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

February 24, 2017

National Registry of ALL Lenders, Selling House Trailers, & Predatory Practices….

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 7:34 am

Blog # 435 Copyright @ 26 February 2017; community-investor.com

Perspective. ‘Land lease communities, previously manufactured home communities, & ‘mobile home parks’, comprise the real estate component of manufactured housing.’

This blog posting is the sole national advocate voice, official ombudsman & historian, research report & online communication media for North American LLCommunities.’

To input this blog &/or affiliate with Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, a.k.a. COBA7, use official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764.

COBA7 Motto: ‘U Support US & WE Serve U! Goal of its’ print/online media = to
‘Not only inform & opine, but transform & improve MHBusiness model performance!’
______________________________________________________________________

INTRODUCTION. Very much a mixed bag of industry and asset class news today!

Just like January’s the 28th edition of the ALLEN REPORT, was the ‘biggest & best’ to date (28 years!), similar is the case of the 19th edition, National Registry of ALL Lenders Serving the MHIndustry & LLCommunities Nationwide! Nowhere and at any time will you find a more comprehensive description of real estate-secured and chattel capital markets and loan originators than with this document! It also includes timely information about Lease-option methodology.

Guess it was bound to happen. A HUD-Code home manufacturer, selling new Community Series Homes into land lease communities, has stirred up some ire due to product design and quality issues, along with customer service and reimbursement matters. This might be the acid test for a HUD administrator, to see whether timidity or action will prevail.

Finally; have you ever wondered just what makes the Allen CONFIDENTIAL! business newsletter so valuable to the several dozen executives who read it each month? Well, here’s a late breaking story for you to peruse.

I.

’19th National Registry of ALL Lenders’, to Rock Communities!

Have you made arrangements to receive your copy of this seminal document? If not, don’t delay doing so, as it will be distributed with the March issue of the Allen Letter professional journal.

So, what’s all the ‘buzz’ about this time around? First off, there’re no fewer than 27 real estate-secured mortgage brokers and lenders listed – that’s a record number in the 19 year history of this Signature Series Resource Document, or SSRD. But that’s not all!

The total dollar amount of land lease community acquisition and refinance loans originated during year 2016, exceeds $6,385,700,00.00. Seriously.

And the 2016 ‘record production level’ is UP from $4,175,000,000.00 in year 2015; and, UP from $3,870,500,000.00 the year before (2014). And looking back farther, year 2013 = $2.9 billion; 2012 = $2.3 billion; 2011 = $1.9 billion; and, 2010 = $1.1 billion.

Besides $ origination ‘statistics’, the 19th National Registry of ALL Lenders contains the names and telephone numbers of more than 40 mortgage/loan originators working for at least 27 firms! Where else in the manufactured housing industry are you going to find a more comprehensive statistical resource and contact directory than this? You’re not, as it simply does not exist!

To arrange to receive a copy of this SSRD, phone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764, and affiliate with COBA7 at the Option II or III level.

NOTE. We’re still working on the chattel capital portion of the National Registry. This segment is different. Polled 40 chattel capital resources but only one responded with loan origination data for year 2016. Interesting. So, the chattel capital portion of this year’s National Registry is be a directory of more than two dozen individuals and firms to contact, when in search of chattel capital for on-site seller-financing of new HUD-Code homes.

II,

Selling Horse Trailers & House Trailers as MHRetailers

In last week’s blog posting (#434) this salient observation was made about an errant HUD-Code home manufacturer:

“One HUD-Code home manufacturer is drawing the ire of some land lease
community customers, for what they describe as ‘major construction defects
in single and multi section homes’, as well as less than marginal customer
service, and slow-to-no payment for repairs after delivery. COBA7 is being
pressed to provide a public forum where business customers can air these
complaints, as apparently no national advocate of the manufactured housing
industry will do so at this time. Geesh! And just when we’re, as an industry,
starting to recover!”

