Sunset Village Exiting Foreclosure

Glenview's mobile home park will change ownership in 45 to 60 days, when the property exits foreclosure.

Sunset Village, Glenview's mobile home park at 2450 Waukegan Rd., will switch ownership this summer when it exits foreclosure in 45 to 60 days, according to a letter from Mike Vilches, President of the Sunset Village Residents’ Association. "The foreclosure will conclude within the next 45 to 60 days and the property will be sold at auction and the new owner will take position shortly thereafter," Vilches letter reads. "We have been told by October Investment Properties, LLC that they will own and operate Sunset Village as a manufactured home community." Sunset Village residents felt reassured when the new ownership visited the park on May 1 and conveyed their intentions to improve the park's living conditions, according to the letter…

•  8 Comments
• Photos (1)

Sunset Village Conditions Featured in Online Documentary

Craig Rothman made the six minute video about Glenview's mobile park to support the work of the North Shore Interfaith Housing Authority.

Craig Rothman, 61, of Skokie, is the director of media services at the Baha'i Temple in Wilmette. Last week, his six minute video about Glenview's mobile park went live on YouTube and features interviews with residents discussing the conditions in Sunset Village. The North Shore Interfaith Housing Authority made it very easy for Rothman to receive a loan modification so he can do some home improvement. In return, Rothman offered his video production services as a sign of gratitude, and the organization asked him to raise awarenss about Sunset Village. He completed the project over a weekend.  "I hope the video was informative so anyone who sees it knows that housing rights are being jeopardized," Rothman said. "So many people go through …

•  14 Comments
• Videos (1)

Letters to the Editor

Sunset Village Resident Thanks Patch Readers for 'Renewed Hope'

After months of sharing the mobile home park community’s struggles, one resident shares an encouraging update and thanks Patch readers for their support and ‘taking a stand.’

Dear Editor, I just wanted to let you know about some very positive progress as a result of the Patch coverage of Sunset Village. Patch readers contacted Village leaders about the issues going on at Sunset Village.
 As a result, the receiver has started a very thorough, rapid process of removing old, abandoned and dilapidated homes. They have started installing new equipment in place of the pump house once full of rodent feces and carcasses in an effort to blend away the radioactive material in our water. They have started installing streetlights and replacing defective hydrants. We now have armed, private security patrolling our area. And they are providing extra garbage cans and free bungee straps to keep lids closed in an effort to …

•  6 Comments
• Photos (1)

Trailers go to Auction, Glenview Families Walking Away From Homes

Following months of struggle, residents brace themselves to move from Sunset Village. Overwhelmed with mounting lot costs and underwater mortgages, many families will leave behind their homes and belongings.

Have you ever wondered what it might feel like to live with boxes in your living room, waiting to pack up your car and leave your home at a moment's notice? How about being offered $500 to leave your home in two weeks? These were just a few of the stories I heard at Sunset Village this week, from residents who, with sky-rocketing lot rents and thousands of dollars in mortgage payments for prefabricated and trailer homes that are now worth a fraction of what they originally paid, are in over their heads.  "We moved here because the price was right and we believed the promises we were told," said Michelle, Sunset Village resident and mother of two who asked her last name not be used for privacy concerns. "Then we started getting ripped off …

•  13 Comments
• Photos (8)

Letters to the Editor

A Plea From Sunset Village: ‘Give Us a Chance’

As families fear being uprooted from the Glenview community and losing their homes, one resident asks for support of a petition to prevent further ‘devastation.’

Dear Editor, Whenever you turn on a television or read a news article nowadays, all you hear is a litany of things that certain people and groups want. We the residents at Sunset Village are a bit different. We don’t want a lot of things; we don’t want pity, we don’t want a handout, we don’t want to gain an unfair advantage over anyone else at the expense of our integrity. We also don’t want to be uprooted from our long-standing ties to the Glenview community. We don’t want our children pushed out of the school system they enjoy so much. We don’t want to live in fear of fire, unhealthy water and sanitary conditions, reprisals from managers or others. And we don’t want to be cast out into the streets homeless and penniless with our only …

•  5 Comments
• Photos (6)

Readers React to Dispatch From Sunset Village

Patch has a round-up of your thoughts on a recent letter to the editor from resident of the mobile park.

A little more than a week ago, we ran a letter to the editor from a Sunset Village resident who's parting ways with the controversial mobile park. Chris Iosello, the letter's author, highlights the lack of services residents have received for years, as well as the lack of attention they've received from public officials. Iosello's note concludes with sad irony—"I am leaving Vice City and the best view of Sunset Village will be from my rearview mirror." Iosello's detailed letter of the residents' hardships comes after a May 2012 letter indicated hundreds of Sunset Village inhabitants were losing their homes. And as Iosello's farewell note circulated on Facebook, readers have shared their opinions on Sunset Village's conditions. Some shared …

•  10 Comments
• Photos (1)

The Final Chapter From Sunset Village

As hundreds of families leave the mobile park due to unsanitary living conditions and sky-rocketing living costs, one resident shares the community's story of struggle in this letter to the editor––one of Glenview Patch's most read stories this week.

Letters to the Editor

The Final Chapter From Sunset Village

As families leave the mobile park one by one due to unsanitary living conditions and sky-rocketing living costs, one resident shares the community's story of struggle.

Dear Editor, This will be my final report from Sunset Village as we and many other residents are planning to discontinue paying our lot fee’s and mortgages and extending out the foreclosure and eviction processes through litigation for as long as possible so that we may save up enough to move. It seems like a bad thing to do, but it’s no worse than what these lenders like MB Financial, Lincoln Financial and Village Officials and Legislators have done or allowed to happen to the residents here for a very long time. It should give everyone in Glenview great pause to consider that despite notifying every congressman, senator, village official, regulative agency and anyone else about the abhorrent and dangerous conditions in our community that…

•  31 Comments
• Photos (1)

Hundreds of Glenview Families Losing Their Homes

A letter to the editor from a Sunset Village resident was one of Glenview Patch's most read stories this week. If you missed it Tuesday check it out now.