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

Blog Posting # 853; Copyright 1 August 2025. EducateMHC

Know this! HUD-Code manufactured housing (‘MH’) is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable-attainable, factory-built housing (a.k.a. one of four types of offsite construction), routinely paired with traditional stick-built housing (a.k.a. onsite construction). Plus, land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’) comprise the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH. Various types of housing finance (e.g. chattel or ‘home only’ loans, and real estate mortgages) constitute the post-production segment of MH

EducateMHC is the official MH historian, trade term & trend tracker, as well as perennial MH information source. Contact EducateMHC via (317) 881-3815; email gfa7156@aol.com, and www.educatemhc.com to purchase Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry (This book belongs in every land lease community nationwide!), and SWAN SONG – 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 freelance consulting and authoring of 20 nonfiction texts.

George Allen is the sole emeritus member of the Manufactured Housing Institute 9”MHIi’), a founding board member of MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division, RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, Allen Legacy columnist & editor at large for the popular MHInsider magazine.

MH Evergreen Issues Update from 2018

Evergreen Issues? Relative to trade journalism and broadcasting, evergreen content (issues) are not time-sensitive or wholly reliant on current events. The term originates from evergreen trees.

Seven years ago I posted blog # 511 (2 December 2018) bore the title ‘Evergreen Issues of Manufactured Housing’. Then, during December 2021 (the year I retired), we revisited the subject, to see what changes, if any, had occurred among evergreen issues. Ready to go?

Manufactured housing’s Achilles Heel continues to frustrate. Specifically, WHO today is truly responsible for the proper, safe and secure installation of HUD-Code manufactured homes on scattered building sites conveyed fee simple, and on rental homesites within land lease communities nationwide? HUD inspectors, state inspectors, local building code enforcers, HUD-Code housing manufacturers, land lease community owners/operators, home buyers, or homeowners/site lessees? Get the idea? No single source fully takes that responsibility!

If the Department of Housing & Urban Development (i.e. HUD) truly believes what it says when proclaiming HUD-Code manufactured homes to be AFFORDABLE (i.e. ‘Most affordable type housing in the U.S.’), why doesn’t the federal agency aggressively promote it as such? As it appears today, HUD comes across as the ‘reluctant bride’ in this half century long relationship! The same juxtaposition exists with the two GSEs (i.e. Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac) treating manufactured housing as an unwanted stepchild when it comes to ‘not’ aggressively planning and implementing Congress-mandated Duty to Serve (‘DTS’) measures in our behalf!

DAPIA, given nearly 50 years of service, enjoys a tenured relationship with HUD and manufactured housing. Is this healthy? IMHO, ‘No’ it is not. Why has there been no change in contractors during these five past decades?

What is holding manufactured housing production back from its’ full capacity? Manufactured housing stock continues to age and disappear faster, in quantity, new HUD-Code homes can be fabricated, shipped, and installed. In 1973 we shipped 579,940 new ‘mobile homes’; in 2009, our nadir year, we shipped only 48,789 new HUD-Code manufactured homes (‘MH’); in 2021 we eclipsed 100,000 homes for the first time since 2006; and we dropped back to 89,169 MHs in 2023, only to creep back to 103,314 in 2024. Since 40+ percent of new HUD-Code homes are shipped directly into land lease communities, the lack of sufficient to chattel capital (a.k.a. ‘home only’ loans) is part of the answer to this conundrum. Since one finance source controls 70+/- percent of that market today, there’s a dire need for additional sources of personal property financing.

Some manufactured home salespersons continue to position prospective homebuyers to fail. How so? By not including household utility expenses within the standard 30 percent Housing Expense Factor (‘HEF’) along with PITI (loan principal, interest, taxes, insurance). By not doing this, at the end of any month, when the 30 percent HEF payment has been paid (Again, principal, interest, taxes, insurance), the extra dollars paid out for household utility expenses – when added to the 30 percent, can increase the total percentage to 40 or more percent!

And the list of evergreen issues continues.

The same size and featured HUD-Code manufactured home permanently-sited on a scattered or subdivision privately-owned building site will oft times be valued differently (i.e. more $) than a twin home sited on a rental homesite in a land lease community (i.e. less $). Why? Value and nature (i.e. permanence & lack thereof) of the underlying realty. This handicap would be ameliorated given widespread use of long term written leases in the latter instance.

