Blog Posting # 754, Copyright 11 August 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 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 SmittyAlpha5 to MHMaven – describes combat adventures in Vietnam, and a 40+ year business career in MH and community ownership/management.
George Allen, CPM®Emeritus, MHM®Master, Emeritus member of the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’), RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, retired lieutenant colonel of U.S. Marines, and author/editor of 20 books re MH, communities, business & management wisdom, and prayer.
MH POTPOURRI
Carolyn and I traveled this past week, so I’ve fallen behind in some of my routine writing research relative to this weekly blog posting and other assignments. No excuse, just the reason for the potpourri (i.e. ‘a mixture of literary composition’) here following:
Did you know? The dates for the 2024 Louisville MHShow are 17-19 January 2024. This is one of those few ‘must attend’ industry events when you’re a bona fide ‘player’ in manufactured housing and land lease community circles. Though retired, I certainly plan to attend; hope you do too. More details to follow when they become available.
Then there’s the soon annual RV/MH Hall of Fame induction banquet in Elkhart, IN., the evening of 21 August 2023! Expecting 400-500 attendees at this prestigious event. For tickets, phone (574) 293-2344. If attending alone, ask to be seated with Spencer Roane, MHM, and I. Two more reasons to be in Elkhart that day – and maybe the next two days. First off, I’m making myself available for anyone who read last week’s blog posting (‘30th Anniversary of Community Unity?’), suggesting group discussion about industry/asset class issues and challenges (i.e. ‘Think ‘rent control’, etc..). Also, if starting to pen your memoirs, I’d be happy to meet privately with you as well – and if you don’t already have the new booklet: ‘Who Will Preserve Your Legacy? Answer: You!’, I’ll give you one at that time. So, if interested, let me know via gfa7156@aol.com and I’ll make meeting location arrangements (likely in the RV/MH Hall of Fame library or auditorium).
And, if in Elkhart for the banquet, consider staying over to participate in the 7th National MH facTOURy program at the same location. This two day program of new home sales seminars and plant tours began in 2016 as a means of teaching land lease community owners/operators how to prepare their properties for home sales, how to select homes to sell, how to market and sell homes, and how to arrange financing. For more information, phone (317) 247-6258.
See you on 21, 22 & 23 August at the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN. And while there, don’t forget to visit the new manufactured housing exhibit hall. Well worth time to tour. GFA
MISERY LOVES COMPANY – OR DO WE?
Here’s what the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (‘MHARR’) recently told us about the continuing downward trend relative to new HUD-Code manufactured housing production:
“MHARR reports, according to official statistics compiled on behalf of the U.S. Department of HUD, manufactured housing industry year-over-year production declined again in June 2023. HUD Code manufacturers produced 8,169 new homes in June 2023, a 28.1% decline from the 11,373 new HUD-Code homes produced in June 2022. Cumulative production for 2023 is now 43,888 homes, a 28.8% decrease from the 61,659 homes produced over the same period during 2022.” The rest of the statistics story? These numbers collected and published by the Institute for Business Technology & Safety (‘IBTS’), and are NOT adjusted by deducting Destination Pending units, only to add them back to the IBTS total the following month….
And here’s a near parallel account describing what’s going on in our sister industry, that of recreational vehicles (‘RVs’). Under the headline, ‘RV industry steers through post-pandemic U.S. slump’, we read of this dire state of affairs: “As demand evaporated, (RV) manufacturers hit the brakes. North American shipments of new motorhomes and trailers, almost all of which are produced in the U.S., are expected to plummet to 300,000 this year, about half the number shipped in 2021, according to the RV Industry Association.” And just how ‘bad’ is that? “Retail sales of RVs are on track to be the lowest since 2015, said Ferrando, CEO and president of Fort Lauderdale Florida-based Blue Compass RV, which operates in 33 U.S. states.”
For perspective (i.e. Where ‘misery loves company’ is concerned); the last time HUD-Code manufactured housing production eclipsed the 300,000 level – to which the RV industry is diving now, was in 1998, when we shipped 372,943+/- new homes. Today we ‘play around’ at just the 100,000 level, with 112,886 new homes shipped during 2022. It now appears we’ll be fortunate to eclipse 100,000 new homes shipped during year 2023.
REBIRTH OF THE FOCUS GROUP!
Did you know? There was a time a few years ago, when informal groups of land lease community owners/operators would come together to meet for a day, usually in the host owner’s community clubhouse, to work through a previously agreed upon agenda. And they’d convene ‘the night before’ at a nearby hotel for enthusiastic interpersonal networking, before settling down to work through common challenges and issues facing their businesses. Yes, all that happened over several years. No details here, but I’ll likely build next week’s blog posting around that concept, as it appears to me the time has come for just that sort of intimate peer problem-solving.
QUOTING SENATOR KENNEDY FROM LOUISIANA
“Free advice friends. If the government tells you not to buy a gun, buy two!”
George Allen, CPM, MHM