Well, here’s a response we received from a former ‘mobile home’ dealer, who sold everything from house trailers to horse trailers, and owned more than a half dozen (then) mobile home parks containing more than 1,000 rental homesites:

“WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF RETAILING MOBILEHOMES!”

Know what? That just isn’t right! Many of us believe the industry has moved beyond the self-defeating, image-destroying practices just described. But no, guess we haven’t, when a manufactured housing factory defaults to chicanery to ship more homes.

What to do about this sorry matter? The easy solution would be for HUD’s manufactured housing program administrator to send a trusted, qualified, experienced, motivated inspection team to the firm’s plants in question, to learn firsthand how and why such marginal quality product is making it out of the factory, and into land lease communities in affected regions.

Will this happen? I doubt it – but we can hope it will. Given the political turmoil in Washington, DC., these days, with a new administration making its’ way through an economic and regulatory morass (i.e. ‘Drain the swamp!’), it stands to reason HUD political, even career appointees, might be reticent to ‘sticking their necks out’ to rectify a matter like this – when ‘just the opposite’ should be the case! How so? As some say, ‘The best defense is a good offence’, so why not investigate one allegedly mal-performing interloper; make appropriate decisions; and act accordingly?! Simply shows one is ‘doing ones’ job’ protecting the greater good (industry) from the taint of a few. Let’s wait and see what occurs.

Bottom line? Either timidity well prevail, or ‘cowboy hats & boots’ will fly!

FLASH ANN OUNCEMENT. Now there’s a new developing story, coming out about another brand of HUD-Code manufactured home, this time having to do with an across-the-board $500.00 per new home price increase, ostensibly having to do with an increase in lumber price. Will look into it further, and perhaps ‘tell more’ in next week’s blog posting at this website.

III.

MHAction blasts predatory practices of private equity firms

Have you wondered what you’re missing by not reading the Allen CONFIDENTIAL! business newsletter each month? It’s the Option III level of affiliation with COBA7 and is comprised of MHIndustry & LLCommunity news and views you’ll read nowhere else. With that said, here’s the lead off paragraph from the March 2017 issue of TAC!

Thursday evening, 23 February, nearly three dozen individuals participated in a conference call hosted by MHAction. Yes, that’s an ‘allenism’, or abbreviation, of ‘Manufactured Housing Action’. MHAction leaders were joined by representatives from New York Communities for Change, Tenants & Neighbors New York City, and Alliance of California Communities Enforcement – or words to that effect.

Goal of the conference call? Share and discuss what’s happening around the country, relative to’ predatory practices of private equity firms’ practices hurting their homes and communities via marginal maintenance, lack of infrastructure care, raising rent, and reducing services.

Firms identified during the conference call? Camelot Meadows, an ELS, Inc., LLCommunity in MD; Heritage community, as part of Brookfield Properties; Blackstone’s rental homes; Colony; RVHorizons; and, Westbrook, another ELS, Inc., LLCommunity, in Utah.

End result? Plans for a National Day of Action on 10 April 2017. There was one humorous quip. When LLCommunity homeowner/site lessees talked of putting protest signs in their windows, saying: ‘Sweep Predatory Companies From Our Community’, one of the reps from New York City suggested his sign would likely go unread, as his apartment is on the 16th floor of a high rise building.

***

February 17, 2017

Newsy Notes from arouond the MHIndustry!

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 8:52 am

Blog # 434 Copyright @ 19 February 2017; community-investor.com

Perspective. ‘Land lease communities, previously manufactured home communities, & ‘mobile home parks’, comprise the real estate component of manufactured housing.’

This blog posting is the sole national advocate voice, official ombudsman & historian, research report & online communication media for North American LLCommunities!

To input this blog &/or affiliate with Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, a.k.a. COBA7, use official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764

COBA7 Motto: ‘U Support US & WE Serve U! Goal of its’ print/online media = to
‘Not only inform & opine, but transform & improve MHBusiness model performance!’
______________________________________________________________________

I.

