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

March 29, 2024

Largest Enemy Weapons Captured During Vietnam Conflict

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 7:01 am

Blog Posting # 786, Copyright 29 March 2024; EducateMHC

Know this! HUD-Code manufactured housing (‘MH’) is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable & attainable factory-built housing (a.k.a. offsite construction). And land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’) comprise the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH! And EducateMHC is the online advocate, official historian, trend tracker, and information resource for both business models. Access EducateMHC via (317) 881-3815; email: gfa7156@aol.com, & visit www.educatemhc.com to order Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry. This is the sole MH-focused professional property management text in print today! And SWAN SONG  is a history of land lease communities & official record of annual MH production totals since 1955; and my autobiography From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven describes personal combat adventures in Vietnam as a USMC lieutenant, a 45 year entrepreneur business career in MH & community ownership, as well as author & freelance consultant.

George Allen, CPM®Emeritus, MHM®Master, is the only emeritus member of the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’), a founding board member of MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division, an RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, MHInsider magazine editor at large & Allen Legacy columnist, Vietnam combat veteran & retired lieutenant colonel of U.S. Marines, as well as author/editor of 20 nonfiction books & chapbooks re MH, communities, business management & prayer.

I first penned the following paragraphs during April of 2023, as blog posting # 735, as a belated personal commemoration of National Vietnam Veterans Day, occurring earlier on 29 March.

Why share it again this year? Three reasons. First, this is a new memorialization of what occurred in the Republic of Vietnam a half century ago. These are excerpts from 400 letters I sent home to Carolyn during my 13 months tour of duty there in 1968 & 69.

Second & and third reasons involve recollections shared with my great grandson Hunter Falks, who just completed U.S. Army boot camp this past week. Before Hunter left for Georgia we lunched at Johns’ Stews restaurant in Indianapolis. Shortly after that meal, it occurred to me, ‘What will Hunter likely think 58 years from now if he, in turn, has a great grandson going into the U.S. military service? Will he recall our lunchtime conversation?’ I hope so, because when I was 19 years old and enlisting in the U.S. Marines in 1964, I reflected 94 years earlier about my great grandfather Charles Allen, who served in the Civil War – but I never met. 

And then there’s the peanut butter. While in boot camp, Hunter told his father the only thing he’d done, so far, that could get him into hot water, was pilfer some peanut butter packets from the chow hall. When I heard that I ‘flashed back’ nearly six decades to when, preparing for battle or going out on patrol, I’d stash several small cans of C-ration peanut butter in the pockets of my flack jacket. These were a tasty and timely tasty snack and source of nourishment. So, there’s one practice that hasn’t changed over the years.

Now, without further ado, here’s the introduction to some defining moments in my combat tour of duty all those years ago.

Largest Enemy Weapons Captured During Vietnam Conflict

An Excerpt from Chapter 12 of the Allen family Journal, subtitled,

‘My 13 Months in the Republic of South Vietnam during 1968 & 69’

Introduction. There were several defining moments during my combat tour in Vietnam as a lieutenant of U.S. Marines. First, as a combat engineer officer, participating in the breakout from the infamous Khe Sanh combat base in the northwest corner of Leatherneck Square. Then, training in Japan & Okinawa as an Atomic Demolitions Munitions (‘ADM’) technician, prepared for secret deployment into North Vietnam if need be. And during February 1969, participating in Operation Dewey Canyon, in the Ashau Valley adjacent to the Laotian border. During that time I was the shore party battalion’s primary rigging officer, preparing slinged and cargo net external loads for helo-lifiting into and off mountaintop Fire Support Bases (‘FSBs’) manned by grunts (infantry), and Helicopter Support Teams (‘HSTs’) from shore party companies*1

22 February 1969

Hi My Love,

            (Well into the letter) Wasn’t going to tell you what I’m about to, but I’ve been candid, honest and open about my work over here, so there’s no reason to keep something like this from you until it’s over or canceled.

