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

December 29, 2022

Final Zoom Call

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 7:36 am

Blog Posting # 721. Copyright 30 December 2022. EducateMHC

Perspective. Land lease communities, previously manufactured home communities, and earlier, ‘mobile home parks’ are the real estate component of manufactured housing! EducateMHC is the online national advocate, realty asset class historian, trend spotter, and education resource for land lease communities throughout North America! To input this blog and or connect with EducateMHC, telephone (317) 881-3815, email: gfa7156@aol.com, or visit EducateMHC.com to order Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry (the property management certification text); SWAN SONG, a history of land lease communities & only official record of annual MH production since 1955; & my autobiography, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven.

George Allen, CPM®Emeritus, MHM®Master, RV/MH Hall of Fame, & MHI Emeritus Member


Final Zoom Call on 12 January 2023

Plans are coming together for the 19 January panel presentation during the widely popular Louisville MHShow, 18-20 January 2023, at the state fairgrounds exhibit hall, just south of downtown Louisville, KY.

Next pre-panel prep sessions? 12 January 2023 = final Zoom call at 4PM EST. If you desire to participate – or just listen in, reach out ASAP to Ken Corbin via kcorbin@calkencorbin.com &

Pre-panel luncheon meeting on 17 January 2023 at 2PM. RSVP is important. Need $ sponsors!

Make it a point now to plan to be present on 19 January 2023 for the aforesaid panel presentation regarding the evolving MH Industry Awareness program. Your input is valued!

You already know my thoughts on this timely and important matter. All I’ll add here, is something a retired MH industry executive shared with me last week: ‘We need to bring back a national female spokesperson (for our industry)’, to make guest appearances on national morning TV shows across the U.S. – telling how manufactured housing’s schtick (‘one’s special trait, interest, activity’) makes it housing’s Secret Choice! The Secret? HUD-Code manufactured housing costs less than half, per square foot, what site-built housing costs!

And there’s historical precedent for having a female spokesperson representing our industry. Go to the RV/MH Hall of Fame member directory and search for the late Lisa Drake Conner.

Finally, I plan to be present at the Louisville MHShow next month. Make it a point to say ‘Hi’ to me, and let me know what topics you’d like to see me research and write about during 2023.

By the way, just learned on 28 December, that at least one of the Big Three C manufacturers of HUD-Code homes has lowered the base price on many of their models by between $1,000 and $2000 per unit. Now, that’s some good news going into the New Year 2023!


Christmas Eve 54 Years Past

This letter, lightly edited, is the one I wrote home on Christmas Eve 54 years ago. I was a U.S. Marine lieutenant serving at the Vandegrift forward combat base, formerly known as LZ Stud, just a few miles east of the infamous Khe Sanh combat base in northern I Corps, South Vietnam.

24 December 1968

Dearest Carolyn,

‘Tis the night before Christmas, and all through the bunker, not a Marine is stirring, just a half dozen rats a-scurrying.’ That’s the way it is right now. We’re all sitting down here quietly writing to our loved ones; a little later it will get noisier as the Gunny starts mixing holiday drinks. We even have canned egg nog.

And me, what have I to look forward to tomorrow? Getting up bright and early as usual, for the general’s briefing. Then I’ll be winging my way out to landing zone (‘LZ’) Dick, to rig several 105mm howitzers for helolifting back here to Vandegrift combat base (‘VCB’). And hopefully, sometime later in the day, I’ll have an opportunity to open my Christmas presents.

Received quite a bit of mail today. No letters from you though, but I did receive a welcome jar of nuts you sent me; they’re half gone already!

At the general’s briefing today I found out more about yesterday’s rocket attack. Seems we were actually hit with several 140mm rockets rather than the smaller 120mm ones. I’ll enclose a picture in case you don’t recall what it is I’m talking about. Casualties? We had one KIA (killed in action) and 20 WIAs (wounded in action) during the barrage.

We moved quite a bit of gear off the LZ today. Much of it was Christmas mail for the Troops, after we caught up on priority resupply to mountaintop FSBs (fire support bases), as we hadn’t been able to get to them during the past couple days.

