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

Blog Posting # 739, Copyright 28 April 2023. EducateMHC

Parallel Perspectives. HUD-Code manufactured housing is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable factory-built housing! And land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’) comprise the investment real estate component of manufactured housing! EducateMHC alone is the online advocate, historian, trend tracker, and text resource for these two business models! To input this blog or connect with EducateMHC, telephone (317) 881-3815, email: gfa7156@aol.com, or visit www.educatemhc.com, to order Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry. This is the sole professional community management text in print today! And SWAN SONG is a history of land lease communities and official record of annual MJH production totals since 1955; and my autobiography, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven – describes my combat adventures in Vietnam & 40+ years business career in MH and communities.

George Allen, CPM®Emeritus, MHM®Master, Emeritus member of MHI, RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, retired lieutenant colonel of U.S. Marines, and author/editor of 18 non-fiction texts.

Brilliance or Bull____?

There’s an erstwhile (i.e. former) manufactured housing employee who, for more than a decade now, has been – IMHO – writing roughshod as a ‘wannabe’ business muckraker, targeting  national MH trade advocacy groups and industry corporate executives.

Consequence? Within the manufactured housing industry at large, the hypercritic is no longer welcome to attend regional trade shows or meetings of certain national and state-based advocacy groups. And several pundits (‘learned men’), trade journalists, and industry observers/commentators, contacted by this scolder from time to time requesting input, do not respond – for good reason: ‘Why set oneself up for possible future ridicule or criticism?’

So, recalling the famous W.C. Fields’ quote: “If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit”, the previous two paragraphs relate to the ‘bull___’ nature of this faux journalist’s musings. But hark (‘listen’), that’s NOT the focus of this week’s blog posting. Rather, based on a recent communique and other manufactured housing-related news and op/eds, it appears this individual is onto something worth pursuing, in a word, maybe even brilliant.

Specifically, ‘Why, in the face of declining production (of new HUD-Code homes), are we not hearing from the Big 3-C manufacturers (i.e. Clayton, Cavco, Skyline/Champion) as to what they’re doing to increase interest in, and sales of, their product lines? Are they, as has been stated ‘before & now’ simply satisfied with contemporary status quo? Seems like it, to this veteran industry observer. I’ve even addressed the sorry matter in previous blog postings. Now others are coming out in word and print with similar messages/questions. It’s been posited recently that we (i.e. manufactured housing) is ‘not a fighting industry’, albeit content with letting regulators, housing competitors, and naysayers push us around verbally and legislatively. Is this true? I deign that it is! Case(s) in point: For the second and third time in recent MH industry history, preliminary group plans to popularize manufactured housing in local housing markets coast-to-coast were stifled by bureaucrats before said program got off the ground!

Returning to the W.C. Fields quip (‘witty remark’): ‘Hey manufactured housing, if you can’t dazzle us with your brilliance (at marketing and sales); stop baffling us with your bull___ – of being badgered and beleaguered. Rise up and fight for change’! Fight for market share! Go national with housing brand advertising; reintroduce would be homebuyers and existing homeowners/site lessees to today’s affordable, energy efficient, durable, manufactured homes – and the land lease community lifestyle!

Two Industry Icons Die

GALE ‘GUB’ MIX, before his retirement in year 2006 was one of the most well-known pioneers and leaders in the manufactured housing industry! Gub died on 16 March 2023 at his home in Utah. After establishing independent (street) MHRetail operations in three cities in Idaho, he founded Manufactured Housing Services, Inc., and became executive director of state associations in Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and later in Arizona. What I remember Gub for best, was his founding of what is commonly and well known today as the Manufactured Housing Congress – an annual venue purchased from Gub, and perpetuated by the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’). Gub is an RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee.

As a related aside, Gub’s passing underscores the need for the RV/MH Hall of Fame library to rise to the next level of archival sophistication. In this instance, Gub’s in-your-face op/eds at the turn of the century, in my opinion, were instrumental in getting the manufactured housing industry to recognize its’ chattel financing errors of that time. Are those editorials readily accessed at the library today? And a final word. Gus is no longer with us – and, as far as I know, departed without penning his memoirs for our education and inspiration. Will the same be said about you at some point in the future?