            A few days ago, one of our grunt (Marine infantry) companies, out on the Dewey Canyon operation, captured two large enemy (Russian) field artillery pieces – originally thought to be 122mm howitzers (5,500 pounds each), but were determined to be 122mm field guns (14,500 pounds apiece). Yesterday I received ‘hints’, and today almost ‘definite word’, that, in the next couple days, I’ll be dropped into the jungle in the vicinity of the guns. Then, have to clear a landing zone around them, rig the guns for helo-lifting, and hook them one at a time, to a hovering CH-53 or CH-54 ‘flying cranes’, for retrograding back to Vandegrift (‘VCB’)  or Quang Tri forward combat bases . I don’t think I have to tell you this could be a pretty hairy experience, but I’ll do the best I can to get them out. To give you an idea about the size of these weapons, they’re larger and heavier than the 155mm howitzers you’ve seen in photos.

23, 24, 25 February 1969

            (Portions of these letters are missing) Before we quit for the afternoon, we started stripping all the gear we could from the first gun – to make it as light as possible for the flying crane. The guns are really interesting, as all data plates on the guns are written in Russian; and a lot of the accessory gear (firing lanyard, intact 122mm rounds and firing tables) was still here when I arrived.

            Just learned these are the biggest enemy weapons captured during the Vietnam conflict! They will probably be sent back to the states as war trophies once I get them lifted out of here. Would have lifted the first gun out this afternoon, but the engineers still have trees to fell around the guns, as the CH-53 & CH-54 need a lot of room to hover over heavy loads.

            Well hon, it’s so dark I can hardly see to write any more tonight.

            It’s now the morning of the 24th and a long night it was. Seven of us slept under a poncho lean-to positioned over our fighting hole. Along about 2300 hours (11PM) the ‘shit hit the fan’, as we became the brunt of an enemy ground attack. Don’t know how many gooks there were, but the air was filled with bullets and exploding RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades). The attack (firefight) lasted about 30 minutes before the enemy broke contact and withdrew. Don’t know how many of them we killed, but we had a few casualties ourselves.

            Now we’re sitting here waiting for the weather to break so I can get those guns out. I expect the flying crane will arrive around 1400 hours (2pm). So I’ll likely be spending another night out here.

            Sorry ‘bout the quality of my penmanship this morning, but wet paper does not help much. We are thoroughly socked-in right now and a light drizzle is falling. Boy it sure is desolate out here. Not a lot more to tell you right now dear. Of course I love and miss you something terrible. Can’t wait to get home to you and darling Susan (daughter).

            Well, it’s now 1400 hours. Since writing you this morning I’ve rigged both big guns (just hope they fly OK) and survived yet another firefight, but more on that later.

            These guns sure weren’t the easiest thing to calculate and rig. We finished stripping the guns of armor plate and accessory gear to make them lighter. Then I had to figure out the rigging. This is what I came up with: from the donut-shaped nylon lifting ring, two 16’ slings out to the end of the gun tube (barrel), two 17’ slings out to the end of each of two trails, and two 5’ slings on each side of the guns to the wheels and axles.

            Know where I was when the next firefight started? Sitting out on the very end of the long gun tube (barrel), straddling it as I attached the heavy nylon slings. A couple Marines were sitting on the trails and gun carriage to counterbalance my weight on the tube…when the gunfire started. My men dove for cover – while the tube and I hit the dirt.

            One of our OPs (observation posts) radioed in a while ago and reported seeing enemy troops and elephants loaded with gear. Also this afternoon, one of our patrols found the firing sites where these guns had been originally located, and uncovered numerous bunkers, two gun pits, and many documents. Really an outstanding find.

            Stopped writing for a minute, to take a look at the captured gear. Manuals (all in Russian) for the big guns, gas masks, 50 caliber ammunition, and a personal diary. Some of my buddies out here tell me, during the initial assault, grunts saw individuals who were definitely not Vietnamese – much much larger in stature, and heard talking and hollering in a foreign language – sounding like Russian.

            Well love, I’ve got a bit of a headache, so I think I’ll close for now. Darling, I do love you so very much and wish I could be home with you and Susie right now.