Continued absence of two manufactured housing secondary markets: one valuing and marketing of resale homes; the other, marketing seasoned chattel capital ‘home only’ loans – to free up capital for new financing. Yes, there’re ‘fits & starts’ in both these areas but no real progress to date. How do you think this timely and important matter should be addressed?

Has the CrossMod™ HUD-Code manufactured home lived up to its’ expectations or not? Depends on who you talk to these days….

Why do GSEs (i.e. government-supported enterprises) Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac continue to ‘slow walk’ Congress-mandated Duty to Serve (‘DTS”) programs relative to shortage of chattel capital?

Why continued local housing market intransigence regarding zoning and rezoning raw land in support of manufactured housing placement, land lease community development, and other forms of affordable housing? This is a perennial issue addressed at all levels of government.

And we continue to have two national trade associations in and around our nation’s capitol vying for the dues and attention of businesses involved in manufactured housing and land lease community ownership/operations. Perhaps the time has come for one such organization to represent only HUD-Code housing manufacturers, and the other one – everyone else in MH-related business models. What do you think? Let me know via gfa7156@aol.com

Big 3-C firms control more than 70 percent of the national market share of HUD-Code home shipments. Is this healthy for the industry at large? Virtually all the sole proprietor-founded manufacturers have been absorbed by one or another of the Big 3-C firms. OK with you?

Forget about professional property management! It barely exists among land lease communities nationwide. I fought this battle (i.e. PM training & certification) for nearly 50 years. And today we have maybe 100 CPMs in play, and a couple hundred lesser ‘players’. Sad!

And once again, what is the national Economic Impact (& Analysis) or EIA of manufactured housing and land lease communities going forward? Our sister industry, recreational vehicles already has this researched and figured out and is using EIA to influence state and federal legislation. And MH wonders we continue to play second fiddle in every housing program promotion.

Finally, there’s a new evergreen issue to add to this august, though little discussed list. It has to do with the refining housing-related trade terms. Today, onsite construction refers to site-built housing erected on homebuilding sites, and reported monthly by the U.S. Census Bureau. On the other hand, offsite construction refers to various types of factory-built affordable housing: HUD-Code manufactured housing, modular and panelized housing, as well as Park Model RVs. Offsite construction housing is NOT included in the aforementioned U.S. Census Bureau monthly statistical reporting (except for permanently-sited HUD-Code homes). There are two issues here. First, getting housing professionals, across the board, to agree upon and use the onsite and offsite construction differentiations. Second; getting the U.S. Census Bureau to include HUD-Code homes, modular & panelized housing, and Park Model RVs in their monthly reporting. That way we’d have a far better handle on just how much new affordable attainable housing is indeed being built throughout the nation. Quite an evergreen issue awaiting resolution!

George Allen

According to the Joint Center for Housing Studies

Blog Posting # 852; Copyright 25 July 2025. EducateMHC

Know this! HUD-Code manufactured housing (‘MH’) is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable-attainable, factory-built housing (a.k.a. one of four types of offsite construction), routinely paired with traditional stick-built housing (a.k.a. onsite construction). Plus, land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’) comprise the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH. Various types of housing finance (e.g. chattel or ‘home only’ loans, and real estate mortgages) constitute the post-production segment of MH

EducateMHC is the official MH historian, trade term & trend tracker, as well as perennial MH information source. Contact EducateMHC via 9317) 881-3815; email gfa7156@aol.com, and www.educatemhc.com, to purchase Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry (This book belongs in every land lease community nationwide!), and SWAN SONG – 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 freelance consulting and authoring of 20 nonfiction texts.

George Allen is the sole emeritus member of the Manufactured Housing Institutes (‘MHI’), a founding board member of MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division, RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrine, Allen Legacy columnist & editor at large for the popular MHinsider magazine.

State of the Nation’s Housing Market

According to the Joint Center for Housing Studies

What follows here are ‘talking points’ gleaned from two recent (24 June & 9 July 2025) JCHS U.S. housing market studies. The first one quoted is titled ‘Unease in the Housing Market Amid a Worsening Affordability Crisis’; the second one, ‘A Year for the Record Books: The State of the Nation’s Housing in Perspective.’ Ready to go?

