As investors lurked, mobile home residents in western Mass. bought their park

A group of mobile home residents in western Massachusetts will ring in the new year with a renewed sense of place, after they banded together to purchase their park before outside investors could take over.

Bissellville Estates, a park in Hinsdale with 29 mobile homes, sold for $600,000. Residents borrowed an additional $180,000 to make improvements like cleaning up oil contamination and fixing electrical equipment.

Gary Bird, a resident leader who has lived at the park for 15 years, said he and his neighbors feel a sense of relief.

“So now that we're in control of the situation," he said, "it just feels good to know that there's none of that lingering over our heads."

Mobile home parks have become an attractive investment for firms across the country, often leaving residents facing rent increases or even eviction. But in Massachusetts, park residents are able to match any bid that comes in — the so-called right of first refusal — and that’s what happened at Bissellville Estates.

Advocates say the park was owned by a married couple for decades; after the husband died in 2022, the wife put it on the market. When residents learned park owners had received an offer from an investor, Bird said they decided to form a cooperative and figure out what it would take to buy the park themselves.

Now they own the land underneath their homes. "It's just a huge sense of security," Bird said.

A nonprofit called the Cooperative Development Institute was instrumental in making the deal happen. The group helped residents organize and put together their winning offer. The institute's Nora Gosselin said this is the only park purchased by residents this year.

"It's a really tough market with interest rates and prices," Gosselin said. "So another group being able to purchase their community — in a state where it's becoming harder and harder to exercise that right of first refusal — is just a big win."

Mobile home residents in other areas are facing significant hurdles as they try to purchase the parks where they live. Residents of a park on the Cape are appealing a decision against their purchase effort, court records show. Advocates expect a hearing in the months ahead.