Newsy Notes from around the MHIndustry!

• MHI’s Winter meeting in San Antonio attracted more than 100 participants! 24 of whom were owners/operators of land lease communities; 18 HUD-Code home manufacturing firm representatives, 18 state MHAssociation executives, 14 lenders from ‘both sides of the aisle’, seven suppliers, six MHRetailers, and a smattering of attorneys, insurance agents, and several new friends from FHFA and both GSEs. Central message? ‘New administration in Washington, DC., likely business-friendly; and hopefully, a relaxed regulatory climate for all!’ But guess which HUD staffer no one would talk about, despite prodding from Mr. Kovach. Makes one stop and wonder, ‘Just who is it that makes policy decisions at MHI?’ And on a sad note: Helen, wife of Don Westphal, fell and broke her hip the last evening; so, reach out and send them your Get Well Wishes!

• Kurt Kelley, esquire, has launched Manufactured Housing Review, touted as online successor to Jim Visser’s print publication, The Journal. I’ve read the inaugural issue: good commentary by LLCommunity owner David Roden; and more. Let’s hope Kurt can avoid being the bully pulpit for irresponsible remarks, e.g. encouraging LLCommunity owners/operators to double their site rent rates during the year ahead.

• One HUD-Code home manufacturer is drawing ire of some land lease community customers, for what they describe as ‘major construction defects in single and multi section homes’, as well as less than marginal customer service and slow-to-no repayment for repairs after delivery. COBA7 is being pressed to provide a public forum where business customers can air these complaints, as apparently no national advocate for the manufactured housing industry will do so at this time. Geesh! And just when we’re, as an industry, starting to recover!

• Beg, borrow, or steal a copy of the March issue of the Allen Letter professional journal! Why? Lead article is a lightly edited reprint of the Santefort Real Estate Group ‘paper’ submitted to the Federal Housing Finance Agency at their Listening Session in Chicago a few weeks ago. The FHFA, I’m told, found it to be one of the most accurate and compelling descriptions of selling & seller-financing new HUD-Code homes on-site in land lease communities! AND, the 19th annual National Registry of ALL Lenders Serving the MHIndustry & LLCommunities, one of a dozen signature series resource documents (‘SSRDs’) updated month by month by COBA7, will be enclosed as a lagniappe for Option II & I II alliance affiliates. Trust me, you don’t want to miss either of these seminal documents! To affiliate with COBA7, simply phone (317) 346-7156.

• COBA7, as manufactured housing’s official historian, has been asked by several industry leaders to recalculate, as necessary, then republish annual new HUD-Code home shipment totals, going back at least a decade – maybe two, using unadulterated monthly figures supplied by the Institute for Building Technology & Safety (‘IBTS’) – HUD’s contractor for ‘keeping these records’. You see, IBTS does NOT publish annual shipment totals! Why? Because there’re always a few DESTINATION PENDING houses left each year (despite the fact one national advocate ‘assumes’ all are shipped to specific state destinations and reports accordingly). SO, this is a ‘proof exercise’ to ensure our ‘annual shipment history’, going forward, is based ONLY on IBTS monthly records, and not someone’s guesstimate relative to DESTINATION PENDING units. A copy of the finished ‘work product’ will be supplied to the RV/MH Hall of Fame library for reference purposes.

• I experienced a epiphany, of sorts, while participating in MHI’s Winter Meeting in San Antonio, TX. An answer, if you will, to what has ailed our industry ‘for decades’. What follows here is the Executive Summary from correspondence being submitted this week to the FHFA and both GSEs: “Many, if not most, manufactured housing mortgages, of the chattel capital or personal property type, on new homes destined for, if not already installed within, land lease communities, are configured as ‘risky’ investments (for the homeowner/site lessee & lender), rather than as ‘affordable’ arrangements! The root cause of this perennial, self-defeating lending practice has to do with ‘homebuyers/site lessees buying more home than they can truly afford’ – or being encouraged to do so, by those selling, and or originating mortgages on these homes.” The paper goes on to explain just how to make the change from ‘risky’ to ‘affordable’….And, copies of this document will be circulated, as an enclosure, to the Allen CONFIDENTIAL! business newsletter, appearing March 1, 2017.