LONG LARSON has died at the age of 79 years. He joined Olive Technologies, Inc., in 1978 to work on manufactured housing foundation systems. Besides his decades of work at Oliver, he joined the RV/MH Hall of Fame board in 2001 and was elected chairman in 2008. He also served on the boards of MHI and the California Manufactured Housing Institute.

Again, an inquiring mind asks: Has anyone taken the time to research and pen the corporate history of Oliver Technologies, Inc.? Lon was obviously a likely candidate to do so, but to the best of my knowledge did not. So, let this not be a lost opportunity going forward. A corporate history of this well-known firm should have a place in the RV/MH Hall of Fame library in Elkhart, IN.

DID YOU KNOW?

“About 40.6 million U.S. households spent more than 30 percent of their incomes on housing in 2021, according to analysis from the Joint Center for Housing Studies (‘JCHS’) of Harvard University.” Quoted from ‘Affordable Housing Finance’, March/April 2023 issue, page #8.

Quote of the Week

“You need to vote for the Democrats, otherwise the illegal aliens will lose their rights!’ Nancy Pelosi.

Blog Posting # 738, Copyright 21 April 2023. EducateMHC

Parallel Perspectives. HUD-Code manufactured housing is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable factory-built housing! And land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’) comprise the investment real estate component of manufactured housing! EducateMHC alone is the online advocate, historian, trend tracker, and text resource for these two business models! To input this blog or connect with EducateMHC, telephone (317) 881-3815, email: gfa7156@aol.com, or visit www.educatemhc.com, to order Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry. This is the sole professional community management text in print today! And SWAN SONG is a history of land lease communities and official record of annual MH production totals since 1955; and my autobiography, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven – describes my combat adventures in Vietnam & 40+ years business career in MH and communities.

George Allen, CPM®Emeritus, MHM®Master, Emeritus member of MHI, RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrine, retired lieutenant colonel of U.S. Marines, and author/editor of 18 non-fiction texts

Be Careful What You Read & Believe!

In a recent article titled ‘Mobile home park residents form co-ops to save their homes’, the president & CEO of Lincoln Land Policy, in Cambridge, MA, is quoted as saying:

“Nearly a third of mobile home parks in the U.S. have been bought by such (institutional) investors since 2015.” Hmm. Is this possible? Depends on what benchmark numbers are being used. For example, is this 1/3^rd of all 50,000 land lease communities (of all sizes) throughout the U.S.? Or is the executive focusing his attention on just the institutional investment grade communities, i.e. more than 100 rental homesites in size, generally with public utilities, good infrastructure, and few to no functionally obsolete homesites (i.e. too small to handle large contemporary manufactured homes)? Makes a whale of a difference in the results.

And then there’s this quote: “They ROCs (i.e. resident-owned communities) have a 100% track record of success.” Really? This is like saying ‘always’ & ‘never’ in one’s pontificating. Just don’t do it; too easily proven wrong. The same pundit should check with the Florida Manufactured Housing Association (‘FMHA’), and others, for definitive information on this tenuous topic.

Oh, and it goes without saying, when folk from outside the manufactured housing industry and land lease community real estate asset class easily use the archaic term ‘mobile home park’, it instantly labels them a ‘newbie’ to the industry, someone who simply does not know any better! Manufactured home community replaced ‘mobile home park’ in 1994, following national trade terminology surveys by the Manufactured Home Merchandiser magazine and publishing of the land development text: Development, Marketing & Operation of Manufactured Home Communities by the late David Alley, George Allen, and Edward Hicks. And Land lease community became commonplace by 2010. So, 13 years later we still struggle with naïve folk who still call this unique income-producing property type by the 1960s & 70s term, ‘mobile home park’.