            It’s now the morning of the 25th. Slept like a rock last night. Hit the deck at about 1930 hours and didn’t stir until about 0730 this morning. No firefights or incoming rockets or artillery rounds last night – at least none I heard. Was really tired, but feel great this morning, except for bad news I just heard. Seems someone back at VCB does not feel the ‘flying crane’ can lift out the guns in one piece (I disagree); so now an ordnance team is on its’ way out to dissemble the guns for lift out. I really think that is going to be more trouble than it’s worth; first off, any manuals we have on the gun (and these are few at that) are written in Russian; secondly, we don’t have the necessary tools to dissemble them; and finally, even if we can get the tubes separated from the gun carriage and trails, the barrel alone (5-6,000 pounds) is going to play havoc as we try and manhandle it off the carriage. Looks like I could be here at least today and tomorrow awaiting disassembly.

Right now we’re just sitting around waiting to see what the weather will bring: either ordnance guys to take the guns apart or a fling crane to lift the guns out intact.

Know what? I love you lots! Really I do. Sure wish I was on my way home to you;

I miss you and little Susie so very much..

            Hi again love. It’s about noon and not much has changed since I wrote earlier this morning. Had one CH-53 fly in this morning and drop off the ordnance team. Now they’re hard at work on the gun. I wish them luck, as those guns are going to be a bugger to take apart.

            Remember the small U.S. and Pennsylvania flags your mother gave me? Well I taped them to one of the guns, before preparing them for retrograding.

            Back again. It’s about 1800 hours and guess what? The guns and I are still here. In fact, the only helicopters we saw today were emergency resupply birds bringing in water, chow, and ammunition.

            The guns are now rigged and ready to go. It’s just a matter of getting big enough choppers out here to lift them in four lifts, plus a fifth for the large nylon cargo net containing gun gear and ammunition.

            (In the meantime) The ordnance Marines told me if I could get a CH-53 into the area where the guns are, the tubes and carriages could be helolifted out. Well I got on the radio and had a resupply bird fly over from fire support base (‘FSB’) Cunningham to pick me up to go to Quang Tri or Dong Ha. Well the pilot, after getting me aboard chickened out, due to heavy ground fire (another firefight), and would not pull the tube out. He flew me back to Quang Tri where I reported to the Battalion CO and obtained a jeep so I could drive to Dong Ha. At Dong Ha I went to see Colonel Sexton, General Davis’ Chief of Staff, about getting more birds out to the Ashau Valley for the guns pickup. The colonel then sent me to see Colonel Jobe, the division air officer, who authorized CH-53s and a CH-54 to fly out and pull the guns out. My job then was finished; I’d rigged the guns and arranged for retrograde. I must have cut a less than professional appearance however, as I appeared before both colonels in my field-worn uniform, pistol belt and helmet.

            I drove back to Quang Tri, where I explained to my Battalion CO what I had done; he seemed pleased, so then all we had to do was sit back and wait to see what would happen. Result? As of 15 minutes ago, the guns arrived safely at Quang Tri LSA. Mission accomplished!*2

End Note.

  1. More detailed descriptions of this historic capture and retrograde of Russian artillery pieces can be found in the short stories, ‘PUC Beer’ and ‘Pluck, Politics & Shore Party’, both contained within my autobiography, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven, available for purchase via EducateMHC.com & the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN. Also, the late Donald F. Myers’ book, YOUR WAR MY WAR, ‘A Marine inVietnam’, 2000. Suggested passages: p. 59, & pp. 347 – 355; where Myers describes the assault that captured the guns: “…what eerie thoughts the enemy must have had as this rebel-rousing, reeling, cursing, insane group of Marines came at them in a John Wayne style charge. I have a feeling if I saw this berserk group trotting towards me, waving and shooting rifles, many of them with bayonets affixed, and screaming bloody murder (& some loudly singing the Marine Corps Hymn), I may have been inclined to break and run. And that’ just what the enemy did. I glimpsed shadowy figures bobbing and weaving at a distance away from our advancing force.”
  • Today, one of the two guns is on display in the USMC Museum in Quantico, VA. The other one? Well, there’s an interesting story to tell, someday, about what became of that one. Hint? Has something ironic to do with the Russian conflict in Afghanistan.

All of which was just described here, occurred more than 50 years ago. For some, if not many of us, who fought in Vietnam, the memories – at times, are now distant and dim; but at other times, near and clear. I’m grateful to be alive today, enjoying life with Carolyn, the adulthood of Susan and her brother Adam and their spouses, as well as their six children (our grandchildren), and now, three great grandchildren – with the eldest, Hunter, just completing U.S. Army boot camp.