***

February 10, 2017

Manufactured Housing Conundrums revisited, & Lack of Leadership…

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 6:45 am

Blog # 433 Copyright @ 12 February 2017; community-investor.com

Perspective. ‘Land lease communities, previously manufactured home communities, & ‘mobile home parks’, comprise the real estate component of manufactured housing.’

This blog posting is the sole national advocate voice, official ombudsman & historian research report & online communication media for North American LLCommunities!

To input this blog &/or affiliate with Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, a.k.a. COBA7, use Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877)MFD-HSNG or 633-4764

COBA7 Motto: ‘U Support US & WE Serve U! Goal of its’ print/online media = to
‘Not only inform & opine, but transform & improve MHBusiness model performance!’
_____________________________________________________________________

INTRODUCTION.

Part I. We’ve archived all 432 blog postings to date, and often scroll back through them for reference purposes. Hence the material used for Part I today. More to come later.

Part II. Frankly, I’m tired of ignoring provocateurs spouting self-serving messages like, ‘Double your site rents in 2017’ in one instance, and ‘Want to use my resources? Hire me as your consultant!’ in another. Nor, in my opinion, can we continue to rely on salaried leaders of three national advocacy entities to ‘lead’ the entire MHIndustry & LLCommunity asset class. We need one or more charismatic leaders with, as we say in the Marines, command presence – and more! And who might that be?

I.

Manufactured Housing’s Conundrums Revisited

(Conundrums? Riddles, Hard Questions)

Slightly more than a year ago, on 24 January 2016 to be exact, blog posting # 383 described the manufactured housing industry & land lease community mishmash of conundrum-like riddles and questions using 14 bullet points. It’s high time for an update. but we’re not going to revisit all of them this time around, but rather highlight significant advances and miscues occurring since then. And perhaps more conundrums in a future blog posting.

Relative to Community Series Homes, their popularity continues to increase, with some HUD-Code home manufacturers, reportedly, using them as loss-leaders. Result? TRIPLE the number of new HUD-Code homes shipped directly into land lease communities since year 2009 = 48,789 total units X .24% = 11,709; 2015 new homes; year 2015 = 70,544 total units X .41% = 28,923 new homes; &, year 2016 = 81,136 units X at least 41% = 34,007+ new homes. Again, TRIPLE the influx of new HUD-Code homes into LLCommunities since year 2009! Still forecasting 75% of annual shipments going into LLCommunities by year 2020, as manufacturers increasingly embrace this emerging market. Many still do not know how to prospect for properties and owners!

Are HUD-Code home manufacturers exercising price compression without sacrificing quality, energy efficiency and product reputation? In some cases, YES, but NO in one major regrettable instance! Otherwise, the Big Three C firms (Clayton, Champion, Cavco) appear to be ‘holding their own’, balancing price and product. At last report, MHI manufacturer members garner 80+/- percent of national market share of HUD-Code homes! Now, if MHI would just stop claiming, on its’ website, to represent the entire factory-built housing industry (It doesn’t! Only 5% @ HUD-Code, & maybe 5% @ modular housing, but NO production site builders or panelizers!), we’d find the remainder of their published statistics easier to believe – except of course, their routinely adulterated Institute for Building Technology & Science (‘IBTS’) monthly MH shipment totals (e.g. December 2016, where IBTS posted 6,995 units; MHI calculated something altogether different). Advice? Want MHIndustry ‘cred’ in DC? Be accurate on all fronts!