And then there was this quote in an article titled: ‘An Intro to Manufactured Home Communities. What Investors Need to Know’:

“(average rent for a conventional apartment unit) was $1,345 in June 2022; however the average rent for an MHC site was $596 in mid-2022, according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield.”

I don’t quibble with the accuracy of these two monthly rent figures. It’s just that they’re of questionable veracity more information. For example, using the traditional 3:1 Rule for estimating land lease community rental homesite rate, based on apartment rent of $1,345/month, would peg this local housing market at $448/month per site, not $596. Or, the other way around, with rental homesite rate at $596, then it’s logical to expect monthly rent for a 3BR2B conventional apartment or townhouse unit to be $1,788, not $1,345. (Assuming all other rent-related factors are treated the same, e.g. water, sewer, utilities, etc.)

Three Strikes & We Could Be Out of Business!

In the past I’ve criticized MHARR executive Mark Weiss for, in my opinion, being too wordy in many if not most of his industry newsletters and ‘calls to action’. Well this time around he frames four challenges facing the manufactured housing industry and land lease communities in a direct and succinct fashion. Here he states:

“Aside from the 1) market-killing and discriminatory DOE rule…2) discriminatory and exclusionary zoning laws, 3) consumer chattel financing availability, 4) unnecessarily-high interest rates due to lack of GSE support under DTS, continue to lie at the root of the industry’s problems….” AMEN Mark, you’ve got that right, from start to finish!

This had been Mark’s response to an email message I sent him following his lament about MH production’s continuing decline through February 2023.

While Mark and I agree on the four factors he cites in the previous paragraph, I believe there’s at least a fifth to add, though it is difficult to articulate. But here’s my attempt to do so:

The turn of the century (i.e. year 2000+) saw not only MH production plummet, from 372,943+/- in 1998 to 48,789+/- by 2009, but the consequential loss of easy access to home-only loans (i.e. chattel capital),  resulting in the disappearance of 10,000+/- independent (street) MHRetailers – nary to return (e.g. 20 in Indianapolis in 1998, only one today!). With the introduction of ‘community series homes’ in 2009, land lease community owners/operators became increasingly engaged in on-site sales, siting, and seller-financing of new manufactured homes – to the extent the usual 15% of new homes going into communities rose to more than 40% by year 2015! And that’s pretty much where we are today. Still far too few MHRetailers to ‘make a difference’ and “too few” vacant rental homesites to fill with new product.

Some say there’s a ‘sixth challenge’, one related to all that’s been penned before this paragraphs (except possibly for the DOE rule being fought today in Washington, DC), that of marginal leadership at the very top of the manufactured housing industry and land lease community real estate asset class. Won’t go into detail here, and at this time, but to ask:

• When was the last time you have heard or seen the ‘Big 3-C HUD-Code manufacturers’ united, and effectively raising public awareness of our manufactured housing product to the American homebuying/site leasing and scattered owned-homesite buyers? 

• When was the last time you have heard or seen MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division publicly decry inflationary site rent increases, and other abuses, being foisted on land lease community homeowners/site lessees almost nationwide?

Both these serious shortfalls deserve, no – demand, national discussion at the highest levels of our industry and realty asset class! But is it happening? Well, maybe so at the MHCongress in Las Vegas this week – but I doubt it. Why? Because it’s going to take industry observers and commentators like me, present at such venues, to challenge those very leaders. And so far it simply is not happening. Invite me, pay my travel expenses, and I’ll attend and challenge!

Bottom line? Until we get rid of local regulatory barriers to all forms of affordable housing (i.e. land planning & zoning/rezoning); secure consistent abundant affordable personal property financing for new and resale homes; get the GSEs, once and for all, in strong support of the industry and realty asset class at large (and not just ROCs); and relief from the pending DOE (an apt albatross-like metaphor) Rule, WE are collectively ‘dead in the still waters’ of underproduction cum lack of prosperity for all of us! Anyone out there paying attention?

