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

Blog Posting # 855; Copyright 31 October 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 single-family residential housing (a.k.a. onsite construction). Land lease communities, a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’) are the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH. And, along with various types of housing finance (e.g. chattel or ‘home only’ loans, and real estate- secured mortgages) constitute the post-production segment of the MH industry.

EducateMHC is an MH historian, trade term & trend tracker, as well as perennial MH information source! Contact EducateMHC via (317) 881-3815; email gfa7156@aol.com, or www.educateMHC.com, to purchase ‘Community management in the Manufactured Housing Indu8stry’ (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, an RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, Allen Legacy columnist & editor at large for ‘MHInsider’ magazine.

FOUR STEPS & SIX RULES OF THUMB

In my ‘Chapbook of Business Management & Wisdom’ you’ll find the Five Ms of Management*1, Six Steps to Closing a Sale*2, and an eight step Problem-Solving Procedure*3. However, what you won’t find are the Four Steps to Selling & Financing New Homes Onsite Within Land Lease Communities, and the Six Right Ps of Marketing New Homes Within Land Lease Communities. These two procedures have been commonplace throughout the land lease community real estate asset class since 2017. They were introduced at the first ‘Two Days of MH Sales Seminars & Plant Tours’ presentation that occurred at the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart during the spring of year 2016. And they’re repeated here as a training aid for new community owners/operators throughout the U.S. And that two days sales training program continues annually under the leadership of Indiana’s IMHA/RVIC at the Hall of Fame.

FOUR STEPS TO SELLING & FINANCING NEW HOMES ONSITE WITHIN LAND LEASE COMMUNITIES

1. Getting Ready! This involves maximizing curb appeal, freshening offsite and onsite signage, improving advertising online and in the local press, reviewing and improving apropo policies & procedures, being sure of homebuyer/site lessee profile, and ensuring appropriate business licenses are in place.

• Buying New Homes. What size & quality needed and wanted? Appropriate factory nearby? Use of Community Series Homes (‘CSH’) &/or CrossMod® models? What support is available from factory?

• Selling New Homes & Lifestyle. Leasing homes? Property & product USPs (‘Unique Selling Propositions)? Using Six Right Ps of Marketing? More to follow on this….

• Financing New Homes. What $ resources are available, including cash, lease-option & contract sales? Importance of pre-qualification & compliance!

Those four steps simply get one started selling new HUD-Code homes onsite within land lease communities. What additional steps do you think should be added? Let me know via gfa7156@aol.com

SIX SRIGHT Ps OF MARKETING NEW HOMES WITHIN LAND LEASE COMMUNITIES

1. Right Product model, home size, appearance, floor plan, features & amenities, e.g. A CSH is known for its’ durability, enhancing features (front end loaded porch) and WOW factors! And CrossMod® homes are ideal for single-family residential subdivisions.

• Right Place or location within the property, and how oriented to the sun and wind, as well as good drainage and proper installation.

• Right Price per type deal*4, also customer’s Annual Gross Income or AGL, and local housing market’s Annual Median Income or AMI, relative to 30% Housing Expense Factor (‘HEF’) and site rent rate.

• Right Promotion per USP (Again, ‘Unique Selling Proposition’) – for house and property e.g. Energy Star & front porch loaded, using print and online advertising, fresh signage off and onsite, plus resident referrals.

• Right People  based on anticipated sales volume and # of vacant rental homesites to fill. Staff capable, experienced, motivated and properly trained & supervised by professionals?

• Right Process includes planning*5 and procedures to ID and meet shelter needs & wants of target audience and mix in specific local housing market.

End Notes:

1. Five Ms of Management: Manpower (Think personnel & labor) Machinery (Think equipment & tools), Material (Think inventory & service), Methods (Think policies & procedures), and Money (Think income & expenses).

• Six Steps to Closing a Sale: Preparing, Listening, Establishing Confidence, Overcoming Objections, Popping the question (a.k.a. AFTO or ‘Ask for the order!’) and Waiting for an answer. These insights originated with Darryl Benjamin

• Select a Problem, a task; Define it, document it; Study It, question every detail; Research & Organize Data; Refine & Digest Data; Produce & Rework Ideas; Implement & Monitor; Follow-up & Recap Results.

• Use of 3:1 Rule. Where land lease community site rent is one third that of 3BR2B apartment rent in the same local housing market.

• ‘Proper Prior Planning Prevents Pitifully Poor Performance!’

