Blog

For 18 months, evictions were totally illegal At one point, we had almost $500,000 in past due rent, and ZERO ability to enforce any collection activity. At the same time, bills were due, mortgages had to be paid, and employees needed payroll We embarked in a new direction when it came to non-paying tenants: we called them. We asked why they weren't paying rent, and if there was anything that w...

  Every homebuilder claims to “create community.” They design subdivisions with playgrounds, walking paths, and community centers — but those are aesthetic shortcuts, not actual community. The truth is, most homebuilders are trying to manufacture what can only be cultivated. A community isn’t built from the ground up — it grows over time. Like a garden, it n...

I bought a park in Washington in 2016 for $600,000 Two years later we refinanced at a value of $1,600,000 I still own the property; I've refinanced it twice, most recently at a value of $2,500,000 The park has been an absolute home run financially What about the rents? When we bought the park: 1) The sewer/water bill was almost $10,000/month 2) The roads were in bad condition, forcing tenants t...

I bought a park in Washington in 2019 for $1,000,000 The rents were $350/mo...less than half market rent for the area in 2019 The power was unsafe, and almost 12 spaces were vacant due to inadequate electric There was no fence between the park and the junkyard next door, creating innumerable safety issues We 1) Upgraded all the power 2) Added a 9' privacy fence between the park and junkyard 3) ...

  Early in my career, I struggled with the idea of profiting from affordable housing. Was I building opportunity—or benefiting from people with the fewest options? To answer that question, I explored the nonprofit sector. The conclusion I reached was clear: ethical, for-profit investment is essential if we want to solve the affordable housing crisis. Government and nonprofits play...

I used to struggle with the idea of building a successful business around manufactured housing. Was I profiting at the expense of vulnerable tenants? After exploring the nonprofit world in depth, I came to a clear conclusion: ethical, for-profit investment is essential to solving the affordable housing crisis. Government and nonprofits are vital, but they can’t act as quickly or at the sca...

  In 2015, we acquired a community for $1.2M that was in rough shape: Overgrown trees with dangerous falling limbs Roads broken apart by roots A dilapidated community center sealed off after years of neglect We immediately tackled the safety issues — clearing trees, repairing infrastructure — and spent time on-site, speaking directly with residents. Wha...

In the first year rent control takes effect, it does help. It caps rent hikes and protects renters from sudden increases. No argument there. But what happens next is what really matters. The unintended outcome? Every landlord raises rent—every year. Before rent control, we evaluated rent increases carefully. At Bridgeview, that meant reviewing: Local market comps Site c...

  In 2017, we bought a 14-unit mobile home and RV park for $495,000. At first glance, it looked like a small, stabilized deal. But we dug deeper: We pulled 75+ years of historical records and discovered the park had long operated as an RV campground—even though the county had only started classifying RVs as residential units in the late ’90s. We identified 15 aband...

Affordable housing doesn’t need more red tape. It needs more creativity. In 2016, we bought a mobile home park for $2.1 million. Along the southern edge of the property, there was a narrow 35-foot strip of land—too small for conventional homes. But we noticed something interesting: old utility hookups buried there. Turns out, this had once been used for RV parking. So we asked:...