Where a year ago, only one HUD-Code home manufacturer had an in-house, or closely-related, independent third party chattel capital finance source, working in partnership with them, to factory-finance or seller-finance homebuyer/site lessee transactions on-site, most manufacturers do so today! That’s a major achievement right there. Now we just need to be able to securitize and liquidate seasoned mortgages, to free up capital to originate more chattel loans. Hence, the importance of the FHFA (Federal Housing Finance Agency) Listening Sessions taking place this month in Chicago, Washington, DC., and San Francisco – to help the GSEs (Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac) craft DTS (Duty to Serve) programs relative to manufactured housing and land lease communities. As a related aside, more LLCommunity owners were present at the Chicago Listening Session, than firms from any other segment of the manufactured housing industry!

Floor fees. Now, here’s the closest thing the manufactured housing industry has to a sacred cow conundrum! Prior to 1985, all floor fees went to one national advocacy entity and affiliated state associations. Since 1985, a second national advocacy entity joined in that funding mix. And, with the 2014 addition of a third national advocacy entity (As another related aside, one really must ask: ‘What’s causing new national manufactured housing advocacy entities to emerge?’), a new industry/realty asset class reality will have to be addressed: ‘Where should 500+/- land lease community portfolio owners/operators direct their floor fees be credited, to achieve the most bang for their bucks re: national& state lobbying efforts, general regulatory relief, national housing brand advertising, and industry image improvement? Read Part II following….

So, there you have a conundrum update relative to HUD-Code home manufacturers. In coming weeks we’ll do something similar for the remaining ten bullet points, as they relate to 1) land lease community operations, 2) affordable housing crisis matters, & 3) hybrid approach to manufactured housing finance within LLCommunities.

II.

LACK of LEADERSHIP THROUGHOUT

“Hear Me Out Before You Judge The Headline” GFA

• There is no one person to identify as leader of the manufactured housing industry (including the 50,000+/- land lease community realty asset class) today. It’s not Tim Williams, head of 21st Mortgage Corporation, & present chairman of the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’). Nor is it Mark Weiss, esquire, executive director of the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (‘MHARR’). And it isn’t Samuel Zell, chairman of real estate investment trust, ELS, Inc.- largest owner of 390+/- LLCommunities in the world. And it sure isn’t me, administrator of the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance (‘COBA7′), a division of GFA Management, Inc., dba PMN Publishing. Anyone else? So much for the leadership vacuum amongst the industry& asset class’ three national advocacy entities and our billionaire investor friend.

• While the trade press is rarely, if ever, thought of in terms of ‘leading an industry’, recent business developments require a review of what’s happened of late. As of December 2016, all subscriber-supported print trade publications are GONE! No Manufactured Home Merchandiser, The Journal, Modern Home, & Community Management magazines. (Yes, a new publisher and trade rag may yet appear, but hasn’t to date). What’s left is a couple online ezines, one of which berates (‘scolds’) to draw attention – featuring maverick writers and out of context commentary – likely sullying reps in the process. The other ezine, and this weekly blog posting, continue to plod along, content with educating the manufactured housing industry, communicating what there’s need to know, ultimately, some are wont to say, leading by example.

So, what’s this all about? Once again, and for about the tenth time at least, noise is being made to better utilize industry funds for – as was identified in Part I of this week’s blog posting – 1) national & state lobbying efforts, 2) general regulatory relief, 3) national housing brand advertising, and 4) industry image improvement.

The commentary runs like this. From some quarters, ‘Strip all responsibilities from MHI and force them to concentrate on national lobbying for the manufactured housing industry! Others? Better financially support MHARR and ‘turn it loose’ on the regulatory constraints hamstringing housing manufacturers. Finally, assemble a team of marketing experts, drawn from national advocacy organizations, to craft and fund a true national housing brand advertising program. And finally; reach out to ALL land lease communities nationwide, and scattered site homeowners, encouraging them to get on board a sweeping industry image improvement effort.

