Colorado developers purchase Conrad mobile home park

By: 
Robert Maharry

Chris and Marcia Snowden have lived and worked in some of the hottest real estate markets in the country—the Colorado Springs/Denver corridor and northern California between the Bay Area and Sacramento, to name a few. Why, then, have the developers chosen a sleepy mobile home park in Conrad, Iowa, as their latest project and the place where they plan to retire?
           
“The price of houses (in Colorado) have gone sky high, so I figured we’re going to get priced out of the market. So we started looking for a different alternative,” Chris said.
           
A boot camp led by one of the most prominent mobile home park owners in the country inspired the Snowdens to look into a new line of development and management, and they first made an offer on Wolf Creek Village in April on the contingency that they sold their commercial property in Colorado Springs. Seven months and another trip to Conrad later, they finally sealed the deal and finalized the purchase from Hazel Roman last week.
           
Now, they’ve got their sights set on revitalizing the park and filling up the vacancies: currently, just 14 of the 38 available lots are occupied. Two of the homes will be torn down, and new trailers will move in as the Snowdens seek to attract prospective residents to Conrad and improve the overall quality of life in the park. The goal is to have it at least 80 percent full within a few years with new concrete piers and drill holes.
           
The market crash of 2008 made mobile homes more affordable as banks sought to sell them after foreclosures, and they’ve become a more popular option as home values have surged in the years since. Conrad, in particular, has attempted to provide more housing in recent years with hopes of attracting young professionals and families. 
 
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