Blog Posting # 860; Copyright 26 September 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: manufactured, modular, panelized housing & Park Model RVs), routinely paired with traditional stick-built housing (a.k.a. onsite construction). Land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’) comprise the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH. And 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 an official MH historian, trade term & trend tracker, as well as perennial 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.
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.
WRITING FOR YOU, IN THE MOMENT & IN RETROSPECT
French-born American female writer, diarist and novelist Anais Nin (1903-1977) presciently describes my life in retirement with this quote: “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” I did not realize this truth until just recently, during the SECO Conference in Atlanta, when asked to describe my present day writing projects. Here they are…
In the moment, so to speak, I continue to pen and post a weekly blog for EducateMHC. In fact, this is the 860th blog since 2008. And we’ve covered a lot of territory during the past 17 years: wide variety of manufactured housing and land lease community matters and perspectives; a rewriting of the classic ‘Upside Down in a Mobile Home Park’, describing how chattel finance shenanigans in and around 1998 caused the MH industry to lose easy access to ‘home only loans’ – bringing about the paradigm shift of new home sales away from independent (street) MHRetailers to the onsite sale and financing of homes. Also sharing of combat experiences in Vietnam 60 years ago, and the popular post, ‘Bad Boys of Manufactured Housing’.
Another ‘in the moment’ writing focus is a passionate, ongoing interest in what I see as ‘righting a serious wrong’ in new U.S. housing statistical reporting. As you may or may not know, the U.S. Census Bureau, every month, tallies and reports online, the volume of new stick-built housing (a.k.a. onsite construction) permits, starts, and completions. No mention whatsoever is made of HUD-Code manufactured housing, modular housing, panelized housing, or Park Model RVs (a.k.a. offsite construction & factory-built housing). Why are these forms of affordable housing not included? Maybe because that data, other than MH shipments reported by the Institute for Business Technology & Safety (‘IBTS’), and Park Model RVs by RVIA (‘Recreational Vehicle Industry of America’), are too difficult to tally, e.g. number of modular & panelized units estimated to be 2 percent of the onsite construction total. Plus, the data for offsite housing, as a rule, surfaces a month later after the U.S. Census Bureau report is published online. The grand consequence? In round numbers, the monthly total of onsite construction of new U.S. homes is approximately 90 percent of what it would be if offsite construction was added to the total!
From the retrospect perspective, I spend much time writing in two separate and distinct areas. Since the very beginning of MHInsider magazine (August 2018), I’ve penned the Allen Legacy column. My instructions there are to write interesting manufactured housing and land lease community columns – with an historic bent. There I’ve covered the gamut from RV/MH Hall of Famer pioneers and enshrines, the evolution of MH trade terminology or lingo, identity and autobiographical summaries of various prominent business founders and leaders, the five decade long partnership between MH and HUD, and community value appraisal, the Big Auction of 2005, Vietnam War veterans in MH, community rating (grading) systems, and a look back at community management 50 years ago. And soon to come, ‘MH Poems, Songs, Narratives and More!’ Perhaps someday, someone will collect and publish these dozens of columns as a supplemental history of manufactured housing and land lease communities.
Another retrospect focus has been two years of research relative to preparing a comprehensive history of the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN. The late Dr. Carl Edwards, an RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, authored an unpublished history covering the years 1972 through 1992. I picked up the pen, beginning with year 1993, but soon discovered much was amiss in the earlier years. SO, the project has expanded and is estimated to be completed (maybe) sometime in late 2026 or year 2027. In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more about the prestigious RV/MH Hall of Fame, visit their website: RV/MH Hall of Fame. And while there, consider nominating a deserving friend or relative who’s been in the MH and or RV industries for more than two decades, for induction into the Hall of Fame. Better yet, visit the RV/MH Hall of Fame and tour its’ two large exhibit halls, one dedicated to RVs and one dedicated to MH and land lease communities. You’ll be glad you did.
So, recalling writer Nin’s words, I continue to taste MH life twice; in the moment and in retrospect. Comments or recommendations are welcome via gfa7156@aol.com
George Allen