This week, 29 March 2023, is National Vietnam Veteran Day. Take a moment to recognize, thank, and ‘Welcome Home’ Viet Vets you know. Trust me; they will sincerely appreciate the sentiment!

George Allen, LtCol USMC (retired)

Gfa7156@aol.com

March 21, 2024

Very Bad Boys of Manufactured Housing

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 6:35 am

Blog Posting # 785, 22 March 2024; Copyright 2020.  Educatemhc.com

Know this! HUD-Code manufactured housing (‘MH’) is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable & attainable factory-built housing (a.k.a. offsite construction). And land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’) comprise the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH! And EducateMHC is the online advocate, official historian, trend tracker, and information resource for both business models. Access EducateMHC via (317) 881-3815; email: gfa7156@aol.com, & visit www.educatemhc.com to order Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry. This is the sole MH-focused professional property management text in print today! And SWAN SONG is a history of land lease communities & official record of annual MH production totals since 1955; and my autobiography, From Smittyalpha6 to MHMaven describes personal combat adventures in Vietnam as a USMC lieutenant, a 45 year entrepreneur business career in MH & community ownership, as well as author and freelance consultant.

George Allen, CPM®Emeritus, MHM®Master, is the only emeritus member of the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’), a founding board member of MJHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division, an RV/MH Hall of fame enshrinee, MHInsider magazine editor at large & Allen Legacy columnist, Vietnam combat veteran & retired lieutenant colonel of U.S. Marines, as well as author/editor of 20 nonfiction books, & chapbooks re MH, communities, business management & prayer.

******

First penned the following lines during September 2020, three and a half years ago. Here’re a few tales of some very bad boys of manufactured housing. There are more tales, as yet untold.

INTRODUCTION: This blog has been a long time in the writing. Some counseled me against sharing this dark side of our industry and realty asset class. Others encouraged me to share, as all persons identified here, have pretty much faded into history; and not so much for novelty interest, but as a Warning to be wary of business entanglements that simply don’t seem to be right, in one or more ways. GFA

Very Bad Boys of Manufactured Housing

“Having a cozy relationship with The Outfit doesn’t always work to your advantage. Take my friend Joe Testa for example. One look at him and you knew he had dough. You might have even thought he was connected. He wore suits that cost a thousand bucks. He had a limo and driver and a gorgeous ninety-foot yacht on Lake Michigan.

Joe was a real estate genius who’d made millions and millions in property deals. He owned several fancy mobile home parks in the Midwest and some resort development in Florida.” P. 236. *1

One of these ‘parks’ was Sterling Estates on the South side of Chicago. There are all sorts of urban legends out there, to this day, how Joe eluded a particular mobster intent on killing him, by taking refuge in mobile homes owned by his tenants. But, in the end, that didn’t work well.

“Joe was driving down the street one night, and he had his wife in the car. And here come these guys, they pull up by Joe, and boom, boom, boom, they open fire on Joe and his wife. They put five deer slugs right through Joe’s Lincoln.

Joe was out of town when they blew up his house. It was a beautiful, expensive home in the suburbs, and it was totally destroyed.”p.244

Shortly after that, Joe had a heart attack, which sidelined him a bit. Though he did make it to Las Vegas one last time. “We hit the town every night, and during the day we found some girls and went out on the boat. We got half a mile out and everybody got naked – that was Joe. Sun and fun. Work hard, play hard….” P.250

The end? “According to the police report, it was around noon on June 27, 1981, when Joe put the key in the ignition of his blue Lincoln Town car. The explosion blew the windows out and blasted the hubcaps right off the car. It also blew off Joe’s leg and hand.” P.250. Joe died soon thereafter.

And the story of Sterling Estates, and other Testa-owned land lease communities, and how they became part of other property portfolios, continued after Joey’s death.