I do, Mark does, and I’m confident Leslie does; but why don’t ALL our industry and asset class leaders ‘see it’, come together, and do something about this unfolding tragedy? Again, I wonder if all this was a topic of group conversations during the MHCongress in Las Vegas this week? Next best opportunity for an industry-wide, business-saving conversation? The morning of, or morning after, this year’s RV/MH Heritage Foundation’s Hall of Fame induction banquet on 21 August 2023. I certainly plan to be present; how ‘bout you? For tickets, call (574) 293-2344.

GFA

Blog Posting # 737, Copyright 14 April 2023. EducateMHC

Parallel Perspectives. HUD-Code manufactured housing is federally-regulated, performance based, affordable factory-built housing! And land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities ‘mobile home parks’) comprise the investment real estate component of manufactured housing! EducateMHC alone is the online advocate, historian, trend tracker, and text resource for these two business models! To input this blog or connect with EducateMHC, telephone (317) 881-3815, email: gfa7156@aol.com, or visit www.EducateMHC.com to order Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry. This is the sole professional community management text in print today! And SWAN SONG is a history of land lease communities and official record of annual MH production totals since 1955; and my autobiography, from SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven – describes my combat adventures in Vietnam & 40+ years business career in MH and communities.

George Allen, CPM®Emeritus, MHM®Master, Emeritus member of MHI, RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, and retired lieutenant colonel of U.S. Marines – with service in Vietnam in 1968/9.

‘Who Will Preserve Your Legacy?’ booklet updated for you!

This booklet, first published in 2018, ‘sold out’ during year 2022. It has been enlarged and reprinted for distribution at the annual RV/MH Hall of Fame induction banquet in Elkhart, IN., on 21 August 2023.And copies of the booklet will be made available to interested parties. The original booklet summarized the autobiographies of ten manufactured housing (‘MH’) pioneers and notable businessmen. The new edition includes four additional MH autobiographies.

What it does not contain, sad to say, are any recreational vehicle (‘RV’) industry-related autobiographies, and autobiographies authored by female executives and entrepreneurs. However, several of the 14 MH-focused autobiographies make it clear their subjects also have ties within the RV industry. And there are at least two autobiographies ‘in the works’ from the distaff side of manufactured housing.

If, after reading the list of authors and their respective self-published autobiography titles, following here, you know of other titles worthy of inclusion in the next edition of the booklet, please let me know via gfa7156@aol.com

Kristian Jensen, Sr., authored ‘A Danish American’ back in the 1970s, and was one of the original inductees into the RV/MH Heritage Foundation’s prestigious Hall of Fame.

John Crean, founder of Fleetwood Enterprises, with Jim Washburn,  co-authored ‘The Wheel & I’. His tome, case bound with leather covers and gold-trimmed pages is a collector’s dream.

James (‘Jim’) Clayton, with Bill Retherford & Amy Nolan, co-authored ‘First a Dream’. This autobiography has gone through two editions to date and continues to be a popular ‘read’.

‘The Life & Times of B.M. Vukovich’ is a family-produced photoautobioraphy, chronicling the exciting adventures and successful business career of the late Borislav (‘Boro’) Vukovich.

Harrell & Darrell Cohron, with Matt Cohron, co-authored ‘The Trailer Twins’. Another case bound text; this is a ‘reality’ description of the business acumen of these twin brothers.

Mike Conlon’s ‘Unconventional Wealth’ is, in this observer’s opinion, Part I of his life (early years) as founder of a portfolio firm of land lease communities. Part II? Hopefully, to come!

George N. Goldman authored ‘The Road Less Traveled’. Well known throughout the Midwest during the 1970s thru 1990s, George’s book ties together tales of Woodalls and other interests.

Alvan L. Schrader’s ‘No Respect At All…A PATH TO MILLION$’, should be ‘required reading’ by everyone in the MH industry, as it clearly describes challenges facing us past, present & future.

Samuel Zell of Equity Lifestyle Communities, Inc. (a.k.a. ELS, Inc., a REIT) authored the only traditionally-published autobiography to date, ‘Am I Being Too Subtle?’ Another ‘must read’.

