They planned on staying in their homes. A new manager inflated the rent
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Residents report monthly rent hikes from $700 to $1,000 at Riviera Estates.
- New ownership imposes strict resale rules and higher rent for new tenants.
- Elevate Eagle LLC faces resident pushback over costs, alleged harassment.
James Demarest planned on dying in his Eagle home.
But the mobile home park he lives in, formerly Riviera Estates, was bought by new owners this summer. His monthly rent for his site, lawn care and utilities went from $700 to almost $1,000, said Demarest and his real estate listing agent, Betty Lanum.
Demarest, a 63-year-old Army veteran who takes pride in his house, said he can no longer afford to live in it. He said he makes only $1,900 a month on Social Security Disability Insurance. He wants out of Riviera Estates, now called Eagle MHC (for manufactured housing community). He put the house up for sale and plans to move in with family.
Mobile homes are often naturally occurring affordable housing. But the Eagle park’s new owner raised rents, utilities and other fees by almost 40% for existing tenants. New tenants, like someone who would buy Demarest’s home, would need to pay $1,400 in lot rent and utilities, according to an email shared with the Idaho Statesman.
That’s $16,800 per year in payments. That represents about 44% of what the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C. think tank, says is the $38,000 median household income for American mobile-home owners. The institute says owners’ lot rents, utilities, property taxes and other expenses average about $500 per month.
Demetre Booker Jr., the managing partner of Eagle MHC, told the Statesman he wants to clean up and improve the park, in part by asking people to leave if their homes aren’t up to standard. Booker threatened the Statesman multiple times with lawsuits while reporting this story.
He said he met with community members in August and compromised on issues like requiring parking permits for everyone, including guests. He said the parking permits will now continue only until many broken-down cars are removed.
“Let’s set a standard here,” Booker said by phone. “We all win together.”
Some utilities used to be a part of the rent but are now separate, according to Demarest, a neighbor, and a scan of that neighbor’s lease. New and existing residents will now pay utilities and fees of $49 for water, $52 for sewer and septic, $35 for the first two trash cans, and $75 for lawn care, according to an email, a screenshot of a resident’s payments, and a utility-increase notice a tenant shared with the Statesman.
Booker said residents could see a sewer decrease at the end of the quarter.
The owners will also require proof that new tenants’ incomes are at least three times the cost of rent and utilities for the land, according to Demarest, Lanum and two emails from park management shared with the Statesman.
The owner’s requirements are tough for people looking for cheaper housing. There wasn’t any interest in Demarest’s 50-year-old, 1,440-square-foot manufactured home at the initial price, according to Lanum, even though it is in good condition. Demarest cut his $99,900 listing price to under $40,000.
“I was hoping to be able to sell it and get enough money to go out and start a whole new chapter with my life,” Demarest said. “I know God has something else for me.”
And the owners asked to inspect one home that was going up for sale before they approved any buyers, according to another email shared with the Statesman. The owners wanted to draft a letter outlining any necessary repairs for the selling homeowner to fix, the email said.
The new owner of the park is Elevate Eagle LLC, according to the Ada County Assessor’s Office. Booker, the principal partner of San Diego-based Elevate Commercial, is listed as an authorized agent on registration paperwork filed in April with the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office.
Eagle MHC occupies tree-lined streets west of Eagle Island State Park. Booker told the Statesman that he wants the community to be a better place. He has sent residents notices to fix problems or leave.
“That involves holding our residents accountable for their home conditions,” Booker said. “If someone doesn’t have the desire to improve their home, it’s not the best place for them to live. … Unfortunately, some residents, we’re asking them to sell their home.”
Mobile homes can be costly, difficult, or in some cases, impossible to move. People in mobile home parks like Riviera Estates often own their homes but rent the land the houses sit on.
That makes mobile-home owners subject to the whims of their landlords, according to Vanessa Fry, a Boise State University research professor in public policy and administration. It can be hard to find a new place to put the home, especially as the number of mobile home parks in the Treasure Valley has declined, Fry said by phone.
Investment firms have drawn headlines for snapping up mobile-home parks. Some companies have sharply increased lot rents all over the country.
Sometimes, developers want the land for some other use, which is what some of the Eagle residents fear is coming for their park. But Booker said his company never redevelops mobile home parks for other uses.
From California roots to Idaho investment
Booker, originally from Fresno, California, characterized his career journey as “unique” on a podcast. He said he grew up in a middle-class family. He began his career flipping properties in college, according to an interview with Chase Bank.
“My father and mother fought to put me in a better environment,” Booker said.
He attended California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, where he played quarterback and safety on the football team, according to the Chase Bank and podcast interviews.
He founded Elevate Commercial, and the Idaho entities he has used to purchase property here reflect that company.
For example, Booker’s company Elevate Chinden LLC previously bought and renovated what is now the Arcadia Hotel in Garden City, the former Sun-Liner Motel on stilts at 3433 Chinden Blvd. Booker also bought and sold a mobile home park in Nampa several years ago and purchased a shopping center in Boise in 2019, according to the Idaho Press.
