Perrys Lake

Perry's Lake is a 55+ land-lease manufactured home community in Manahawkin (Stafford Township), Ocean County, New Jersey, just minutes from Long Beach Island and the Jersey Shore. Developed between 1999 and 2007 by Davis Enterprises, the community contains 450 private single-family manufactured homes arranged around two large lakes with decorative fountains. Homes here are larger and more residential than a typical manufactured-home park. Floor plans range roughly 1,320 to 1,680 square feet, almost all 2-bedroom/2-bath with gas heat and central air conditioning. Most homes have private driveways and attached garages, and many include sunrooms or vaulted ceilings. Because this is a land-lease arrangement, residents purchase the home itself but lease the underlying lot from the community. The monthly lot rent (recently in the $759-$800 range) notably includes property taxes, which keeps monthly budgeting simple and predictable for retirees on a fixed income. Financing for home purchases is available. Social life centers on a 6,200-square-foot clubhouse with multi-purpose rooms used for card games, crafts, meetings and club gatherings. Amenities include a large in-ground outdoor pool, a separate wading pool for visiting grandkids, a jacuzzi, a fitness room, a billiards room, an arts and crafts studio, two tennis courts, two shuffleboard courts, two horseshoe pits, a bocce court, a basketball court, a small putting green, and an on-site playground. Active resident clubs include aerobics, basketball, billiards, bocce, bridge, card games, horseshoes, a Ladies Club, a Men's Club, and a sewing club. The setting is suburban-countryside quiet but extraordinarily well located for shore living. Perry's Lake sits east of the Garden State Parkway (Exit 63) and west of Route 9, with Route 72 — the causeway road to Long Beach Island — running directly past the community. Residents can walk or take a short drive to grocery stores, banks, restaurants, department stores and home-improvement stores clustered along the Route 72 corridor in Manahawkin. The beaches of LBI (Ship Bottom, Beach Haven, Surf City, Harvey Cedars, Barnegat Light) are typically reachable in under 15 minutes without paying LBI real-estate prices, and Atlantic City is roughly 30 minutes south. The Stafford Township Arts Center, Ocean Acres Country Club, Barnegat Lighthouse State Park, and numerous marinas and boat ramps round out the local lifestyle options. Hackensack Meridian Southern Ocean Medical Center — the area's main acute-care hospital — is less than two miles away on Route 72.