Homeowners in Rancourt Estates Mobile Home Park in Merrimack, NH, have purchased their 44-unit manufactured-home park, making it New Hampshire’s 133rd resident-owned community (ROC).

Using training and technical assistance from the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund’s ROC-NH™ team, homeowners organized and formed Jewel Estates Cooperative in June. The cooperative then matched the $2.8-million price of the park’s owner, Claude Rancourt, and finalized the deal December 1 with a mortgage from the Community Loan Fund.

Park residents cheered the purchase. “We are in a prime development area, with new apartments and condos being built every year. Going co-op and having the chance to control our own destiny was a no-brainer,” said Jewel Estates Co-op President Thomas Levesque.

Two Jewel Estates board members and a ROC-NH hold the We Own It banner presented to Jewel Estates.

From left, Jewel Estates Cooperative President Thomas Levesque and Treasurer Susan Sylvia, with ROC-NH Housing Cooperative Specialist Zachery Palmer, hoist the banner presented to the co-op.

Co-op Vice President Lisa Stringer said the residents’ ownership of the park “means having security, control, and freedom over our own land!”

Jewel Estates Cooperative is Hillsborough County’s 15^th ROC. Those communities contain 1,028 long-term affordable homes.

Cooperative ownership means Jewel Estates’ homeowners are now eligible for products and services, including real mortgages, that haven’t been available to them. Studies show that the availability of home financing, when the land is secure, improves the home’s value, the owner’s ability to make improvements, and overall housing affordability.

The more-than-8,200 homeowners in New Hampshire’s ROCs, spread across every county, also have access to management guidance, technical assistance, and leadership trainings in which they earn college credit.

See full list of ROCs in New Hampshire.

Residents buy Merrimack manufactured-home park

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