The aforementioned ‘Chapbook of Business & Management Wisdom’ is available for purchase via www.educatemhc.com

George Allen

Blog Posting # 864; Copyright 24 October 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 single-family residential housing (a.k.a. onsite construction). Land lease communities, a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’) are the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH. And, along with various types of housing finance (e.g. chattel or ‘home only’ loans, and real estate-secured mortgages) constitute the post-production segment of the MH industry.

EducateMHC is an MH historian, trade term & trend tracker, as well as perennial MH information source! Contact EducateMHC via (317) 881-3815; email gfa7156@aol.com, or 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, an RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, Allen Legacy columnist & editor at large for ‘MHInsider’ magazine.

SEE YOU AT THE 2026 LOUISVILLE SHOW?

That’s the 2026 Louisville Manufactured Housing Show, or briefly, the Louisville MHShow. Here’re the dates and location: 14 – 16 January 2026, at the Kentucky Exposition Center, 937 Phillips Lane, Louisville, KY. Reach Show Management Team via: info@thelouisvilleshiow.com or phone (616) 888-8030. The Louisville MHShow has been a popular mid-winter business destination for at least the past 65 years!

Assuming you’re active in the manufactured housing industry and or own/operate one or more land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities or ‘mobile home parks’); this is the sole Midwest-based national trade show for this industry and realty asset class! There will be dozens of new HUD-Code manufactured homes on display indoors, even more supplier and exhibitors of products and services of interest to attendees.

Me? I attend for the opportunity to see and visit many new manufactured homes, inside and out, and talk with factory personnel present to answer questions and display product. It’s always interesting – and educational, to see how manufactured homes evolve over the years. A recent trend has been new singlesection and multisection homes designed with ‘front end loaded porches’. Why is this design appealing? Because, in land lease community ‘sets’ it’s rare to find homes installed parallel to the streetscape in front. So, having a ‘front end loaded porch’ makes it possible for homeowners/site lessees to accomplish the same end, showing off the front, narrow axis of their new home. Today, a hot design, but slow to catch-on, has been the CrossMod® home, sponsored by the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’) – making MHs more homelike than ever before!

In recent years, and perhaps this one as well, we’ve seen a variety of Accessory Dwelling Units of ADUs on display, i.e. small self-contained dwellings or residential units, a.k.a. granny flats or casitas. ADU designs also include Park Model RVs, Tiny Houses, small 3D-fabricated units, even garages and larger sheds converted into secondary living units. The whole ADU category of housing, however, presents a problem for housing statisticians. The U.S. Census Bureau, every month, estimates the annual volume of new onsite construction (i.e. stick-built homes), but totally ignores the existence and roll of offsite construction (a.k.a. HUD-Code manufactured housing, modular & panelized housing, and Park Model RVs) – and Accessory Dwelling Units! At present the underreporting appears to be, in my opinion, 10,000 new units per month, 120,000 annually. Consequence? Continued underreporting of the U.S. affordable housing crisis!

Supplier exhibits. Now there’s a perennial pleasure: seeing who and what’s new across the industry and property type. Even here we spot trends. For example; when several large property portfolios ‘went public’ in 1994, at least a half dozen other large land lease community owners/operators started ‘displaying’ at the Louisville MH Show. Why? To identify present day owners/operators who might be interested in selling their communities. This went on for two decades, until the majority of large (i.e. 150+ sites in size) communities were in property portfolios. Today it’s rare to find even one of these ‘players’ exhibiting in Louisville.

At one time or another we’ve seen land lease community real estate brokers set up shop, giving their firms names such as ‘The Park Girl’. And for a couple years, Scale Model Homes Company featured plastic models of manufactured homes, with detachable roof systems, ‘for sale’. Why buy them? To use as display models at independent (street) MHRetailer sales centers and elsewhere. Some of the plastic models are now on display in the RV/MH Hall of Fame museum in Elkhart, IN. Other years, bumper stickers were handed out as SWAG, e.g. ’I LOVE (heart) MY MANUFACTURED HOME’, & ‘1995 – 2005: DECADE OF THE MANUFACTURED HOME COMMUNITY!’’ Just about any book worth reading and using in the MH business has been or is on display at this show. For example, the only professional property management textbook to be introduced at the Louisville MHShow, focused on land lease communities, is ‘Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry’. It’s available via www.educatemhc.com

Interpersonal Networking. Few venues offer more opportunity to get to know folk in one’s business than the Louisville MHShow! All the while looking at the new homes, and visiting supplier vendors, it’s easy to see old friends in the business, and make new ones as possible valuable future contacts. In many cases this is the only time of the year we get to see and talk with one another.