***

            Probably the most notorious and tragic manufactured home community-related story has to do with short-lived GEF Communities (a company I worked for briefly), headquartered in Greenwood, IN. During 1979, Gian Luigi Ferri came to town to buy four ‘mobile home parks’ he intended to become the centerpiece of a property portfolio destined to be the ‘Holiday Inn’ of manufactured housing. Things did not go well from the start. A major unintentional accounting error, on the part of the buyer’s due diligence team – but not discovered until after ‘closing’ the transaction, led to dissolution of the fledgling company, and rapid sale of its’ portfolio of four communities. *2

            14 years later, on 1 July 1993, Gian Luigi Ferri, carrying three firearms (two TEC-9s & one 45 cal. automatic handgun), entered the Pettit & Martin law firm on the 34th floor of a high rise office building in downtown San Francisco There he murdered eight individuals and wounded six others, both attorneys and clients. As police closed in on him, he committed suicide. During the investigation after this mass shooting, police shared the content of a letter found on his body that described business deals – a failed land development deal in Las Vegas and mobile home parks in Indiana that may have been the motivation behind his actions.

            Now, 27 years after the 101 California Street shooting, the four land lease communities are owned by other portfolio firms, most if not all of which, have no idea of this tragic episode in manufactured housing history, as it relates to their properties.

***

            Then there’s John Robinson, a.k.a. John Osborne, and the Slavemaster. This sordid tale is told in the non-fiction crime tome titled ANYONE YOU WANT ME TO BE, ‘a True Story of Sex and Death on the Internet’. Briefly put, John Robinson was a smart, generally unemployed middle-aged con man, embezzler, kidnapper and forger who, when not in prison (1987-1993), lived in Midwest mobile home parks his wife Nancy managed.

“His wife was now managing a mobile home park called Southfork in Belton, Missouri, a Kansas City suburb to the south. The park promoted a theme that reflected the huge TV hit Dallas from several years earlier.” P.94  Later, Santa Barbara Estates.

My brief contact with Robinson occurred in 1995, when he launched “Specialty Publications, which featured a trade magazine, Manufactured Modular Living, about the mobile home industry.” P.127 He, at the time, wanted to merge his new pub with one of the business newsletters I was penning and distributing to land lease community owners/operators nationwide. Not interested.

What was really going on at the time?

“Nobody who lived next to Robinson- and quite possibly nobody who lived with him or spent time in his home – realized that each morning he waited until Nancy had gone to work at 8:30AM, before turning on at least one computer (he had three desktops and two laptops). Then he went to his real job, which didn’t have much to do with selling ad space for Manufactured Modular Living. He got on line and surfed chat rooms and Web sites, establishing new relationships with women he’d never seen.” P.128 Osborne’s misadventures earned him the nefarious title of being the internet’s first serial killer.

Turns out he’d befriended women from many different backgrounds, race, and sexual preference – including S&M. Without going into detail here, suffice it to say he was convicted of murdering three women, maybe two more. Two of the three known victims of this serial killer were stuffed into plastic 55 gallon drums.

‘On the trial’s third day a local radio personality (gave) away T-shirts. They were emblazoned with the words: ‘John E. Robinson. Trial 2002. Roll Out the Barrels – of Evidence’ p.338.

In the end, Robinson was found guilty of all charges, to be executed at some point in the future. As of fall 2024 he is on death row in a Kansas prison.

***

And there are more bad boys of manufactured housing. During my 40+ year career in manufactured housing and land lease communities, I’ve known income tax evaders who’ve served ‘hard time’ in federal prisons, others who convicted of fraud, even portfolio heads who were sued successfully by disgruntled limited investors. But we’ll stop the recitation here.

George Allen, CPM, MHM

EducateMHC

End Notes.

  1. Excerpts from DOUBLE DEAL, ‘The Inside Story of Murder, unbridled Corruption, and the Cop who was a Mobster’, by Michael Corbitt with Sam Giancana, 2003. Also google Joey Testa.
  • Complete story is related in ‘An Error to Die For’, featured in the book SWAN SONG, by George Allen, 2017, available via www.educatemhc.com Also google ‘101 California Street Shootings’.
  • For more information and photographs, visit google: John E. Robinson. There also learn of two more books detailing Osborne’s crimes against women.

George Allen

March 14, 2024

Who Sez (‘says’)?

