It’s always exciting to spread the word to my blog readers when a community joins the list of ROCs in Florida.  

Earlier today, the residents of Riverwalk Mobile Home Village closed on the purchase of their community.   Riverwalk is a beautiful manufactured housing community with over 200 sites located in North Port near the Myakka River.   The residents formed their homeowners association a number of years ago and maintained a good relationship with the community owner over those years.   The association made a point to contact the owner at least annually to remind the owner that the residents were interested in purchasing the community if and when the owner was ready to sell.

The community owner contacted the homeowners association in late December of last year and offered to sell Riverwalk to the association.   The terms offered by the owner required that the closing of the sale occur by no later than February 18, 2010.  Fortunately, the homeowners association had prepared for this opportunity and because of that advance planning and a tremendous amount of effort, the association was able to raise the funds and meet the conditions required under the agreement in time.   As a result, the homeowners association now is the proud owner of what will soon be known as Village at Riverwalk, the newest ROC in Florida!

The associatIon’s efforts to purchase Riverwalk were ably led by a terrific group of directors and many volunteers.   Bill Gorman and Norman Loiselle from Lifestyle Choice Realty did a fantastic job of coordinating these efforts and helping the residents keep their enthusiasm and optimism at the highest levels while working with lenders, engineers, vendors, insurance agencies, and many other outside parties throughout the process.

Several financial institutions, including Florida Shores Bank, First Community Bank of America, and Calusa National Bank helped residents finance individual membership share purchases and Bank of America’s commitment to the association to provide the blanket loan was crucial to the association’s ability to purchase the community.

The association had less than two months from the date that the offer to sell was received to raise the funds needed to complete the purchase.  What the residents lacked in time they more than made up in faith and hard work.  As a result,  Village at Riverwalk is now a resident owned community.

Congratulations and welcome to the residents of Village at Riverwalk!