America is filled with comeback stories. Apple began as a computer manufacturer. After initial success, the company ousted its founder, Steve Jobs, and entered into a period of continual decline. In 1997, teetering on insolvency, Steve Jobs returned and brought out the greatest line-up of products in technology history: the iPhone, the iPad and the iPod. Apple was back on top. And then there’s the story of the Kansas City Chiefs, which had a roughly half-century between being Superbowl champs. The underdog story is a part of American lore, and there’s nothing more celebrated than when something or someone rises from the ashes to regain their respect and victory.

In the 1950s and 1960s, mobile home parks were the hottest sector of real estate. The demographics of mobile home park residents was higher than stick-built dwellings. Elvis lived in a mobile home park in two movies. Frank Lloyd Wright designed a mobile home prototype, and Stanley Marcus – founder of Neiman Marcus – designed a prototype mobile home park. And then the industry fell into decline fueled by an exodus to larger, suburban tract homes as a result of mass prosperity, as well as continual negative media which built the stereotype in most Americans that mobile home parks were undesirable. Well, it took years of hard work to bring mobile home parks back to life, new home designs, a national shortage of affordable housing and the stress test of the Covid-19 pandemic for the industry to return to its rightful place.

We’re calling this comeback story the NEW Golden Age of Mobile Home Parks and it’s the topic of our next Lecture Series event. 

The host is Frank Rolfe who is not only one of the largest owners in the industry, but also the guy the New York Times calls the human “encyclopedia of all things mobile home park”. No topic is taboo so bring all your questions and spend an evening with us.