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 11:56 am

Blog Posting # 784, Copyright 15 March 2024. EducateMHC

Know this! HUD-Code manufactured housing (‘MH’) is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable & attainable factory-built housing (a.k.a. offsite construction). And land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’) comprise the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH! And EducateMHC is the online advocate, official historian, trend tracker, and information resource for both business models. Access EducateMHC via (317) 881-3815 email: gfa7156@aol.com, & visit www.educatemhc.com to order Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry. This is the sole MH-focused professional property management text in print today! And SWAN SONG is a history of land lease communities & official record of annual MH production totals since 1955; and my autobiography, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven – describes personal combat adventures in Vietnam as a USMC lieutenant, a 45 year entrepreneur business career in MH & community ownership, as well as author and freelance consultant.

George Allen, CPM®Emeritus, MHM®Master, is the only emeritus member of the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’), a founding board member of MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division, an RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, MHinsider magazine editor at large & Allen Legacy columnist, Vietnam combat veteran & retired lieutenant colonel of U.S. Marines, as well as author/editor of 20 nonfiction books & chapbooks re MH, communities, business management & prayer.

Who Sez (‘says’)?

Geesh! We’re only three months into year 2024, and already MH neophytes, from outside our industry, are prognosticating (‘predicting’) HUD-Code manufactured housing production performance for the year ahead.

The Information Management Network (‘IMN’), “…a global media & events company”, via email from one of its events planners, recently announced “Manufactured housing is expecting a 10.2% growth this year, with shipments expecting to surpass 130,000” (presumably new HUD-Code manufactured homes). 

The last time the MH industry surpassed 130,000 new HUD-Code homes was during year 2003 (That’s 21 years ago!) when 130,940 units shipped (some say 130,937). According to our industry’s historian, 2003 was the ‘Year of the HUDULAR’ – when we toyed with the concept of melding HUD-Code & modular homes; but turned out to be a non-starter. The following year, 2004, production decline continued to 129,902 units (some say 129,802), the year when the Urban Land Institute (‘ULI’) formed the short-lived (10 years) Manufactured Housing Communities Council or MHCC. And during year 2005, as production continued to decline, the new trade term ‘land lease community’ appeared. And the MH tale of production woe continued till year 2009 when we produced a paltry 49,789+/- new HUD-Code homes.

Since year 2010 we’ve been on a steady but slow production climb, finally reaching a new acme of 118,886 new homes during year 2022. Year 2023? Sad to say, only 89,169 units.

OK, but back to the IMN projection. A 10.2% increase in production over last year’s 89,169 new HUD-Code homes produced suggests a 2024 total of 98,264 units, not their 130,000 – or a difference of 31,736 units.. So, why the big difference? You’ll have to ask the folk at IMN at their 2nd Annual Manufactured Housing Forum, 7 & 8 May in Scottsdale, AZ.

Where do I think we’ll be, production-wise, by year end 2024. Far too early to tell. My 4 March 2024 MHShipment Volume report, documenting January 2024 MH production cited 7,475 new HUD-Code homes. That’s 524 more new HUD-Code homes than was produced during January 2023, a 7.5% increase. Will this continued during the months ahead? For further insight, read the next portion of this week’s blog posting….

And There’s More…

There is yet another opinion ‘out & about’ these days, titled: ‘Marketing Manufactured Homes in 2024. What does thaat data tell us?’ (Distributed by BILD Media on 29 February 2024)

In it David Finney, founder & owner of Bild Media, a digital marketing agency for the MH industry, begins by reviewing where new HUD-Code manufactured housing has been, production wise, during the last six years. While he does not specify yearend total production for 2024, remember, it was 89,169 units

Then he makes the following statement: “The good news is that there is tremendous opportunity for us in the overall housing market, and there’s no reason the (manufactured housing) industry cannot resume its growth in 2024 and beyond.” My rejoinder (‘reply’)? Perhaps, but I seriously doubt it. Why? Because I’m not convinced our Big 3-C HUD-code housing manufacturers, who garner 70+/- percent of national MH market share, really want to increase volume as much as they desire to increase profit margins, more easily attained when marketing and selling larger new homes (e.g. Cross-Mod®). Someone care to opine otherwise?

Next point? Finney goes on to state: “As retailers, manufacturers, lenders, etc., in the (manufactured housing) industry advertise more, MH search traffic should be trending up.” Again; not so sure about this occurring. Why? Because, to date, HUD-Code housing manufacturers have NOT pooled resources, via MHI or anywhere else for that matter, to advertise our factory-built housing product nationally – though requested to do so many times in the past. The only advertising increase seems to be coming from three of the two dozen or so brands on the market today. Period.

