POST FALLS - When Denise Brigham received her mail last Friday, she broke down in tears.

Brigham and all the other residents in El Rancho Mobile Home Park received a six-month notice of the park's closure.

"It's heartbreaking," said Brigham, who has lived in the 70-lot, 8.7-acre park at the northwest corner of Highway 41 and Mullan for 14 years. "I worry about what all the families in here are going to do."

Residents were told to move out by July 31.

Brigham said many of the residents are unemployed, can't afford much more than their $260-per-month lot rent and won't be able to move their homes because the structures are too old or the people can't muster the estimated $4,500 moving cost.

If the home was built before June 15, 1976, under state law, it must go through a rehabilitation process, which can be cost-prohibitive in some cases.

If the home is being moved into a city from the county, the roof must also have a 40-pound snow load, which can also add to the cost, along with required permits.

"I think it came at a bad time for a lot of people," Brigham said of the notice and referring to the recession.

Brigham, who is unemployed, worked at the North Idaho Community Express before the bus service shut down a year ago.

"It hasn't been the greatest couple years for me," she said.

She's now contemplating moving to California to live closer to family.

One couple, Lyle and Nola Streeter, has lived in the park for 34 years. Nola has managed the park for 15 years.

Residents said they figured it would only be a matter of time before they would have to move out of the park, which is about 50 years old but is on prime commercial ground at one of the busiest intersections in North Idaho.

Bob Kirkpatrick, who owned the property for 29 years, and RMM Investments sold it four and a half years ago for $3.32 million to a group of developers/investors called 41 and Mullan Investments, LLC.

Facing inevitable development of the site, some residents moved out since then. But 45 of the lots are still occupied and residents said they were under the impression they would still have a few years to live there, especially with the slow economy and building market.

"I heard two to six years the other night," said resident Steve McAnulty. He has been unemployed for about a year and his wife, Iverna, has been jobless for two months.

"We didn't see this coming now. I guess we got complacent," he added.

Two months ago, Vandervert Developments and five other partner investors parted ways and split their properties. FF, LLC acquired El Rancho.

Paul Delay, a Seattle attorney and partner in FF, LLC, referred questions to Randall Probasco, an attorney with the Coeur d'Alene firm of Brown, Justh and Romero that served the notice.

Probasco said the park's closure was due to the aging and deterioration of the park's infrastructure, which can lead to health issues. The park was without water on Tuesday due to problems with a line.

The park is also not adequate for new units.

Probasco said the owners don't have any plans for the site.

"They are contacting several government agencies to see if assistance can be facilitated," he said. "The decision was not an easy one for them to make."

Some residents said they believe the current owners did what they could to keep residents housed, but fell into a money pit and blamed Vandervert for leaving a messy situation.

But Chris Bornhoft of Vandervert said the current owners were aware of the state of affairs in the park as they were also involved in the site before the split.

"They're not new owners," he said. "There shouldn't have been any confusion on their part."

Probasco declined to comment on the residents' allegations against Vandervert.

Residents said, while they were shocked to receive the notice, they're thankful the end of the six-month period is in the summer rather than winter.

But that doesn't take away from the pain they face of higher rent and finding somewhere else to live.

"I don't know how some of these people are going to make it if they have to pay $500, $600, $700 for rent," Brigham said.

The McAnultys said they were looking toward helping start a community garden in the park this year, but now have the challenge of moving instead. They also have been housing a homeless couple.

"We've gone from hope to the prospect of being homeless," Iverna said.