EVERETT — Lois Cairns Smith has said goodbye to the mobile home she and her husband bought three years ago in Mariner Village.
“I’m moved out,” she said. “I’m out of there.”
She’s moved to Bothell with her daughter and is selling her 1,300-square-foot double-wide for about $200.
She bought the place for $29,000.
The park is scheduled to close Aug. 31. The owners are working with tenants to see if they can buy the spaces beneath their mobile homes for an average of $196,121.
Edmonds attorney Dick Beresford is part of an investment group that owns the seniors-only Mariner Village. Beresford held three meetings with tenants at the end of last month to explain how a possible purchase might work.
Cairns Smith watched the value of her mobile home plummet from $29,000 to $3,000 in the eyes of the county assessor’s office, despite having a new roof and a new furnace.
A real estate company plans to move the double-wide to eastern Oregon, Cairns Smith said.
At most, the park had about 260 residents. Some like Cairns Smith have moved out. Others don’t know what will happen, said Russell Carter, president of the park’s homeowner’s association.
He’s concerned that one of the glimmers of hope — the Housing Authority of Snohomish County — might not be able to help.
“Without HASCO assistance, many of the people in here won’t be able to afford to buy these lots, which is really unfortunate,” Carter said.
Mariner Village
Location: 815 124th St. SW, Everett
Spaces: 165
Mobile homes: About 150
Park closes: Aug. 31
Residents: About 260
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