Maple Leaf

While visiting Southwest Florida in April 2010, we stopped by the Maple Leaf Golf and Country Club, a large (285 acres) manufactured home community located at 2100 Kings Highway  in the NE corner of Port Charlotte. Although many residents are U.S. citizens, this community is equally popular with snowbirds from Canada, as the name suggests. How many Florida communities do you know that celebrate Klondike Night?

Maple Leaf is resident-owned (not-for-profit corporation) and governed by an elected Board of Directors. It’s centerpiece is an 18-hole, 4,000 yard executive golf course (par 62). Other amenities run the gamut from tennis to horseshoes. For nature lovers, bird watching is excellent; Maple Leaf is designated as an Audubon Wildlife Preserve.  Maple Leaf has four heated pools, a fitness center, three clubhouses, 12 stocked lakes, and an excellent location close to shopping and services and just 1/2 mile from I-75. Fort Myers is a short drive to the south and Sarasota and Tampa are a couple hours away to the north.

There are 1112 home sites with a hundred or so lots and homes for sale at any given time. Prices run from $40,000 for a lot with equity certificate to $250,000 for one of the luxury homes on the golf course and water. Most of the homes are quite new, and price is partly a reflection of location. For more information, visit their website.

Homes of Fountainview

(July 2009) The Homes of Fountainview manufactured home community offers a lot of activities, and social life is well organized. The public facilities are robust, and amenities plentiful. A land lease fee of $404 per month does not include lawn mowing and landscaping of the lots. The appearance of homes varied widely from untidy single-wides to new luxury double-wides. The in town Tampa location is closer to the airport, cruise terminals and other city amenities than the communities in Pinellas County.

There are new and resale homes for sale ranging from under $10,000 to $110,000. For more information, visit Homes of Fountainview, or contact Debbie Pfeffer at 800-793-0548

Park Royale

(July 2009) Park Royale is a land lease manufactured home community, meaning you own only your home. You then pay a land lease fee that includes the amenities, tax pass-thru and maintenance. At Park Royale, maintenance includes water, sewer, trash and lawn care. The park is very centrally located in Pinellas Park—between Tampa Bay and the Gulf beaches, and midway between Clearwater and St. Petersburg. The owner is American Land Lease which has 15 manufactured home retirement communities throughout Florida, as well as communities in Alabama and Arizona.

There are resale homes available ranging from $5K to $100K, and there are also some lots available to move a home onto. Amenities include a pool, clubhouse, library, games, bocce court, shuffleboard, and billiards. For more information, contact Jim Herman at 866-736-9785, email him atjim.herman@allparkroyale.com or visit Park Royale.

Village Green

(July 2009) Village Green is a medium-sized manufactured home community located at the end of a street in St. Petersburg, the largest city in Pinellas County. St. Petersburg is a vibrant city with shopping, sports, boating, and plenty of cultural facilities including the superb Salvador Dali Museum. The community offers a nice heated pool, clubhouse, and fitness center, with plans for a new clubhouse. Also, Village Green has billiards, chorus, canasta and cribbage, a church service every Sunday morning, and a full-time Activities Director.

The security gate remains open during the day. Lot rent is about $467 a month and covers the land lease only. Lawn care and all utilities are the residents’ responsibility. We saw more individual landscaping than in other parks, and many highly improved single-wides. New homes from $85k – $126k were available, as well as resales from $20k – $48k.

For more information, contact Robert Kloepfer at 727-577-0135, email at voffice@tampabay.rr.com or visit Village Green.

Caribbean Isles

(July 2009) Caribbean Isles is a 55+ co-operative manufactured housing community of 402 sites that opened in 1979 in Largo, FL. Residents may choose to own their home and lease the lot with no community ownership, or for around $50k, they can own a share in the community. Share ownership is a plus – both in fostering pride in the appearance of the entire community and keeping maintenance fees in check. This is a nice community with two lakes and all the usual amenities. The pool is very attractive and not the usual rectangular shape. The large clubhouse offers games, a library, and activities. There is even bass fishing in the lakes.

New homes cost around $70k when available, plus share. Resales run $10k – $59k. Maintenance is $265/mo. for owner residents, and the fee for non-owners is a bit over $560 a month. The fee includes water and sewer charges, trash pickup at the site twice weekly, and lawn maintenance.

For more information, contact Ruth Hall at 727-584-6400, email at caribbean.isles@newbymanagement.com or visit Caribbean Isles.

Sundance, Zephyrhills

(July 2009) Sundance manufactured home community is located in a nice area east of Zephyrhills, a growing community in rural Florida about 30 minutes NE of Tampa. Larger than average side yards and well-kept newer homes make the community attractive. We couldn’t find contact information, or meet with the park management since they were not present. In fact, the office appeared closed, and shades were drawn.

