Elissa Smith has lived in Albany Acres for more than 30 years, watching kids grow up and go on to raise their own children in the same community. She loves the way the air smells in her neighborhood, which is just across the street from the edge of the White Mountain National Forest in Albany, N.H., with a view of Mount Chocorua.
Brad Armstrong, a retired, 76-year-old U.S. Army veteran, stepped forward to serve as vice president of Albany Acres. He agreed with Elissa’s assessment.
“The owners didn’t care about the park — all they cared about was the money,” he said. “We just care about giving people places to stay... we have to help each other to help ourselves.”
This summer, Elissa and Brad became co-owners of their manufactured-home community when the co-op purchased it, beginning a new chapter for Albany Acres.
The 38 homeowners celebrated the milestone on June 14 with a community cookout and a new banner that says, “We own it!”
Residents can take pride in belonging to a community much larger than their co-op: Albany Acres became New Hampshire’s 153rd resident-owned community (ROC), connected to more than 9,000 homeowners who live in ROCs across the state and many more across the country through ROC USA®, which is spreading the Community Loan Fund's resident-ownership model nationwide.
Since the Community Loan Fund created the first ROC in 1983, resident-owned communities have become a nationally recognized model for preserving affordable manufactured housing, while giving residents control over land ownership, community governance, and long-term affordability.
Financed with a mortgage from the Community Loan Fund, the purchase was made possible by the Community Loan Fund’s neighbors-investing-in-neighbors model that turns donations and impact investor funds into loans and services for homeowners, small businesses, nonprofits, and communities.
New Hampshire was the first state in the nation to pass the “opportunity to purchase” law in 1983. When a private owner of a manufactured home-community decides to sell the community, the residents have 60 days to come up with a matching offer.
This is when the Community Loan Fund steps in to give homeowners a choice.
When a cooperative owns a park:
The Community Loan Fund’s Acquisitions Program Manager & Housing Cooperative Coach for ROC-NH, Hannah Chisholm, worked with homeowners in Albany Acres to help them make a choice about becoming resident-owned.
“The opportunity of self-determination is potentially available to any community that wants to pursue it,” she said. “We are helping a community that wants to help itself — it’s a hand up, not a handout. They have a lot of work to do and they know it."
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The community is a few miles from Conway, a four-season tourism destination, but feels far from the bustle of the town’s ever-expanding outlet malls and crowded Main Street.
But, Elissa has also seen the community suffer under mismanagement, with failing infrastructure and a lack of rule enforcement.
Elissa was an outspoken voice in encouraging Albany Acres to become a resident-owned community (ROC) when the community was put up for sale in 2012 and 2023. Both attempts were unsuccessful, and residents became accustomed to increasing monthly lot fees with each new owner — but few improvements to the community.
When the latest opportunity came up in December 2025, Elissa rallied her neighbors and signed up to be secretary for Albany Acres cooperative, which was originally formed in 2023 but went dormant.
“I was one of the originals, saying, ‘We need to do this,’” she remembered. “And when it came up again, I said, ‘We have to do this!’”
Albany Acres — made up of 42 homes and eight vacant lots — is a multi-generational community with a mix of long-time residents, retirees, essential workers, and young families with children. Four rental homes will be converted into homeownership opportunities.
Elissa is hopeful that residents can improve the community now that they own it, while keeping it affordable.
“We're all on fixed incomes here... we have older people here, and families with young children — how are we supposed to survive?” she said. “We certainly can't survive in out in town where they're charging $2,000 for a one-bedroom apartment.”
Resident-owned communities with available space for homes, like Albany Acres, can receive financing and technical support to help with “infill,” which means filling vacant lots with homes. Infill increases the community’s income from monthly lot fees that can be put toward community improvements and financial sustainability. Over the last five years, the Community Loan Fund has helped ROCs set and sell nearly 200 affordable homes.
“There's a lot of work that needs to be done here... but I love the fact that we now have an opportunity to do things the way we want to, as a community and as individuals,” Elissa said. “We want to just be able to live our lives in a community that watches out for each other. And we do. We do that here.”
Albany Acres at a Glance