Late in the afternoon we were treated to a little Christmas ‘color’. Four Huies (gunship-helicopters) flew over the LZ pad in line, trailing plumes of red and green smoke. Wish I’d had my camera in the control tower then.

Well darling, it goes without saying, this holiday season is going to be a very lonely one for us. It would be a most wonderful Christmas if I could be returning home to you girls! What more can I say darling; this Christmas Ever 1968, my heart just cries out in loneliness for you and Susie!

You can’t say Marines don’t know how to celebrate a holiday. Here at our combat base, just miles inside ‘no man’s land’ we have a Christmas tree with twinkling light on a nearby hill. And just a few minutes ago, the sky over Vandegrift was wholly lit up with the burst and flames of red, green, and white pyrotechnics, flares, etc….really a beautiful and nostalgic scene for all of us.

Well love, I guess this’ll have to do for tonight. I really feel I’d like to keep writing and writing, but I have a splitting headache. In any event, I want you and Susie to know all my love is with you during this Christmas season, and I long to return home to you very soon.

All My Love,

George


December 21, 2022

ZOOM did not go BOOM

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 11:57 am

Blog Posting # 720. Copyright 23 December 2022. EducateMHC

Perspective. Land lease communities, previously manufactured home communities, and earlier, ‘mobile home parks’ are the real estate component of manufactured housing! EducateMHC is the online national advocate, realty asset class historian, trend spotter, and education resource for land lease communities throughout North America! To input this blog and or connect with EducateMHC, telephone (317) 881-3815, email: gfa7156@aol.com, or visit EducateMHC.com to order Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry (the property management certification text); SWAN SONG, a history of land lease communities; & my autobiography: From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven.

George Allen, CPM®Emeritus, MHM®Master, RV/MH Hall of Fame, & MHI Emeritus Member

Seasons Greetings to All!

Here’s wishing you & yours a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, & Prosperous New Year!

Don’t know ‘bout you, but here in the Midwest we’re bracing for a winter storm with subzero temperatures this weekend. Today I’ll be stocking kindling and firewood for our fireplace, and ensuring water pipes are protected from freezing, e.g. unhook summertime water hoses.

In any event, know I miss and frequently think of my many friends in the manufactured housing industry even though I’ve been retired for 1 ½ years. Hope to see many of you during the Louisville MHShow, 18-20 January 2023, in Louisville, KY. Was hopeful there’d be serious movement toward launch of a national manufactured housing advertising program during this year’s show. Now I’m not so sure that will happen. If truly interested in such a needed movement, talk to me while at the show or share your thoughts via gfa7156@aol.com

Our inventory of my autobiography, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven is dwindling. If you haven’t read it yet, but are interested, order your copy from EducateMHC.com Some tell me they were surprised to learn I’d been trained as an ADM (atomic demolitions technician) while in Vietnam – ready to fly by helo into N. Vietnam if the NVA came across the DMZ (demilitarized zone). Also that, as a Marine lieutenant, I led a fully armed (with live ammunition) squad into a flooded U.S. city in 1973, to restore law and order during the middle of the night. And more….

And for that matter, if you own and operate one or more land lease communities in the U.S. and Canada, you need a copy of Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry in every property. This is the 8th edition of Mobile Home Park Management I first authored way back in 1988. Even contains dozens of copy machine-ready property management forms. Also order from EducateMHC.com

ZOOM did not go BOOM

OK, why do I doubt there’ll be “serious movement toward launch of a national manufactured housing advertising program during this year’s Louisville MHShow?’

Well, I participated in a second Zoom meeting on the 15th of December. While 22 individuals are identified as being members of the committee working to this end, only a dozen showed up, and the majority of them were manufactured housing association executives, and only one or two HUD-Code manufacturer representatives.

What was accomplished? In my opinion, not very much – just a lot of sharing local housing market (statewide) ‘war stories’ about programs, testimonials, and campaigns that worked in those locales. Yes, ‘helpful to know’ information, but only if worked into a national strategy designed to promote manufactured housing product awareness and sales. Personally, for such a major program to succeed, there’ll need to be a charismatic heavy-hitter leading the way, supported by the ‘Big Three C’ HUD-Code housing manufacturers and both national trade advocates in Washington, DC. To date, that’s not what I’m seeing. Kevin Clayton, Mark Yost, and Bill Boor, where are you?