Educational Sessions. This hasn’t always been a staple at the Louisville MHShow. ‘Years ago’ housing manufacturers eschewed anything (i.e. seminars & panels) that’s drew ‘shoppers’ away from visiting show homes. That’s changed today, probably because of the increased number of community owners/operators present. These sessions are almost always well attended, given the topics being presented and discussed. For example, when community owners/operators started selling and financing new HUD-Code homes onsite, they learned to execute legal lease options at the Louisville MHShow and at the SECO conference in Atlanta during spring months.

Know my most memorable experience at the Louisville show (Besides enduring bitter cold weather from time to time)? It occurred when I was invited to attend a private country western concert hosted by Jim Clayton in a downtown hotel. Jim played his guitar and sang, accompanied by an attractive female backup singer. For more than an hour Jim entertained us  with his music and impromptu tales.

Maybe you’ll get lucky and find yourself in a similar memorable environment this January!

George Allen

Blog Posting # 863; Copyright 17 October 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’) are the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH. And, along with various types of housing finance (e.g. chattel or ‘home only’ loans, and real estate mortgages) constitute the post-production segment of the MH industry.

EducateMHC is a 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, an RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrine, Allen Legacy columnist & editor at large for the popular MHInsider magazine.

What Are the Five Asset Classes?

Are you a wealth builder – some say wealth preservationist? In either event, if you’re an adult, working as an employee, business executive or entrepreneur, you’re likely focused on one or more of five asset classes, or categories of investment with similar characteristics that work similarly in the marketplace. In abbreviated fashion the five asset classes are:

• Stocks
• Bonds
• Real estate
• Cash & cash equivalents
• Commodities

All I hope to do here is acquaint you with these ways to accumulate and preserve personal wealth. Some folk do this on their own; others identify and use capable and experienced – and sometimes credentialed individuals specializing in one or more of these asset classes. Me? I spent my career in the commercial investment real estate asset class; specifically owning and operating land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’). I also monitored my investment in the ‘cash & cash equivalent’ asset class, and did not participate in the commodities asset class at all. As far as stocks and bonds are concerned, I’ve long relied on the guidance of financial planners, a.k.a. wealth preservationists. Success I’ve enjoyed there has, in large part, not only a personal and corporate advisor, but my inclination to be a very conservative investor.

Now, more about the five asset classes.

STOCKS. These are shares of ownership in private or public companies. Stocks often generate high returns over time, but can also be very volatile as they react to current events, and other market influences. One has a choice, when investing, to do so with individual stocks, or via exchange-traded funds (‘ETFs’) that allows one to invest in a group of stocks at one time.

BONDS. These are loans you give to a company or government (to build local community buildings and infrastructure) in exchange for regular interest payments during a set period of time – until the bond matures. Bonds are generally considered safer than stocks but have lower returns. Frankly, I started off investing in bonds then switched to stocks.

REAL ESTATE. Real estate involves acquiring property, e.g. homes, commercial buildings, even raw land – with an expectation it will appreciate (increase) in value over time. Not only is price appreciation a positive feature of real estate, but the possibility of rental income is helpful. Investing in real estate also requires significant upfront investment and ongoing management.

CASH & CASH EQUIVALENTS. What does this asset class include? One’s funds in checking and savings accounts, also short-term investments that are easily converted to cash. The asset class’ characteristically offer lower returns than stocks, in exchange for providing liquidity (easy access) to one’s money when needed for emergencies or other immediate financial needs and opportunities.

COMMODITIES. Commodities include physical goods such as gold, silver, oil, even agricultural products. They are viewed as a hedge against inflation since the prices can rise when the cost of living increases. Investing in commodities lends diversity to one’s wealth-building portfolio. But also know that price volatility can work in the opposite direction as well.

So, how many of these asset classes are you invested in today? Interested in broadening one’s involvement? If so, do more research. Get comfortable with the class(es) in which you have interest.

GETTING OLD & BEING FORGOTTEN!

OK, I admit it. Thoughts of getting old and being forgotten rarely crossed my mind until I retired several years ago, then noticed how nary a week passes without word of another friend, relative, or business associate dying.