Matthew Jenkins, DVM, was a USAF officer, veterinarian, portfolio owner of communities, interim president of Tuskegee University, philanthropist, and wrote ‘Positive Possibilities’.

Jim, Ralph & Jeff Scoular of South Dakota, co-authored ‘Leap of Faith’ – the story of three generations of their families, a brief history of MH, as well as the RV/MH Hall of Fame.

George O’Leary’s ‘The O’Learys of Beechwood’ traces 250 years of his family’s history, beginning in Ireland, continuing in Canada and the U.S. Heavily illustrated with photographs.

George Allen’s ‘SWAN SONG’ & ‘From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven’ are a history of the land lease community, and author’s 50+ years in the USMC, factory-built housing, & communities.

So, where can you find and or purchase these books? They are all in the stacks at the RV/MH Hall of Fame library in Elkhart, IN. And many of the titles are also ‘for sale’ there as well (574) 293-2344. However, Kris Jenkins book is long out of print and unavailable for purchase, as is the photoautobiography of Boris Vukovich. Sam Zell and George Goldman books are available online via amazon.com, as are my two autobiographies via www.educatemhc.com. George O’Leary’s book, at present, is only available directly from him: George@rinconcountry.com

As pleased as I am to have identified and collected these 14 MH-related autobiographies, it pains me to realize how many untold tales there are, and how likely it is we will never hear of or read most of them. Some examples. Wouldn’t you like to read histories of HUD-Code MH manufacturers like the Decio family’s Skyline Homes,  John Bostick’s Sunshine Homes, Chuck Fanaro’s Hi-Tech Housing & Saddlebrook Farms (There’s an short version in ‘SWAN SONG’), and Wally Comer’s Adventure Homes? Or how ‘bout land lease community portfolio pioneers like Randy Rowe and Gary McDaniel, then Eugene & Sam Landy’s firm UMH Properties,  or Spencer & Ross Partrich firms Lautrec, Ltd. and RHP Properties? Paul Bradley’s firm ROC USA is briefly profiled in ‘SWAN SONG’. Then there’s Mike Sullivan’s Newport Pacific, as well as Dick Bessire & Keith Casenhiser’s Bessire & Casenhiser fee management firms, plus Martin, Tim & Todd Newby of Newby Management in FL. Also, individuals with unique tales to share: Spencer Roane, MHM & SECO; John Rogosich, CPM; Nathan Smith, Tim Williams (of 21^st Mortgage), Ted Boers, founder of DATACOMP, Kurt Kelley of Mobile Agency,  Matt Follett, Julio Jaramillo; and the father/son team of Kamal & Rob Shouhayib. I’d be especially happy to read autobiographies by Sharon Niccum of ACT III, and Barbara Hames of Hames Homes in IA. And the list goes on…can think of dozens more of good stories untold to date.

Need one final thought to get motivated to begin penning your memoirs (i.e. ‘short stories’) cum autobiography? The following is from Susan Orlean’s recent release ‘The Library Book’:

“The idea of being forgotten is terrifying. I fear not just that I, personally, will be forgotten, but that we are all doomed as being forgotten – that the sum of life is ultimately nothing; that we experience joy and disappointment and aches and delights and loss, make our little mark on the world, and then we vanish, and the mark is erased, and it is as if we never existed.” So, “Writing a book, just like building a library, is an act of sheer defiance. It is a declaration that you believe in the persistence of memory.” P.93.

GFA

Blog Posting # 736, Copyright 7 April 2023. EducateMHC

Parallel Perspectives. HUD-Code manufactured housing is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable factory-built housing! And land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’) comprise the investment real estate component of manufactured housing! EducateMHC alone is the online advocate, historian, trend tracker, and text resource for these two business models! To input this blog or connect with EducateMHC, telephone (317) 881-3815, email gfa7156@aol.com, or visit www.EducateMHC.com to order Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry. This is the sole professional community management text in print today! And SWAN SONG, is a history of land lease communities and official record of annual MH production totals since 1955; and my autobiography, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven – describes my combat adventures in Vietnam & 40+ years business career in MH & communities.