Looking ahead. A final Zoom call is scheduled for 12 January 2023, with invitations to participate sent out during the week of 19 December 2022. Seriously interested in becoming involved? Reach out to consultant Ken Corbin. Then, on 17 January 2023, there’s a pre-show luncheon planned for 2PM at the Crowne Plaza hotel. And on the 19th of January 2023, at the Louisville MHShow, there’ll be a panel presentation manned by moderator Ken Corbin, assisted by Dr. Leslie Gooch of MHI, and two state MHAssociation executives.


GOOD NEWS?

During the 40 years I owned and operated GFA Management dba PMN Publishing, I divided my time fee managing land lease communities (and ones we owned), freelance consulting for other owners (e.g. Mystery Shopping & covert assignments), and communicating with peers (via Allen Letter and the Allen Confidential newsletter). So I was pretty much ‘in the know’, though with little time to dig deeper or broader in support of my writing.

Now however, in retirement, I’m far less ‘in the know’, but I have time to dig deeper and broader before writing, What follows is an example of how industry news comes to me these days.

In recent conversations with long time owners/operators of land lease community portfolios I kept picking up on a thread of information indicating new HUD-Code manufactured homes, in some if not many local housing markets, were costing less (wholesale) than during previous months. So I asked around and here’s what I learned:

‘There have been new home price fluctuations. The price of most new homes purchased nearly doubled during the pandemic, and lead times to get homes delivered grew from four to six weeks out to six months, oft due to supply chain problems and persistent staffing issues. However, around the middle of this year, new home prices began to drop – not to pre-pandemic levels, but a good 20+/- percentage decrease. Also, new home deliveries moved back toward pre-pandemic levels. Why? Resolution of some if not most, supply chain problems and staffing issues. But that’s not likely the whole story. In general, Independent (street) MHRetailers, returning to the market, refused to carry the heavy product inventories they did in the past – cutting back on factory orders. And of late there have been increases in interest rates.’

And the beat goes on. A good barometer of where the manufactured housing industry, and land lease communities, are today and where they might be headed, should be apparent during the upcoming Louisville MHShow. So, good reason to be present. Make your voice known about the need for, and way to plan, a national brand awareness advertising program – and get the lowdown on information to help you enter into 2023 well informed toward profitability. See you there! GFA


December 16, 2022

YES, ‘The Sleeping Giant (MH) Is A-Stirring!’

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 8:32 am

Blog Posting # 719. Copyright 16 December 2022. EducateMHC

Perspective. Land lease communities, previously manufactured home communities, and earlier, ‘mobile home parks’ comprise the real estate component of manufactured housing! EducateMHC is the online national advocate, realty asset class historian, trend spotter, education resource, and textbook supplier for land lease communities throughout North America! To input this blog and or connect with EducateMHC, telephone (317) 881-3815, email: gfa7156@aol.com, or visit EducateMHC.com to order From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven book.

George Allen, CPM®Emeritus, MHM®Master, RV/MH Hall of Fame, & MHI Emeritus member

YES, ‘The Sleeping Giant (MH) Is A-Stirring!’

There was a well-attended Zoom meeting last Thursday, and another one scheduled for this week. The central topic, both times – was & will be, the loosely-described ‘Defining Our Image’ task force presentation scheduled for 19 January at the Louisville MHShow. Specifically, is the manufactured housing industry looking towards an Awareness, Lead Generation, or ??? campaign? To that end, there’ll be a luncheon on 17 January, likely at the MHShow host hotel in Louisville. Watch this blog for more information during next couple weeks.

By the way, ‘The Big Three C’ housing manufacturers have voiced support of this emerging program!

As you might suspect, there’s quite a bit of verbiage flying around, offering thoughts as to what might be included, excluded, and otherwise. A recent email suggests, wisely, that “,,,there has to be a definable return on investment we can measure….” Will this be accomplished via polls before, during and after a campaign, or simply the volume of new home sales?