Finally, the author goes on to demonstrate “Just 16% of homes for sale in 2023 were affordable.” (i.e. ‘Share of home listings affordable on median income’). Readers of this weekly blog, who know me, already know what my ‘problem’ is with this statement: the use of the word ‘affordable’ without defining what is meant by it!*1 Lesson to be learned? Whenever you see or read the words ‘affordable housing’ – without an accompanying clear definition, its use is immediately ‘suspect’, as to applicability, degree, and usefulness.

Bild Media’s message continues, but I decline to parse any more of it in this blog.

End Note.

  1. Definition of ‘affordable’, as in housing, and quoted from SWAN SONG, p.44. “Housing is affordable when an individual or household’s Annual Gross Income (‘AGI’), or local housing market’s Area Median Income (‘AMI’) – identified by postal zip code & available online at zipwho.com, can lease a conventional apartment and or buy a home in this local housing market, using no more than 30 percent of said AGI, or AMI, for shelter and its’ related household (utility) expenses. For example: $50,000 AGI/AMI X .3 Housing Expense Factor (‘HEF’) = $15,000/year or $1,250/month, available for rent or mortgage PITI (principal, interest, taxes, insurance), & household expenses.” SWAN SONG, a History of the Land Lease Community Real Estate Asset Class & official record of MH annual production dating back to 1955, is available for purchase via www.educatemhc.com

George Allen

March 5, 2024

Offsite Construction & Manufactured Housing

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 12:35 pm

Blog Posting # 783, Copyright 8 March 2024. EducateMHC

Know this! HUD-Code manufactured housing (‘MH’) is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable & attainable factory-built housing! And land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’) comprise the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH! And EducateMHC is the online advocate, official historian, trend tracker, and information resource for both business models. Access EducateMHC via (317) 881-3815; email: gfa7156@aol.com, & visit www.educatemhc.com to order Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry. This is the sole MH-focused professional property management text in print today! And SWAN SONG is a history of land lease communities & official record of annual MH production totals since 1955; and my autobiography, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven – describes personal combat adventures in Vietnam as a USMC lieutenant, a 45 year entrepreneur business career in MH & community ownership, as well as author and freelance consultant.’’

George Allen, CPM®Emeritus, MHM®Master, is the only emeritus member of the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’), a founding board member of MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division, an RV/MH all of Fame enshrinee, MHInsider editor at large & Allen Legacy columnist, Vietnam combat veteran & retired lieutenant colonel of U.S. Marines, as well as author/editor of 20 nonfiction books & chapbooks re MH, communities, business management & prayer.

Offsite Construction & Manufactured Housing

‘A Rare Opportunity to Compile & Use Housing Construction Statistics!’

Offsite construction (Or apriori, off-site construction) is the newest housing-related shibboleth (‘slogan’) obfuscating (‘’bewildering’) trade terminology associated with 1) NAHB-related modular and panelized houses; 2) HUD-Code manufactured & CrossMod® homes; as well as 3)  Park Model & recreational vehicles (‘RVs’) used as affordable housing; nor forgetting accessory dwelling units (‘ADUs’), a.k.a. ‘granny flats’ like Tiny Houses & other minimum size dwellings such as (Gasp!) sophisticated sheds – OK as secondary structures on residential properties, especially in California.*1

What do these eight+ types of ‘housing’ have in common? As the new moniker suggests, they’re fabricated offsite, as in time-proven lingo, ‘factory-built housing’! First print mention of offsite construction occurred between 2015 & 2017. Now there’s a print trade magazine ballyhooing some of the mishmash of housing types – See Offsite Builder.

