George Allen / EducateMHC Blog Mobile Home & Land Lease Community Advocate & Expert

September 21, 2009

Beginning of a New Era in Manufactured Housing Trade Journalism

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 1:28 pm

21 September 2009
Copyright 2009
First North American & Electronic Rights Only
BLOG # 52

Blogger’s Note. Blog # 52 commemorates the exciting beginning of a new era in manufactured housing trade journalism in at least two distinct ways:

• It’s the first blog to be featured on the new, OFFICIAL MHIndustry & LLCommunity website: www.community-investor.com

• Its’ subject matter announces the first new initiative in statistical data collection and distribution, throughout the landlease (nee manufactured home) community real estate asset class, in 21 years! After you’ve read it, please respond!

And that, my friends, scratches the surface of ‘all that’s going on in and around the manufactured housing industry and LLCommunity asset class today’! Seriously. If you can’t answer the following questions, you owe it to yourself and your business interests to contact me for answers. ‘If selling new HUD Code homes on–site, are you working with a manufactured housing Business Development Manager or BDM?’ You should be! ‘Have you attended a state MHAssociation-hosted Symposium, for LLCommunity owners/operators, during the past six months?’ That’s where you learn about the ‘new Title I program’! ‘Do you know the difference between new ‘community series’ manufactured homes and the heretofore ‘developer series’? If not, you’re not buying smart! And, most exciting of all: ‘Are you aware of the possible launch of a new MHIndustry & LLCommunity trade publication, titled CommunityInvestor during January 2010? If desirous of more information, and interested in subscribing, phone me @ (317)346-7156 or ask questions via gfa7156@aol.com

Now, here’s what 500+/- portfolio owners/operators of LLCommunities, throughout the U.S. and Canada, are receiving in the mail between 15 & 30 September 2009.

An Open Letter to Landlease (nee manufactured home) Community Owners

It’s time for a paradigm shift in statistical data collection and distribution re the landlease community (‘LLCommunity’) real estate asset class! While the manufactured housing industry regularly measures its’ benchmark numbers (albeit still counting home ‘shipments’, not ‘sales’), LLCommunities have moved little beyond identifying 500 major owners/operators and sizes of their property portfolios. We need much more!

During the current ‘down’ period of this real estate cycle, everyone is clamoring for transparency. The finance market is all but frozen for home and LLCommunity financing. Continuing ‘business as usual’ will result in us missing out on billions of Federal dollars and bank loans when they flow back into the real estate marketplace! These are dollars that should and will be available for home buying site lessees and LLCommunity owners.

Every major investment real estate asset class collects statistical data germane to its’ unique nature, usually relating to product inventory; construction, expansion and closure trends; operating expense figures; physical and economic occupancy; and homesite rental rates. While LLCommunity owners have their Rules of Thumb, we need data accuracy, transparency and accessibility for parties providing capital for home and realty financing!

This Open Letter to Landlease Community Owners/operators asks you to participate in the statistical data collection and distribution paradigm shift absolutely necessary to put our unique income – producing property type on a level playing field among all other realty asset classes! How do we accomplish this? Two ways:

• Complete & return enclosed 21st annual ALLEN REPORT questionnaire before the deadline of September 30, 2009. The formal report will be published during January 2010 either in the Allen Letter or possibly CommunityInvestor magazine.

• Contact Bruce Nell, senior managing director of PGP Valuation’s National Practice Group – MHC, via (614)540-2590 or bruce.nell@pgpinc.com indicating your willingness to participate in this historic effort to measure our asset class!

Thank You in advance for your cooperation in this important & historic project.

George Allen, Realtor™, CPM™, MHM™
Consultant to the Factory – built Housing Industry the Landlease Community Real Estate Asset Class
GFA Management, Inc. dba PMN Publishing
Box # 47024
Indianapolis, IN. 46247 085
(317)346-7156 & gfa7156@aol.com (614)

Bruce Nell, Senior Managing Director
Nat’l Practice Group Leader
PGP Valuation, Inc.
870 High St., Suite #11
Columbus, OH 43085
614-540-2950

There are no plans for the ALLEN REPORT to cease or change; simply, we must add substantially and accurately to the LLCommunity data collection and distribution effort!

*****
Bet you’d like to know how this initiative came about. Pretty simple actually. Periodically, during the past 25 years, as a Certified Property Manager™ member of the Institute of Real Estate Management (‘IREM’), I attempted to interest that professional property management international trade body to include our unique income–producing property type in their annual compendiums on operating expenses for apartments, office buildings, and shopping centers – but to no avail. A few years ago I attempted to similarly interest MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC”) in creating a similar annual report featuring the LLCommunity asset class. That initiative got bogged down in association politics. So, at this year’s 18th annual International Networking Roundtable in Bloomingdale, IL. (9 – 11 September 2009), and during Bruce Nell’s presentation ‘Toward An Asset Class Data Base!’ a group decision was made to attempt a statistical data collection and distribution cooperative partnership between PGP Valuation, Inc., and GFA Management, Inc. The initial effort, to this end, has been to enclose the above Open Letter to Landlease Community Owners/operators with the 21st annual ALLEN REPORT cover letter and questionnaire sent to 500+/- portfolio owners/operators of LLCommunities throughout the U.S. and Canada. It will be interesting, and hopefully exciting, to tally the responses to both requests for statistical data input! You can follow the progress of this timely and historic effort within the pages of the monthly Allen Letter and possibly, CommunityInvestor magazine! GFA

****

George Allen, Realtor™, CPM™, & MHM™
Consultant to the Factory – built Housing Industry &
The Landlease Community Real Estate Asset Class
Box # 47024
Indianapolis, IN. 46247
(317)346-7156

Postscript.

If you own five or more LLComunities and or 500 or more rental homesites, and have not received the above–referenced cover letter and questionnaire, and Open Letter, but would like to participate in either or both statistical data collection efforts, please let Bruce Nell and or me know ASAP.

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