My input to date? For such a whole-industry program to be successful, IMHO, there needs to be a charismatic heavy-hitter executive involved in the leadership of this initiative. At some point it’s likely MHI and MHARR will become involved, so the leadership issue is and will be critical.

And the a-stirring continues. Send me your input via gfa7156@aol.com


One of MH’s Oldest Families Loses a Member

Adriane Christina DeRose owned and managed Carefree Homes, a land lease community and independent MHRetailer, in Pendleton, Indiana, since 2008. During the past 15 years she served as state chairperson of IMHA/RVIC (Indiana), and as Capitol City Chapter president. Her firm was also a member of the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’).

Adriane, during the 1990s, was a member of Mud Creek Players (Indianapolis), participating as actress and director. She appeared in leading production roles in the Philadelphia Story, Little Shop of Horrors, Arsenic and Old Lace, Crimes of the Heart. And her thespian passion also found her in the lead role of Annie Get Your Gun, and she starred in a 1987 film, Two Wrongs Make a Right.

Adriane is survived by her mother, her partner Dennis Jourdan, and several siblings.

Adriane is also the youngest daughter of the late and legendary Robert A. DeRose, founder of DeRose homes, an early manufacturer of ‘mobile homes’, then manufactured homes. Robert DeRose was a 40 year member of MHMA-MHI, and the first manufacturer to install ‘house style’ bathrooms in MHs in 1949. He then pioneered forced air heating and prefinished metal siding exteriors for this type factory-built housing. He also developed the Carefree land lease community mentioned earlier. Robert DeRose was inducted into the RV/MH Heritage Foundation’s prestigious Hall of Fame in 1988 (Elkhart, IN.).

Victor DeRose, an attorney, and one of Robert’s sons, continues to be recognized as a HUD-Code manufactured housing expert and resource to national advocates for the industry.

What’s so special about this family’s legacy? Simple. How many successful MH businessmen and women do you know who’ve actively participated in two or more major segments of the manufactured housing industry – including land lease communities, over an extended period of time? I can think of three – and like the DeRose family, all have passed onto new ownership, There’s Charles Fanaro with his Saddlebrook Farms in Grayslake, IL. & DWG manufacturing firm in Indiana. And Commodore Homes, in IN., before its recent sale to CAVCO. Before Jim Clayton sold to Berkshire-Hathaway, he manufactured and sold HUD-Code homes, and owned more than a dozen land lease communities. Who does this today? No one I can think of right now.


FACEBOOK HUMOR…

Picture Santa Claus and an average-looking middle-aged man sitting side by side on a bench. The man looks at Santa and says, “Hey, last time I saw you…you brought me socks and shaving cream in Kunda Har Province.” Santa, without pause, turns to the man and replies, “Marine recon, two tours in Nam.” Man responds, “Who’d a-thought, Santa was an operator!”

Well, it’s funny to those of us who’ve spent Christmas on a foreign battlefield. It reminds me of the photo on my office wall showing a bare-chested Marine with belts of ammo across his shoulder, cigarette dangling from his mouth, as he carries an M60 machine gun at low port. The caption? ‘The old man who shuffles around town with the Vietnam veteran hat on was at one time more bad ass than you will ever be!’






December 9, 2022

Responses to ‘Decline of Mainstream News Media’

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 1:49 pm

Blog Posting # 718. Copyright 9 December 2022. EducateMHC

Perspective. Land lease communities, previously manufactured home communities, and earlier, ‘mobile home parks’ comprise the real estate component of manufactured housing! EducateMHC is the online national advocate, realty asset class historian, trend spotter, education resource, and textbook supplier for land lease communities throughout North America! To input this blog and or connect with Educatemhc, telephone (317) 881-3815, email: gfa7156@aol.com or visit educatemhc.com to order From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven book.

