During my time in New Hampshire, I visited parks where residents were running the water systems. I am not sure if that would be replicable everywhere. I think it might work occasionally, but its really hit or miss finding the right set of skills for all of the management functions of a park within the residents. The same could be said of any neighborhood. There is no one on my street who knows how to run a sewer system. We don’t have any accountants or police officers, either.

Successful resident owned parks depend on professional management. Some towns elect a mayor but hire a city manager to deal with the nuts and bolts of the day to day operations. The professional manager deals with the bankers and local permitting authorities.

Water and sewer must by law be managed by licensed persons in most areas, so the utility operations concerns should be limited to contracting out those operations.

In 2003, a study by Consumer Union concluded that, generally, homes in parks tend to depreciate over time. Two of their recommendations to curb depreciation were for home owners to gain control of the land, and to get access to more conventional home financing. Resident-ownership generally improves financial security for the homeowners

As a buyer of a manufactured home, it’s inevitable that you will consider if you should place your home on private property or in a park. There is an article at http://mobilehome.com/portal/stories.php3?nid=751 that will help you weigh the benefits of both, then make the decision based on the areas of greatest importance to you.