George Allen, CPM®Emeritus, MHM®Master, Emeritus member of MHI, RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, and retired lieutenant colonel of U.S. Marines.

Institutional Investors & Single-Family Housing

            Did you know? “Because larger households tend to prefer the size of single-family homes, roughly 41 percent of the renter population (in the U.S.) lives in single-family homes.” This and following quotes are taken from the winter 2023 edition of HUD’s EVIDENCE MATTERS magazine; specifically, an article titled: ‘Institutional Investors Outbid Individual Homebuyers’.

            “Between 2011 and 2017, these (institutional) investors purchased more than 200,000 single-family homes at a total cost of $36 billion.” & “In the first quarter of 2022, investor purchases of single-family homes averaged 28 percent per month, compared to 19 percent the previous year….” P.4.

            Furthermore, “The increase in institutional investors began during the Great Recession, when housing prices dropped precipitously and credit tightened. During the financial crisis, investors bought foreclosed properties, often at a discount, with institutional buyers joining the usual cash purchasers.” P.4 “Institutional investors had long avoided the single-family market because of the challenge of managing dispersed properties.” P.4.

            “…researchers find large corporate investors that are buying single-family rentals and rent-to-own units tend to concentrate their purchases in ‘low income, historically non-white neighborhoods that have suffered from disinvestment, but where gentrification or real estate cycle dynamics predict medium term price increases’.” P.6

            Now, here’s something you probably do know, especially if you own one or more land lease communities – just about anywhere in the U.S. today. “Private equity investors have increased their ownership share in manufactured home communities, where, in many cases, residents own their homes but rent the land underneath their homes. Because moving their homes is difficult and costly, most of these homeowners are essentially trapped in their current location, even as the land owners raise their rents.” P.6. Now here’s an interesting comparison: “…manufactured housing is a bellwether for investors’ strategies; the return maximizing strategies that private equity firms have employed to manufactured home communities – including raising rents (in some cases as high as 50 to 60%), charging new fees, and cutting costs for expenses such as maintenance – are the same ones that investors in the rental market for single-family homes have used.” P.6.

            A solution for homeowners/site lessees living in land lease communities? “ROC USA is a nonprofit organization that helps manufactured home communities become resident-owned land trusts in which the residents collectively own the land. ROC USA has helped convert 303 manufactured home communities representing 21,386 households to resident ownership.” P.9.

            Finally, “…the (Biden) administration is pursuing measures to increase the supply of manufactured housing…by expanding FHA and GSE financing, and encouraging localities to reform zoning to eliminate barriers to (affordable) housing construction.” (And) “To bolster manufactured homes as a source of affordable housing, HUD recently announced a proposed rule to increase and index loan limits for FHA insurance for personal property loans (a.k.a. chattel capital or ‘home only loans’) to (encourage) purchase of manufactured homes.” P.10.

What’s Become Extinct During 2022 & Now Into 2023?

First, the BIG PICTURE. ‘Ten Things That Will Disappear in Our Lifetime’:

1. The Post Office. Email, Fed Ex, & UPS have minimized USPS market share except for junk mail and bills.

• The Check. Already extinct in Great Britain as of 2018. Being replaced here by plastic cards and online transactions. (Bill paying online also eats into USPS efficacy)

• The Newspaper. Younger generations simply do not subscribe to or read newspapers; rather use mobile internet devices and e-readers, & liberal slant doesn’t help any either.

• The Book. Easier and cheaper to buy online – especially in kindle format. And if using a reading device instead of a bound book, why buy the bulky product version?

• Music. (Via greed & corruption). Record labels, radio conglomerates, and live concerts are self-destructing, as older established artists are promoted, but not new talent.

• Land Line Telephone. Not needed anymore unless a large family makes lots of local calls. Use land line telephones and wind up paying double charges each month.