Is all this possible? We won’t know until we try. And here’s ‘the rub’ in all this: Finding a nationally known and respected, capable, experienced, and motivated LEADER we can all support, and Do So; OR, default to those who repeatedly and publicly claim to ‘want the job’ and let the chips fall where they may. Yikes! Let’s hope the former prevails over the latter alternative.

While all this, so far, has been and is, ‘easy to say’ (or write), it’s a far more difficult task to organize, plan, and effect. Take advertising for example. As was pointed out, this month, by a savvy MHIndustry executive. There’re at least three major hurdles to developing and effecting a national advertising campaign for manufactured housing:

1. Money. Advertising is expensive. Will all ‘players’ be willing to participate? Another good reason to revisit the floor fees allocation situation..

2. Advertising focus. Affected, start to finish, by self-interest. For example: Community owners will press for ads selling Community Series Homes into their properties; while manufacturers, per past practice, will likely press for ‘Big Box = Big Bucks’ developer series homes, with their greater profit margins

3. Once again; who to oversee the ad program? Sure, there’s a ‘volunteer’ or two out there angling for this responsibility, but has their past performance(s) on the national scene as ‘leaders’ qualify or disqualify them for this precedent-setting task?

Methinks this MHIndustry executive has put his finger on the pulse of the challenge at hand. Where do we go from here?

A good start might be at the MHI Winter Meeting in San Antonio this week. No, not in one of those storied closed session attended only by major corporate or political players, but an Open Meeting among all present at the meeting. Why? Because private sessions, at MHI meetings, already have a bad rep for ‘what goes on behind closed doors’, with, in this industry observer’s opinion, decisions benefitting a favored few.

***

George Allen, CPM,. MHM
COBA7, Box # 47024, Indianapolis, IN. 46247 (317) 346-7156

February 4, 2017

COBA7 Challenge Coins = HOT; See Ya in San Antoinio? & 81,136 New MHS in 2016

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 5:55 am

Blog # 432 Copyright @ 5 February 2017: community-investor.com

Perspective. “land lease communities, previously manufactured home communities, & ‘mobile home parks’, comprise the real estate component of manufactured housing.’

This blog posting is the sole national advocate voice, official ombudsman 7 historian research report & online communication media for North American LLCommunities!

To input this blog &/or affiliate with Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, a.k.a. COBA7, use Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (9\877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764

COBA7 Motto: ‘U Support US & WE Serve U!’ Goal of its’ print/online media = to
‘Not only inform & opine, but transform & improve MHBusiness model performance!’
_____________________________________________________________________

INTRODUCTION: Wow! Since debuting in January 2017, as a national advocate for land lease communities and manufactured housing, the alliance has been on a very fast track educationally, research wise, and motivating affiliates with the group’s very first Challenge Coin.

And now COBA7 is preparing to participate in MHI’s Winter meeting in San Antonio, TX. Will you be there? I understand there’s some interesting doings afoot – but we’ll surely not hear about them beforehand. Why? Ask the folk who like to keep everything so quiet and behind the scenes these days….

The shipment numbers for December 2016 and all of 2016 are now in and posted. While it was a good year, we have a long long way to go before we return to shipment totals experienced at the turn of the Century. But we’re making progress, I think, with reasonable access to chattel capital.

I.

COBA7 & Challenge Coins Enjoying Popularity!

Three weeks ago, COBA7 affiliates trained and certified ten Manufactured Housing Managers or MHMs; ‘splained’ to a dozen HUD-Code housing manufacturers how to prospect for land lease communities nationwide; and, taught 11 LLCommunity owners/operators how to use Lease-Option as a seller-finance option for on-site home sales transactions. It’s simply ‘amazing’ to me – or perhaps the correct word choice is ‘sad’, that no other national trade entity offers this sort of professional property management training & certification; ‘How to Sell More New HUD-Code Homes!’; and, best use of this increasingly popular finance methodology to fill vacant rental homesites. Go figure.