Here are eight takeaways from the new report (i.e. 24 June)

• Renter Cost Burdens Hit Another Record High (i.e. renters spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing and utilities). And in some cases even more than 30 percent.

• Rising Costs Encumber Homeowners, as Insurance and Property Taxes Increase (i.e. cost-burdened homeowners, in number, rose by 646,000 to 20.3 million)

• Home Sales Drop to a 30-Year Low, as home prices are up 60 percent since 2019. This is five times the average annual median income (‘AMI’)

• Builders Respond with Smaller Homes and Mortgage Rate Buydowns. This has increased new home sales. Think various forms of accessory dwelling units (‘ADUs’), also maybe why more and more Park Model RVs are being used year round as homes.

• US Homeownership Rate Falls as First-Time Buyers are Priced Out. Monthly mortgage payment on a median-priced home now at $2,570., requiring an annual income of at least $126,700.

• Rental Demand Strong But Construction largely at High End of the Market. Renter population has grown, jumping by 848,000 in 2024.

• Reductions in Federal Supports Put Households at Risk. 33 percent more homeless since January 2020.

• Tariffs, Reduced Immigration, and Diminished Federal Support Create an Uncertain Future.

And now ten takeaways from the subsequent report (i.e. 9 July)

• The median existing home price hit a record high of $412,000, exceeding $400,000 for the first time

• The nationwide home price-to-income ratio hit 5.0, tying the record set in 2005

• Of the top 100 metro areas, a record low of just three metros had a price-to-income ratio below 3.0

• The monthly mortgage payment on the median-priced home hit a record high of$2,560, roughly 40 percent higher than in 1990. (Note this is $10 less than $ cited above)

• High costs of homebuying lead to a record-breaking downturn in market activity, e.g.
• The lowest number of existing home sales since 1995
• The first decline in the homeownership rate in eight years
• A record-high median age for first-time buyers @ 38 years
• A record-low rate of domestic moves (only 8.3 percent of households)

• Finally, a record-high number of billion-dollar weather-related disasters over a two year span (i.e. 55)

Announcing the August Marriage

 of Dr. Chrissy Jackson & Dr. Frank Hamilton

Nuptials to be held at the Eckerd College Lewis House in St. Petersburg, FL on 16 August 2025.

Charles G. Irion Dies…

I doubt many of you reading this log posting, and this headline in particular, will remember – if you ever knew him, former land lease community owner/operator and broker. He attended a Networking Roundtable or two when they were held in the Phoenix, AZ., area; but other than that he kept pretty much to himself and his interests at the time.

You may also recognize Charles’ name from ‘reviews’ I penned and publicized in this blog and the Allen Letter in years past. Some of you may well remember his most recent novel, FOUR. In that one he introduced a new character, B. General George Allen. Go ahead and google Charles G. Irion to read a fascinating account of his life as an author, artist, and humanitarian.

I will miss my friend. His passing, once again, clearly demonstrates how helpful it would be today and in the future, if as one of his writing projects, he’d penned and collected his life and career memoirs into an autobiography. As it stands now, unless someone steps forward during the months and year ahead, to research and author a biography about Chuck, his history will soon pass and be lost.

To this latter point, keep in mind that the autobiographic advice applies to anyone reading this blog. And to this end, remember I plan to host a morning-long (9AM-12 Noon) Writers’ Workshop on 18 August 2025, at the RV/MH Hall of Fame theatre, in Elkhart, IN. I recently published a new 3d edition of the popular booklet: ‘Who Will Preserve Your Legacy? Answer: You!’. These will be just one of the handouts at the workshop. Cost? Minimal; probably around $25.00 per person. To register, simply email your intention to attend, via gfa7156@aol.com And if you’re going to be in Elkhart that day, plan to attend the annual RV/MH Hall of Fame induction banquet that evening. For info and to register, phone (574) 293-2344.  I’ll see you there!