• Television Revenues. More people watching TV and movies via streaming on their computers. Cable rates and commercials encourage watching online and via Netflix.

• ‘Things’ That You Own. More and more they’re ‘in the cloud’. Who has photo albums anymore? Even CDs & DVDs are in the cloud. Pay a monthly subscription fee to provider.

• Cursive Writing. Not taught in many schools any more. Why? Most writing is now done on computers or keyboards. Personal handwritten notes now mostly passe’.

1. Privacy.  Cameras are everywhere, even built into computers and cell phones. GPS systems track you everywhere. Buying habits known via store codes.

The MH Picture. What’s extinct in manufactured housing and land lase communities matters? Opinions will vary on this, but cited examples are worth discussion & consideration.

• Affordable Housing. Manufactured housing prices continue to escalate (with too few exceptions) & increasing rental homesite rates (via equity investors) discourage buyers.

• Professional property management, never a strong interest among community owners/operators, is now reduced to one online certification program, & IREM’s CPMs.

• The ALLEN REPORT, ‘Who’s Who Among Portfolio Owners/operators of Land Lease Communities’ was a realty asset class staple for 30+ years. It no longer exists.

• No monthly trade publications. The Journal, Manufactured Home Merchandiser, & Allen Letter are long gone; replaced by MHInsider print magazine, and MHReview online

• No more ‘national registries’ of MH and real estate lenders and freelance consultants. Also, no more industry lexicons & glossaries of MH trade terms

• No more annual National Roundtable events for community owners/operators. However, being replaced by annual SECO Conference in Atlanta, GA.

• Little to no widespread sources of chattel capital or ‘home only’ loans for manufactured housing on rental homesites in land lease communities – despite assurances otherwise

• Mystery Shopping Services no longer readily available to owners/operators of land lease communities. A staple for apartment management, why not land lease communities?

So as you can see, things are a-changing throughout society and certainly within our sister MH business models – HUD-Code housing manufacturing and land lease community operations.

Frankly, it was my sincere hope 30 years ago, when 19 community owners met in Indianapolis to launch what would become MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division, that said NCC would ‘someday’ be the primary source of all eight bullet points listed above. That has not happened; and in my opinion, the realty asset class has reverted to pretty much back to where it was in 1980, when syndicators of community ‘tax write-off’ deals ruled the ownership roost.

What to do about this sad situation? I’m unsure. But here are two perspectives to consider:

The recent fizzling of the National Manufactured Housing Awareness campaign (Thanks Ken Corbin, for trying) confirms a sad reality about our industry; namely, it’s unwillingness to pull together – message, dollar support, & leadership wise – to advertise and tell ‘our story’, simply because smaller players (i.e. manufacturers) might benefit from the primary participants $ largesse. And it does not help, having two national advocates for the industry, competing for political and regulatory favor in our nation’s capitol. Like it or not, that’s just the way it is!

On the ‘community side’? Since it is obvious the politicized (as in control by a few large portfolio players) NCC is not up to the above cited tasks, someone else must step in to create and lead owners/operators forward. Who will that be? Not me; I was there the first time around, but now retired. Well, the SECO conference planning team is certainly headed in the right direction – so support them with your participation this fall. Who else? Now that DATACOMP, MHVillage, et. al., is/are owned by Equitable Lifestyle Communities (a.k.a. ELS, Inc.), they are in a strategic position to provide needed leadership for land lease community owners/operators nationwide. And now there’s also the manufacturedhomes.com group in CA.

When and how to bring all this together, for ‘both sides of the MH house’? Too little time left before the annual MHCongress in Las Vegas, so next best time might be at the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN., during early August 2023. I’ve arranged successful national meetings there twice before. So maybe that’s the starting point once again. I’ll be pleased to assist this time around, just not lead. To discuss the matter further, email me via gfa7156@aol.com or phone (317) 881-3815.   

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

Senator Kennedy from Louisiana: “We don’t have a gun control problem; we have an idiot control problem.”