Maine mobile home park residents say New York company keeps raising the rent

Rents keep going up in Maine, even in places like rural mobile home parks.

It’s the latest twist in the housing crisis: Mobile home parks in many parts of Maine are no longer immune to rising rents, including people who own their homes but have to pay for the lot they live on.

Ever since a New York company bought Mountain View Estates in Bowdoin, tenants said their rents have gone up four times. They say there seems to be no end in sight.

Homeowners who live in the Bowdoin mobile home park said in three years, their lot rent has gone from roughly $345 a month to $525.

“Greed. Just absolute greed,” said Mountain View Estates resident Jerry Highfill, an Air Force veteran on a fixed income.

He owns his home, but he now has to tap into his savings to pay rent on his lot, thanks to his new landlord, Philips International, a company worth billions.

“Philips International is so big,” Highfill said. “Why does he keep screwing all of us? This park here, we’re not even a drop in the bucket.”

Vicky Dolloff also lives in Mountain View Estates.

“I’ve heard that their taxes have gone down,” Dolloff said. “We’re not getting any services provided by the owner.”

Real estate taxes on the mobile home park actually dropped by more than $4,000, according to the town of Bowdoin.

Attempts to reach Philips International for comment weren’t successful.

Some people recently sold their homes, and at least three others put theirs on the market, saying they can’t afford to live there anymore.

“It’s a scary situation to be in,” Dolloff said.

“I just want to die in my little crappy mobile home and be left alone,” Highfill said. “Just leave me a few bucks, and I’ll be happy. You don’t need everything I got.”