Status today? According to one source of stats, offsite construction volume increased by 23.9 percent between 2021 & 2022, while site-built decreased by 11.2 percent during the same period of time. However, offsite construction, like all other types of housing, experienced a sharp decline during the Great Recession of 2007-2012, and even with this up percentage of market recovery, the number of modular & panelized houses completed is be less than a third of what it was pre-recession.*2

So, what does all this mean? It’s difficult to say, because there’s no one mutually-accepted ‘scorekeeper’ tracking more than a half dozen types of ‘housing’ described in the opening paragraph. NAHB keeps tabs on modular & panelized housing; the Institute for Building Technology & Safety (‘IBTS’) tracks monthly manufactured housing production (including CrossMod® homes) for HUD; the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (‘RVIA’) tallies RV (including Park Models) units shipped; and, ‘Who knows?’ follows ADU performance. For example, all statistics cited so far have nothing to do with HUD-Code manufactured housing! Per IBTS, during year 2023, 89,169 new HUD-Code homes were produced (i.e. down 20 percent from 112,886 in 2023), while RVIA documented 313,174 RVs shipped during year 2023 (i.e. down from 493,268 RVs in 2022). Year 2024? As one would expect, MH & RV producers are optimistic, believing their annual production performance totals will increase over 2023 volume.

As a related sidebar, there’s a new design ADU or Tiny House being built by ZenniHome (google zennihome.com) in Arizona. Models vary in size from 320 to 640 square feet. What’s unique about the design? When sitting on a couch in the center of the home and ready for bed, simply push a remote button and the bed lowers from the ceiling. The larger model features a second or Murphy bed. Need more space in the center room? Push another button and two walls move slightly to increase free space. The units are being built on a Navajo reservation in northern AZ, and are priced around $100,000. Plans are to expand with more plants across the U.S.

Back on topic, statistical ‘confusion’ will reign as long as there is NO plan and/or effort to bring these manifold forms of offsite construction together for data collecting, comparison and reporting purposes! Only then will we, as different but related housing industries, accurately know and understand how many new single-family homes, affordable and otherwise, are being sited each year. We are obviously Not There Now!

How do I see this happening? Actually simpler than, evidently, anyone has imagined. Just need one ‘reporting agency’ to pull together each month, the production totals posted by NAHB, IBTS, & possibly RVIA. Then, on one consolidation worksheet announce said totals, then post a grand total among all or most reporting agencies. Anyone out there willing to give it a try? It almost has to be an independent third party agency with no ‘skin in the game’ where the various types of offsite construction are concerned. If interested in volunteering, or simply want to talk about this housing unity concept, contact me via gfa7156@aol.com

End Notes.

  1. NAHB = National Association of Home Builders; CrossMod® by dint of the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’); and, read ‘RVs as Affordable Housing’ in Visions in Leisure & Business academic journal, January 2024.
  • Offsite Builder MAGAZINE, February 2024, ‘The Numbers on Offsite-Built Homes’ by Zena Ryder, pp.33-36. “In 1998, the share of single-family homes built using offsite construction methods was 7%. By 2022, that share had dropped to just 2%. The annual number of single-family homes built offsite has fallen from a high of nearly 80,000 in the late 90s and early 2000s, to just 25,000 today.”

EducateMHC’s ‘MHShipment volume’ @ January 2024 & ‘Stock Market Report’ for 4 March 2024.

Abbreviated summary of subject reports prepared and distributed on 4 March 2024.

Institute for building Technology & Safety (‘IBTS’) reported 7,475 new HUD-Code manufactured homes produced during January 2024. This is up 7.5 percent from same period in year 2023.

Among the ten public companies (five @ manufactured housing & five @ land lease communities) seven experienced stock price increases higher than this time last month, while two firms trended downward. Cavco Industries experienced the largest improvement, from $342.14 up to $371.50; Skyline Champion Corporation improved from $69.93 up to $85.16.

HUD Introduces $225M Manufactured Housing Plan

From ‘National Mortgage News, 2/29 Finkelstein. “An initiative by the Biden Administration is creating a $225 million fund to preserve and revitalize manufactured housing and the communities that many of those structures reside in.” The Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement Program (‘PRICE’) will offer financing through the FHA 223(f) multifamily Program, including funds for rehabilitating these homes. Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner Julia Gordon said, “FHA’s updated and expanded financing options complement the work of our colleagues in HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development and Ginnie Mae, meanwhile, has revised its eligibility criteria for the Manufactured Housing Mortgage-Backed Securities program, reducing net worth and liquidity requirements. President Alanna McCargo said, “We’ve consulted the industry and worked closely with FHA to update and align our Title I eligibility requirements to support more financing in tandem with the vast improvements FHA is making to its program.”

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