The Cliffs Mobile Home Park

This review written in January of 2015
I am one of the many people who like it here. Why do most people like it here? It’s a nice, well kept community and is very quiet most of the time. Most mobile home parks are on a flat piece of land. This park is not. The park is split into an upper level and a lower level. Many of the homes have a view, and of course those that do have a higher space rent.
All of the homes are double wides. Some of the homes are as old as the park is, but little by little more and more of them are being replaced by new manufactured homes, which are built more on the level of a regular home on a foundation.
The amenities include two clubhouses, the main one on the lower level and a smaller one on the upper level. The main clubhouse features a large room with a flat screen TV complete with cable fireplace, a full kitchen, a library that has a computer for the residents to use, large men’s and woman’s bathrooms, a smaller sitting room and large windows that look out onto a well manicured lawn, a nice swimming pool that is kept quite warm so you can actually swim in the winter time. There is also a jacuzzi. There are shuffleboard courts and a horseshoe area. There are at least two laundry rooms on the lower level, and at least one on the upper level. One of the lower level areas also have clotheslines for those that like to line dry items. The machines cost considerably less that a laundromat on the outside. Each laundry room also has a utility sink.
There are large trees along the roads.
The upper level has a smaller clubhouse with a full kitchen, meeting room, and a large laundry room. It also features a large game room with a pool table and a ping pong table. The clubhouses and pool are open until 10 PM.
I have lived in The Cliffs for about four years now. I’ve seen one set of managers leave and another come in. The ones here now are MUCH nicer than the last ones.
The Cliffs is a senior park. The minimum age for the first person is 55. The minimum age for the second person used to be 45 but the rules have changed, lowering the second persons minimum age to 21. This has some residents fearful that the park may change to a family park.
There is a group of volunteer residents called The Cliff Dwellers who organize social events, which usually consist of a free or low cost dinner with some sort of entertainment. They try to have at least one event per month. They collect money to help fund these events by having a once a year huge two day thrift sale known as The White Elephant sale. Residents donate items for the sale, and it is advertized on Craig’s List and the local community papers.
There is an HOA also but they are a no fee HOA. In my opinion sometimes they are helpful and sometimes they are not.
The one thing I can say is the HOA is all volunteer and both of these groups of people work very hard at making life in this small community a little nicer.
The negatives of this park includes the fact that the park itself was built in the early 1960’s so the infrastructure is old and wearing out. There have been several water main breaks and electrical failures that require time to fix. Because the park is old each space is only allowed 30 amps. In a modern home with modern systems, computers, dishwashers etc, it isn’t much. To keep from blowing a circuit I can not run my washer and drier at the same time. Each requires 12 amps and I don’t have a 24 amp circuit on my electrical panel!
Another negative is the rent increases that occur every year in June. In 2010 my space rent was 779 dollars. It is now 927 dollars and will go up again this June. And I live in one of the lower rent spaces! I have heard that this is due to San Diego City not having any rent control. This means that Kingsley Management Corporation, who owns this park and over fifty other parks nationwide, can charge what ever they want and raise the rent as much as is legal in the city or state.
A word of warning. If you decide to move here or into any Kingsley Management owned park, read your lease agreement SLOWLY and CAREFULLY before signing it. Kingsley Management is trying to get you to sign a 20 year lease now. You do NOT have to! Read it carefully and know your choices. Don’t just blindly sign it.