George Allen, CPM®Emeritus, MHM®Master, RV/MH Hall of Fame, & MHI Emeritus member


Responses to ‘Decline of Mainstream News Media’


Every once in a while this blog hits a nerve among its’ hundreds of readers. And last week’s ‘The Decline of Mainstream News Media’ did just that. Posting was delayed from last Friday to this Monday (12/5). And within an hour after posting, email responses started pouring in (correct word choice there, rather than trickling). During the past two days I’ve received more than a half dozen commentaries on the headline topic. Six plus? Yes, in blog parlance that’s a heavy response, as usual weekly volume is usually just one or two missives at most.

So, what did people have to say? In no particular order of priority….

One corporate executive tells of his transitions among mainstream news media this way. “I had USA Today delivered to my house for about 15 years. Then, in 2016, for the first time, they endorsed a presidential candidate: Hillary Clinton. While there was probably a legitimate reason someone might prefer her over Trump, it wasn’t enough to break the paper’s historical precedence by doing so. I called and told them to cancel my subscription. They offered me six months free, and I declined that too. Bad news is worse than no news.” And he went on to say…

“I take the Wall Street Journal now. I find it’s moderate politically, though it does lean right or libertarian on the editorial page. They continue to have articles which continue to say there was no fraud in the 2020 election, which tells me the writers are leftists and that management allows them to repeat that obvious falsehood. There’s legitimate argument there wasn’t enough fraud in the 2020 election to make a difference in the outcome, but not legitimate argument there was no fraud.”

From a Midwestern retired manufactured housing executive: “FOX on computer, then local newspaper for local stuff, and that’s it for me! I have not looked at CNN or MSNBC forever.

A more detailed news media litany from a veteran land lease community owner back east.
“You mention CNN and MSNSBC. What about FOX, ABC, CBS, PBS? Are they declining in viewership? And (you say) USA Today slants to the left. I don’t read it so I’ll take your word for it. Epoch Times – not familiar with it. Stinted left or right?” Response. FOX continues to grow, outpacing all other cable networks. The Epoch Times contains conservative views from cover to cover.

Also he offers this timely and salient observation: “Maybe it’s a generational thing. Over 75 years olds see it one way, while the under 35s see it another.” What do you think? And this industry veteran went on at length describing how much the search for TRUTH has come to divide individuals, families, and friends; and asks: “Can we blame it all on the news or social media? Have our minds turned to mush and we’re unable to think for ourselves anymore?”

And the youngest of the responders surprised me with this advice: “…to get news about a country, read a source from another country. I don’t bother with CNN, FOX, and MSNBC, any of those. Nothing on TV in fact. Reuters is my go to – it’s very bland, just like I like it. Highly fact-based versus opinion-based. Also BBC (UK), France 24 (France), DW (Germany), & SCMP (Hong Kong). And when I want opinion, I opt for NPR (US), NYTimes (US), Guardian (UK), FOX News (US), Al Jazeera (Qatar), Sputnik (Russia), HB (Ukraine). And I recently added the National Review (US).” I’ve not fact-checked any of these alleged mainstream news media.

Yet another industry influencer, working nationwide, described “One of my theories is mainstream news media declined because of the political slant of all news sources. When you and I were young (and Conestoga wagons roamed the plains), we watched the news and then formed a political opinion. Today, people form an opinion first and then watch a news source to justify their views. One of the reasons I read left-leaning sources is to challenge my own personal views.”

My parting comment. Somehow the Indianapolis Star read this blog and quickly offered this deal: “Sign up for $1 for the first month, then just about $1 a day for the next two years. NO added fees, no extra charges.” A pleasant surprise yes, but frankly, I’m content with my present daily diet of USA Today and a local rag, followed by the New York Times (Sunday only), and my subscription to the weekly newspaper, the Epoch Times. What’s your diet? Gfa7156@aol.com



YES, ‘The Sleeping Giant (MH) Is A-Stirring!’

Watch this space next week for a possible update relative to the Sleeping Giant focus in last week’s blog (#716). There was a zoom meeting on this subject earlier this week, but not enough time for me to write it into this particular blog posting.

