Wildflower was founded on its unique ability to develop creative, long-term investment opportunities while making a difference in the communities we operate in.
By providing an affordable pathway to homeownership for many individuals and families and inspiring a higher standard of living, we stand to thrive in the most unlikely places like wildflowers. Founded by Karen Fan, Wildflower Communities is a privately held, vertically integrated real estate investment firm dedicated to acquiring, operating, and developing manufactured housing communities, America’s most enduring affordable housing solution.
Our mission is to provide vibrant, high quality affordable housing to our residents, empower our dedicated employees who bring our vision to life, while offering our partners attractive risk-adjusted returns, significant tax advantages, and capital appreciation. Our team blends entrepreneurial resourcefulness with institutional expertise to elevate living standards and create long-term value that can withstand and prosper through the most volatile real estate markets. Our results are thriving communities and a lasting legacy for all.
Leadership - Disciplined but entrepreneurial with sophisticated institutional level perspective.
Karen Fan
Founder & Principal
As the founder and principal of Wildflower Communities, Karen is responsible for the investment strategy, all aspects of acquisitions, implementation of capital improvement plans, and day-to-day management of her communities. She is committed to being an advocate and innovator of quality, affordable housing in our country.
Prior to Wildflower, she was involved in real estate acquisitions for a prominent New York Real Estate family member who owns over 2,000,000 SF of real estate including premier retail, hotel, and office assets valued at over $1 Billion. Karen also worked in investment sales at Eastern Consolidated. Prior to her career in real estate, Karen worked with and consulted for senior executive leaders at Fortune 50 companies to design and champion company HR best practices to attract, engage, and retain talent.
Karen is passionate about helping local communities. She is a supporter of Robin Hood and the former elected Chair of the Young Professionals Board at KickStart International. She is also a member of the Florida Manufactured Housing Association. Recently, she was awarded to be one of 2024 GlobeSt’s Woman of Influence in the Investment Professional/Owner in the Commercial Real Estate category.
Karen holds a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from the University of Michigan, a Master of Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University, and a M.S. for Real Estate Development at New York University, where she was elected Class President and selected as an Urban Leadership Scholarship recipient. When she is not operating manufactured housing communities, she enjoys skiing, swimming, playing padel, and traveling to see breathtaking landscapes around the world.