Managing Tiny Cities: Facts about the Infrastructure of Mobile Home Parks

It’s not easy to manage a mobile home park, and it’s certainly not a get-rich-quick scheme. In fact, running a mobile home park is like managing a microcosmic city. This is largely due to the complex infrastructure of mobile home parks.  

At Harmony Communities, we often employ as many as eight workers to manage infrastructure issues when we purchase new parks. We expend ample resources ensuring we get the park structure in stellar, working order, from the streets to water and sewer, electricity, and gas utilities.  

What, then, makes the infrastructure of these parks so complex? There are several answers.  

Land vs. Home Ownership 

Although it seems counterintuitive, mobile home park owners don’t own the parks in their entirety: They simply own the land on which the mobile homes sit, while the individual homeowners own their mobile homes. To initially fill the lots, park owners may need to purchase the homes – but once they’ve been sold, the owners lose control over the homes themselves, maintaining ownership and authority only in the surrounding land.  

Mobile home parks aren’t like RV parks – the homes function like typical permanent, single-family homes. Some homeowners opt to live in their homes, while others choose to rent them out. At Harmony, we think of our parks as beautiful, sustainable, lasting homes for our residents. In fact, many of them will live in their homes for decades or even for life. 

Responsibility for Utilities 

From the water and sewer lines to electricity and gas, park owners are responsible for the utilities that keep mobile home parks running smoothly. Because homeowners rent the land from park owners, they also, in essence, rent the utilities.  

There are different types of utility systems in mobile home parks: 

• PVC water/sewer lines  
• PEX water/sewer lines 
• Metal water lines  
• Cast iron sewer lines  
• Clay tile sewers 

• Thin walled plastic sewer lines 

Park owners must maintain good working conditions for all underground systems. This may require upgrading old water/sewer systems like cast iron and clay tile to a PVC or PEX system. 

Keeping Infrastructure up to Date 

Park owners must ensure all infrastructure is maintained. This includes utilities, as previously mentioned, but also roads, sidewalks, plants and landscaping, and more. Unfortunately, sometimes older parks require tremendous expenditures just to get into working order, particularly if the piping is corroded or the hookups are decades old. Not only can it be expensive to replace infrastructure in a large park, but it can sometimes create a substantial amount of disruption for the residents who live there.  

In addition, park owners are tasked with making sure their tenants are able to easily patch into the utility hookups. Since the residents are renting the land – and the utilities – from park owners, it is up to the owners who manage the land to ensure the utilities are functioning properly and accessible to all residents.  

For all of these reasons, hiring good park management staff is key. Park managers work for the landlords but also represent tenants’ interests; they keep landlords apprised of park conditions, report on needed upgrades, and keep in touch with residents to ensure that needs are met. 

What Aspiring Park Owners Need to Know 

In short, running a mobile home park is complex. From managing the land itself to fielding maintenance requests, to ensuring the whole system is working as it should, there are multiple moving parts that need attention. Above all, a park owner’s number one priority should be ensuring the park as a whole is a safe, sustainable, clean, comfortable, attractive place that tenants can call home for years to come.  

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At Harmony Communities, we feel strongly that each resident has a sense of home. That they come home from work and feel pride in their environment and in their place in the greater community. That families are comfortable raising children in our neighborhoods, and that couples and singles know that they belong to something bigger than their four walls. In other words, we seek to create harmony within each community, making our communities not just passable, but peaceful, safe, functional, and beautiful.