNews has worked with people and politicos across the left-right divide.

By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHProNews.com.

Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing.

For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.

This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position, and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.

http://latonykovach.com

Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach

 

Related References:

The text/image boxes below are linked to other reports, which can be accessed by clicking on them.

Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) Insiders – Secrets and Revelations, August 2020 – plus, Sunday Morning Headlines Review

“22 Million Renters and Owners of Manufactured Homes Are Mostly Left Out of Pandemic Assistance,” Says Urban Institute Report – Analysis and Commentary

“Bully Tactics,” “Owner vs. Tenant” “Bullsh-t” – Manufactured Home Community Owner Seeks Evictions of Residents During Pandemic

Manufactured Home Community Leader Richard J. “Dick” Klarchek, Chairman of Capital First Realty, Charged with Bank Fraud – News & Exclusive Insights, Warning For “Mobile Home Park Moguls?”

CBS and Fox Report State Attorney General Investigation “Unlawful Eviction” by Manufactured Home Community, ex-Clayton Homes Executive Connections?

Pissed Consumer’s CEO Michael Podolsky Goes After L. A. “Tony” Kovach in Manufactured Housing Industry Video Report

2020 – Year of the Unexpected, plus Sunday Manufactured Housing Headline Recaps

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