George Allen

Blog Posting # 851; Copyright 18 July 2025. EducateMHC

Know this! HUD=Code manufactured housing (‘MH’) is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable-attainable, factory-built housing (a.k.a. one of four types of offsite construction) routinely paired with traditional stick-built housing (a.k.a. onsite construction).Plus, land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities &’mobile home parks’) comprise the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH. Various types of housing finance (e.g. chattel or ‘home only’ loans, and real estate mortgages) describe the post-production segment of MH.

EducateMHC is the official MH historian, trade term & trend tracker, as well as perennial MH information source. Contact EducateMHC via (317) 881-3815; email gfa7156@aol.com, and www.educatemhc.com, to purchase Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry (This book belongs in every land lease community nationwide!), and SWAN SONG –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 freelance consulting and authoring of 20 nonfiction texts.

George Allen is the sole emeritus member of the Manufactured Housing Institute (“MHI’), a founding board member of MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division, RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, Allen Legacy columnist & editor at large for the popular MHInsider magazine.

An Outsider’s Introduction to Manufactured Housing & Land Lease Communities

Though retired since 2021, I continue to receive requests from folk new to manufactured housing and land lease communities, asking me to ‘walk them thru the basics’ of the two closely-related business models. What follows here is what I routinely email them as an attachment. Even though you probably know most of this information, consider making a copy to later use in your communication with neophytes of your own.

Manufactured housing & land lease communities are two sides of the same offsite construction (factory-built) housing & multifamily rental community coins.*1

Manufactured housing, since 1976, unlike modular and panelized housing variants subject to local housing market building codes, is fabricated in compliance with the federally-regulated, performance-based HUD-Code. Its year-to-year performance is measured, not by new home sales volume, but by shipments, e.g. acme year 1973 = 579,940 mobile homes; 1991 = only 170,713+/-; 1988 = 372,943+/-, nadir year 2009 = 49,789+/-; and 103,314 in year 2024.*2

According to the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’), “20.6 million people live in manufactured homes, and have an estimated annual median income (‘AMI’) of $30,000.” National average AMI during 2017 was $60,366. “Manufactured homes account for 10% of all single family housing starts at $81,281 average new home price.”

85 percent national market share of manufactured housing is provided by the Big Three C firms: Clayton Homes (50%), Skyline-Champion (20%), and Cavco Industries (14%).

Manufactured housing is characterized by singlesection and multisection configurations; featuring Community Series Homes, and recently, the CrossMod™ model. Furthermore, new home distribution changed around year 2005, away from independent (street) MHRetailers & ‘company stores’, to in-community sales & seller-finance; and of late, some subdivision infill.

Land lease communities, previously, mobile home parks & manufactured home communities. Seven shelter types are now installed on rental homesites therein.*3 There are 45,000+/- land lease communities nationwide, with 85% @ 100 or fewer rental homesites. Remaining 15% consolidated into 500+/- known private and public (i.e. real estate investment trusts or REITs) property portfolios. During year 2024, national occupancy average = 95% & operating expense ratio @ 41% per 31^st annual ALLLEN REPORT via www.educatemhc.com

Trends? Today, 40% of new homes go directly into communities, up from 24% in 2009… More mixed in-community placement of MH & RV units; reemergence of rental units onsite, and increasing conversion of ‘for profit’ properties into resident-owned cooperatives (a.k.a. ‘ROCs’)

Manufactured housing finance. Homes on scattered building sites conveyed fee simple are mortgaged using conventional real estate mortgages. Homes on rental homesites in land lease communities are financed using personal property loans or ‘home only’ loans (a.k.a. chattel $).

Anything else I should include in this ‘Outsider’s Intro to MH & land lease communities’? Let me know via gfa7156@aol.com

End Notes.

1. Offsite construction = HUD-Code MHs, modular & panelized units, & Park Model RVs.

Onsite construction = all new homes built onsite, a.k.a. stick-built construction

• Why the +/- notation? Because the Institute for Business Technology & Safety, a HUD contractor, tallies MH shipments each month; and while MHARR publishes that number as reported, MHI adjusts it based on the number of Destination Pending units on hand.

• HUD-Code manufactured homes, ‘mobile homes’, modular homes, Park Model & other forms of RVs, stick-built homes, and various types of Accessory Dwelling Units or ADUs.