The word from the residents indicated there have been sizable land lease increases, nearly doubling over the last five years. Real estate tax on the park is passed on to the residents. It is usually not a lot of money, but always ask at every park if taxes are passed through separately or included in land lease as sometimes is done.

You can get more information at phone number: 813-779-3214 or their website:  http://www.crfresales.com/our-communities/sundance.htm

Palm Hill Country Club

(July 2009) Palm Hill Country Club is a cooperative manufactured home community located in the fine city of Largo. This location is convenient to St. Petersburg, the beaches, and airports. There are a little over 1000 homes here, with resales available from $5k to $150k. It is an all-owner community: everyone owns a share of the association and the share price is quite reasonable compared to comparable communities ($25,000). The monthly maintenance fee of $252 is also very reasonable, and covers lawn maintenance, including mowing and edging, water, sewer, cable, trash twice a week, land lease payments, irrigation, maintenance of streets, and community facilities.

The many amenities inlude two clubhouses, a large pool + spa, two small pools + spa, two shuffleboard centers (one indoors), bocce courts (2), libraries (2), billiards and horseshoes (2), cable TV, and three tennis courts. There’s a nine-hole par 30 golf course with pro shop, and residents can play all year for an annual fee.

For more information, contact Lynn Wyszynski at 727-581-8729, email at lynn_palmhill@tampabay.rr.com or visit Palm Hill Country Club .

Island in the Sun

(July 2009) Island in the Sun is a smaller 55+ manufactured home community in Clearwater, FL. Although we could not find anyone at the clubhouse office, information and a tour were provided by Shirley Vallen of Island in the Sun Realty. She has a sales office at the park. This park offers double-wide homes only, lots of mature trees, shade, and Spanish moss. There’s a heated pool, spa, shuffleboard, games and community activities. Home prices are reasonable, with resales in the $20k -$50k range.

There are share owners as well as land lease residents. Owners pay $55k for a share plus $35/mo HOA fee, as well as $310 for maintenance. This fee for non-owners is $570 and covers maintenance of common areas, lawn care, community amenities, but not trash or utilities. Shirley pointed out that while all manufactured home parks are evacuation zones, this one is on some of the highest ground in Pinellas County.

For more information, feel free to contact Shirley at 727-686-9900. She also has a web site at www.islandinsun.com and can provide info and show homes in other parks, as well. The community has a website at www.islandinthesunroc.com

Lake Haven

(July 2009) Lake Haven is not far from the hotel where we stayed in Dunedin, FL. We can’t say enough nice things about the charming community of Dunedin, and we enjoyed our stay there immensely including the Holiday Inn Express. Lake Haven is in eastern Dunedin and is a very clean and well kept 55+ manufactured home park. All homes have at least a small back yard, and some back up to dense foliage. There are 3 clubhouses with pools in different areas of park, remarkable for a park with less than 400 homes. Fitness, fishing, shuffleboard, games and picnic areas are among the amenities, but best of all are the lakefront homes. The lake views are very nice indeed.

In spite of the fact the community has been around for over 40 years, the homes are in great condition. Although there are almost as many single-wide homes as doubles, the single-wides have add-ons and are quite nice. There are lots available for new homes, and new homes are for sale in the $50k – $100k range. Resales are available in the $5k to $50k range. Fees for land lease and maintenance are $572 – $615 with lake fronts running the highest. The fee covers land lease, water, sewer, trash, lawn care, amenities and facility upkeep.

For more information contact Bobbie Tschirhart or Dennis Morden at 727-733-1244. There is a corporate website at www.equitylifestyle.com, but it provides little information about individual parks. It’s best to call Bobbie or Dennis.

Little Manatee Springs

(July 2009) Little Manatee Springs is a manufactured home community located in the southeastern Tampa Bay area. This very nice park is bordered by the rather primitive (in a good way) Little Manatee State Park. Although it has a very rural feel, it is just 3.5 miles to shopping at Sun City Center mega retirement area. The mostly large homes are very well kept, and some accommodate RV’s. Many homes have double garages — most unusual in manufactured home communities.

Amenities include a recreation center, heated swimming pool, exercise room, shuffleboard, nature trails, horseshoes and 9-hole pitch-and-putt golf (no fees). There’s also billiards, ceramics, river walk trails along Little Manatee River, and fishing. HOA dues of $36/yr cover activities and clubhouse events. Maintenance fee ($350/mo) includes water and sewer service, garbage pickup, lawn cutting, and electronically gated security. There are new homes available in the $100k – $150k range, and resales run $60k – $179k.

For more information, contact Dave Kasper at 888-634-2395, by email at lmtsprings@aol.com or by visiting Little Manatee Springs online.