Two weeks ago, COBA7, as national advocate for the land lease community realty asset class, participated in the first Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (‘FHFA’) first Listening Session pursuant to preparation of Duty to Serve programs by GSEs Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac. Also responded, in writing, to FHFA’s request for a ‘Chattel Capital Pilot RFI’ – more on that later in this blog posting. Watch to see if ‘anyone else’ covers similar proceedings in Washington, DC., and San Francisco, CA.

This past week, COBA7 distributed dozens of new Challenge Coins to affiliates throughout the U.S. & Canada. The coins have turned out to be so popular, we’re nearly out of stock and have ordered 100 more! And this same week, COBA7 mailed letter questionnaires to 50 real estate loan originators (for LLCommunities mortgages) and to 40 independent third party chattel capital sources – inviting all of them to be listed in the ’19th annual National Registry of ALL Lenders Serving Land Lease Communities & the Manufactured Housing Industry’, the Signature Series Resource Document, or SSRD, to be distributed as a lagniappe in the March issue of the Allen Letter professional journal. Will you be on the receiving end of this ‘second most popular’ SSRD? The most popular one, of course, is the 28th annual ALLEN REPORT. To affiliate, use the COBA7 brochure accompanying this blog posting.

II.

You Going to MHI’s Winter Meeting in San Antonio?

I am, as voting representative for COBA7, a division of GFA Management, Inc., dba PMN Publishing; and, as a Certified Representative of the Illinois Manufactured Housing Association (‘IMHA’).

Rumor has it we might learn of one or more new terms HUD-Code housing manufacturers believe would better serve our industry than ‘manufactured housing’. How does ‘prefabulous homes’ sound to you? No, that’s likely not one of the choices, but it is one I came across this week while visiting some brightly-colored new modular homes.

When I inquired recently, as to why NCC members aren’t polled ahead of time, as to topics they’d like to see included on their meeting agenda, a fellow NCC member quipped: “Oh, didn’t you know? We’re under Mushroom Management!. Ha! Go ahead & google it; you deserve a chuckle….

And yes, I am attending this meeting in San Antonio, with some trepidation (‘tremulous agitation’). After all, it’s the four year three month anniversary of the infamous verbal ambush suffered by a former MHI member and me, at the hands of a long gone NCC chairman, during the NCC meeting there. And know what? To this date, there’s not been an explanation or apology from MHI leaders, for that nasty public outburst. How would you feel?

Wonder if we’ll hear more about our ‘MH brethren to the North’ (Canada) and the new year regrouping, in council fashion, of MHICanada & CMHI, under the auspices of the Canadian Home Builders Association (‘CHBA’) – and whether this might be a practical template for the unification of HUD-Code manufactured housing in the U.S., in council fashion, under the auspices of the National Association of Home Builders (‘NAHB’)? Don’t hold your breath….

III.

81,136 New HUD-Code Homes Shipped During 2016!

The 6,995 new HUD-Code homes shipped during December 2016 raises the annual total shipment number to 81,136 – the highest such figure since year 2008, when the manufactured housing industry shipped 81,889 new homes nationwide!

And what is the ‘production value’ of those 81,136 new HUD-Code homes shipped during 2016? Using Dr. Stephen C. Cooke’s ‘production value’ formula = $3 1/2 billion!

Top Ten ‘shipping states’ in December (in actual performance, not a cumulative count) = LA, TX,. FL, MI, NC, AL, MS, CA, SC, & KY. Together they shipped 4,914 new HUD-Code homes, or 70% of the 6,995 units shipped that month. An apt case study of Pareto’s Law; where in this case, 20+/- percent of the states produced slightly less than 80 percent of the shipments!

Ever see an Official COBA7 MHShipment ‘#s & $s’ Report? December’s attached to this blog posting. And, if you haven’t yet affiliated with the Community Owners (7 part) Business Alliance, use attached brochure to do so today!

***

George Allen, CPM, MHM
COBA7, a division of GFA Management, Inc., dba PMN Publishing
Box # 47024, Indianapolis, IN. 46247 (317) 346-7156

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