GFA/cc







December 5, 2022

The Decline of Mainstream News Media

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 7:08 am

Blog Posting # 717. Copyright 5 December 2022. EducateMHC

Perspective. Land lease communities, previously manufactured home communities, and earlier, ‘mobile home parks’, comprise the real estate component of manufactured housing! EducateMHC is the online national advocate, realty asset class historian, trend spotter, education resource, and textbook supplier for land lease communities throughout North America! To input this blog and or connect with EducateMHC, telephone (317) 881-3815, email: gfa7156@aol.com or visit educatemhc.com

George Allen, CPM®Emeritus, MHM®Master, RV/MH Hall of Fame, & MHI Emeritus member


The Decline of Mainstream News Media


How do you get your news? Print media, cable & local television, radio, and or the internet? Where print media is concerned I’ve found a combination that ‘works’ for me. I read USA Today daily (despite its’ liberal slant) and a local rag (the Daily Journal), the New York Times (Gasp!) Sunday only, and the rapidly growing Epoch Times weekly. All this because our local state newspaper, the Indianapolis Star – besides its’ left-leaning political slant, has become a billing nightmare, charging extra when subscription invoices are paid by personal check instead of online, and more subscriber affronts. Reading USA Today and New York Times reminds me, with each and every issue, why I deplore the decline of mainstream media in society today. I think to myself: OK, then the truth must be 180 degrees different from what’s printed here!

Recently read a confirming – of my opinion – article on the decline of mainstream news media (a.k.a. MSM) in SALVO magazine. Titled ‘The Signaling Class’ by Denyse O’Leary, its’ subtitle laying the groundwork for what’s to follow: ‘Today’s Mainstream Media Exist to Disseminate Approved Thought’. Leading off, is a supporting collection of performance statistics worth knowing and noting:

“…CNN’s ratings are down 27 percent from last year, and MSNBC’s are down 23 percent. Print media have probably fared worse. A recent study showed, in the U.S., a country of 332 million people, no newspaper has a print circulation greater than one million. Only nine US newspapers today have more than 100,000 subscribers, and over a quarter have ceased to publish in the last 15 years.” In my subdivision neighborhood alone, among the 25 or so families I know well, only two of us even take (read) the daily newspaper!

“A related, more ominous decline is in public trust. In 2021, public trust in media, as surveyed by Gallup, plunged to the second lowest point ever recorded, only four percentage points above the all-time low in 2016. The US ranks last in 46 countries surveyed for trust in media.” Is this even a surprise, as MSM avoids reporting news like illegal immigrants flooding the US southern border, underutilization of national energy resources, and on and on?

“This year, Pew Research found that 65 percent of nearly 12,000 journalists surveyed felt they did a good job on the most important stories. But only 35 percent of the public agreed. Thirty percent is a pretty significant gap, and of course shows up in profitability. CNN’s profits, for example, are expected to dip below $1 billion for the first time since 2016. Newspapers are hurting too.” But not hurting enough for them to return to professional journalism in their pages.

And the article goes on from there, offering this tidbit: “…some observers cite the fact that journalists as a group are much more progressive than the public.” Do ya think?

How ‘bout you? Any suggestions for how to get factual, timely news from one or more of the MSN platforms? I’d like to know. Send your musings to gfa7156@aol.com



‘Manufactured Housing Action’ – On the Move!


A newsletter distributed (11/30/22) by Manufactured Housing Action (‘MHAction’) describes how tenant activist members made recent visits to the White House, Illinois (Springfield, Peoria, Bloomington, and Urbana-Champaign), New York (re: rent justification law) and Michigan, to share the organization’s “…perspective on the predatory business model affecting manufactured housing residents….”

Land lease community owners/operators have only themselves to blame for this sorry state of affairs. Not all owners/operators, mainly the ones who’ve acquired their properties and portfolios of communities during the past few years – and then, despite cautions otherwise, raised rental homesite rates excessively. Result? A wave of landlord-tenant legislation and threats of regulatory oversight not suffered during the past 30+/- years.

I’ve suggested several measures, in past blog postings, how to address this serious and timely abuse of homeowners/site lessees in land lease communities. Not going to do it again here today. But if you really wish to know, contact me via gfa7156@aol.com and I’ll share the ‘formula’ with you.

GFA/cc


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