His company’s website says mobile home parks are “one of the best real estate investment available today.”
That’s because it’s harder than ever to build mobile home communities, so there’s less supply. Residents move out less, and because they own their homes, they are responsible for most of the expenses, the website says.
He said his goal is to improve people’s lives and treat tenants with respect.
“Bottom line is we stick to our values over profit even at the expense of not buying a property. We don’t waver from that at all,” he told Chase Bank.
“It’s not about increasing rents $100 and displacing people,” Booker said on the podcast interview in 2021. “We have an internal mandate to where we don’t have to increase rents anywhere near that.”
When asked about that quote, Booker told the Statesman that some communities are in “such substandard condition that we have to adjust accordingly.”
Water-main break riles mobile-home residents
This summer, workers in the park hit a water line while doing septic work, according to residents and Brandon Lowder, drinking water compliance supervisor with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. The water caused flooding, and was turned off, turned back on and then later turned off a second time, Lowder said by phone.
Booker and the workers did not take samples, alert the department or tell the system operator about the problem, Lowder said. The department found out from customers right before residents’ water was turned off a second time.
Lowder said he asked Booker to notify people how to treat their water. But people in the park were then told of a boil water advisory by email, rather than the in-person method best suited for smaller developments, residents and Lowder said.
He chalked up some of Booker’s actions, like not reporting the issue, to being a new owner.
Booker declined to answer many of the Statesman’s questions about the water-line break. He said he didn’t know the specifics but that there were two separate breaks on adjacent lots. He said he was building a community and investing in infrastructure.
“We follow all the proper steps. We’ve notified the residents,” Booker said. “We hired plumbers.”
Laura Thrash-Wendell said she incurred property damage when one water main broke and the area under her home flooded. She said she has repeatedly requested, without success, the company’s insurance information and phone number so she could address the repairs.
Thrash-Wendell said someone has since showed up at her door and told her roommate they could face $100-a-day fines for parking on the grass and for keeping cat food on their porch.
The next day, Thrash-Wendell said, she found a notice to fix problems with her home or leave. Those problems included “feeding stray cats,” according to a photo of the notice she provided to the Statesman. She said she helps rehome cats.
“It’s scary,” said Thrash-Wendell, who has lived in Idaho since 1984. “It sucks to go to bed afraid. It sucks to wake up afraid.”
Anxious residents confront being ‘pushed out’
Anna Cox was looking for a reset when she found Eagle MHC.
She had moved to Boise in 2016, investing in properties after a wildfire consumed her home in Los Angeles. After taking care of her parents and a divorce, she wanted to live in an area with nature. Her gray home, which she said she has lived in since September 2024, stretches past a grassy lawn where Cox said she’s seen raccoons, badgers, foxes and osprey.
“I had planned to stay here,” Cox said, sighing, as she stood in her driveway. “But now I’m horrified (by changes to the mobile home park).”
She said she can’t afford to leave.
For current tenants like Demarest and Cox, their monthly payments are increasing mostly because some utilities used to be a part of the rent but are now separate, according to Demarest, Cox and a scan of Cox’s lease.
“He’s nickeling and diming the hell out of everything,” said Amanda Muller, another real estate agent representing one of the mobile home owners.
The anxiety and tension among neighbors was palpable on a recent Thursday afternoon, when a group of homeowners and real estate agents met at the Garden City City Hall to get legal advice from the Idaho Volunteer Lawyers Program.
Their voices overlapped, unleashing a tsunami of worries as the group spoke with Joseph Horras, a Garden City attorney. Their situations are, in at least one case, complicated by the lack of a written lease and of back rent due to the previous owners.
As they explained their situation, seated around a dark table, Horras said the new owners can raise the rent. But he still reacted to the new requirements. “Wow, that’s a lot of money,” he said.
Ultimately, Horras set a follow-up meeting with the group. But for Demarest, it’s too late for follow-up.
After dropping his home price by $60,000 in one go, Demarest and his agent said he was finally able to sell to an investor already approved by the park’s owners. Demarest said he felt he had no choice. Ultimately, he will walk away with less money than he originally hoped, but he’s still happy to leave with something.
Lanum said people who live in mobile home parks aren’t wealthy, and the new prices are high for residents.
“It’s … wrong,” said Lanum, a broker and an Idaho native who said she’s been in real estate for over 30 years. “I’ve never heard of such a thing happening.”
On the quiet roads of the mobile home park one July day, cars sat parked in front of houses. Some flew flags, while other people’s homes and yards were adorned with scattered collections of items. A dog ran over to its fence to greet newcomers.
While his cats, Sushi and Bolo, lounged around, Demarest recalled a recent bout of stress in his home as he worried about his future. “My anxiety was just off the chart,” he said. He said he is praying for someone to help the neighborhood.
“I served my country honorably,” he said. “… I shouldn’t be being pushed out of my home like this, especially on a fixed income.”
This story was originally published August 21, 2025 at 4:00 AM.