George Allen

Postscript. Blog Posting # 850; Copyright 11 July 2025. EducateMHC

Know this! HUD-Code manufactured housing (‘MH’) is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable-attainable, factory-built housing (a.k.a. one of four types of offsite construction), routinely paired with traditional stick-built housing (a.k.a. onsite construction). Plus, land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home park’) comprise the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH. Various types of housing finance (e.g. chattel or ‘home only’ loans, and real estate mortgages) describe the post-production segment of MH.

EducateMHC is the official MH historian, trade term & trend tracker, as well as perennial MH information source. Contact EducateMHC via (317) 881-3815; email gfa7156@aol.com, and www.educatemhc.com to purchase Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry (This book belongs in every land lease community nationwide!), and SWAN SONG – History of land lease communities & official record of annual MH production totals since 1955.

And my autobiography, From SmittyAlpaha6 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 freelance consulting and authoring of 20 nonfiction texts.

George Allen is the sole emeritus member of the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’), a founding board member of MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division, RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, Allen Legacy columnist & editor at large for the popular MHinsider magazine.

TOTAL U.S. HOUSING COMPLETIONS DURING MAY 2025

‘Onsite & Offsite Construction Completion Totals Combined’

This total U.S. Housing Completion Report for May, combines online data from U.S. Census Bureau (i.e. Annual estimated onsite construction completion total divided by 12 months); then, offsite construction completions total via combining 1) manufactured housing production data from the Institute for Building Technology & Safety (‘IBTS’), 2) modular & panelized units estimated to be 2% of onsite construction completions; and 3) RVIA website report of monthly production of Park Model RVs.

Historic bottom line! Unlike the U.S. Census Bureau Report that tallies only onsite construction completions (i.e. stick-built homes on scattered and subdivision building sites conveyed fee simple), adding four types of offsite construction (a.k.a. affordable, factory-built housing cited above) to this total, presents a far more accurate, albeit all-encompassing picture of total U.S. housing completions for the month of May 2025!

Specifically, rather than there being just 127,167 new onsite constructed homes completed during May 2025, the more accurate, all-encompassing estimated total is 139,344.

The numbers. For the month of May 2025, the U.S. Census Bureau reports 127,167 new single-family, site-built, privately-owned onsite housing completions (i.e. annual estimated tally of 1,526,000 divided by 12 months); while the monthly grand total, inclusive of four types of offsite construction (Again HUD-Code housing + modular & panelized homes + Park Model RVs, totals 12,177 units) is altogether 139,344 for the month of May 2025 – that’s 12,177 more housing units than the onsite housing completion total alone, reported by the U.S. Census Bureau!

Taking all this a step further, the year to date estimated totals compare in this fashion: U.S. Census Bureau total YTD is 648,220 units completed; however, with onsite construction added, the YTD total is 707,468 units completed. It’s obvious which tells the more comprehensive story! Furthermore, divide each of these two YTD totals by five (i.e. five months) and then multiply by 12 (months) to see what the yearend totals might be for the likely-but lesser U.S. Census Bureau tally, and the one combining onsite and offsite construction totals. For example: 648,220 divided by five & multiplied by 12 = 1,555,728 vs. 1,697,923 new homes completed in the U.S.! A difference of approximately 142,195 new homes over the course of a year!

Once again, this ‘Total U.S. Housing Completions Report’ is a work in progress. Please let us know what you think of this all housing inclusive concept, via gfa7156@aol.com

POSTSCRIPT

To further underscore my point about the U.S. Census Bureau underreporting new housing starts each month, here’s a paragraph quoted directly from the bureau’s recent description of New Residential Construction:

“This page provides national and regional data on the number of new housing units authorized by building permits; authorized, but not started; started; under construction; and completed. The data are for new, privately-owned housing units, excluding ‘HUD-Code manufactured (mobile) homes. The data are from the Building Permits Survey, and from the Survey of Construction (SOC), which is partially funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Local building permit data may be found on the Building Permits Survey webpage.” (My emphasis. GFA)

See what I mean? Modular and panelized units, as well as Park Model RVs are not even mentioned in this description of onsite construction. This makes offsite construction the ‘Rodney Dangerfield’ of U.S. housing!