Where my business associates are concerned, another reality has come hard to mind: Did or did they not take steps to document their personal or corporate legacy, ensuring the preservation of their memory among friends like you and me? The sad answer to that question is more often than not, NO. This hit home with me recently when I received a fall newsletter from a Midwest MH association. Front page title? ‘Remembering_____, An Industry Pioneer and Friend’. Well this was a nice write-up on a now deceased pioneer in our industry. But guess what? Once this month passes, so too will the memory of this RY – except for his being an enshrinee in the RV/M Hall of Fame. To the best of my knowledge, he wrote neither memoirs (i.e. short stories) or an autobiography. And his is not an isolated case. Just sitting here I can easily recall the recent demise of other friends/acquaintances in our business, e.g. Bud Parkhill in IL., Don Gedert in IN., and Charles Irion in AZ. All of whom I asked to pen their life stories….

In the latter instance, Chuck was a complicated, colorful, giving individual. He authored nearly a dozen books, mostly adventure/mystery tales, and some nonfiction (e.g.                                      ). Chuck ‘made is mark’ in MH as a land lease community broker and ownership partner. He spent the last few years of his life traveling the world with Nora, documenting their adventures on Facebook, but often donating funds and medical equipment along the way. His recent death was sudden – and he too, to the best of my knowledge, did not document for posterity, all that he did and experienced. Now he’s gone. I knew him and will miss his lively banter, but so far, no one else will remember all that much about his business acumen, philanthropy, and love for people.

Now there’s a positive side to this recollection. To date, a dozen guys (no women, sad to say) have penned autobiographies. I’ve read them all and collected excerpts in a booklet titled ‘Who Will Preserve Your Legacy? Answer: You!’ A free copy is available to you for the asking, via gfa7156@aol.com

George Allen

Blog Posting # 862; Copyright 10 October 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’) are the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH. And along with various types of housing finance (e.g. chattel or ‘home only’ loans, and real estate mortgages), constitute the post-production segment of the MH industry.

EducateMHC is an 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.

TOTAL U.S. HOUSING COMPLETIONS DURING AUGUST 2025

George Allen’s Estimated Total of New Onsite & Offsite Construction Homes Together!

This TOTAL U.S. HOUSING COMPLETIONS REPORT for August 2025 combines online data from the U.S. Census Bureau monthly report of estimated annual onsite construction (i.e. 1,608,000 units divided by 12 months = 134,000 units @ August), then combine this monthly total with 11,776  offsite construction completions for the same month. The offsite construction total is comprised of 1) HUD-Code manufactured housing production data (@ 8,696 units) per Institute for Building Technology & Safety (‘IBTS’)*1; 2) modular & panelized housing units estimated to be 2% of the onsite construction completions total (@ 134,000 X .02% = 2,680 units); and, 3) RV Industry of America (‘RVIA’) reporting 400 Park Model RVs produced.*2 So together, 134,000 onsite construction units plus 11,776 offsite construction units = 145,776 onsite & offsite construction completions together!

So, what’s going on here? Why the partial reporting of U.S. housing completions (.e. only onsite construction units) each month by the U.S. Census Bureau? I have no informed response. But it appears to me that since onsite construction totals are akin to stick-built housing alone (except for the occasional permanently-sited HUD-Code manufactured home); this is helpful information to traditional builders. Then there’s the happenstance that offsite construction data posting (i.e. IBTS & RVIA monthly reports) occurs a month later than the U.S. Census Bureau online posting.

Consequence of this partial reporting? Just using August 2025 housing completion totals (134,000 onsite construction & 11,776 offsite construction), total housing completions of 145,776 units is underreporting by 11,776 units – that’s 141,312 units when annualized, i.e. ‘more than a one month total of onsite construction’ units! So, U.S. Census Bureau appears to be underreporting total U.S. housing permits, starts & completions by 10,000+/- units per month and 100,000+ units per year! How long is this travesty to continue before correcting?

U.S. affordable housing crisis. Just how bad is it really? At the levels reported by the U.S. Census Bureau? OR, should offsite construction units be added to onsite construction unit totals to provide a more accurate data picture for housing planners and professionals?*3 The answer should be obvious to housing practitioners!

As we’ve said before, this ‘Total U.S. Housing Completions Report’ is a work in progress. Let us know what you think of this ghosting interplay between onsite and offsite housing completion statistics: gfa7156@aol.com

End Notes.

1. Housing data source reporting is not without its’ challenges. Take the IBTS as an example. For August 2025 it reported 8696 new HUD-Code homes as being shipped, including 26 Destination Pending units (i.e. unshipped at time of reporting). Well, the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’) reports to its’ members 8,688 new HUD-Code homes shipped, eight units fewer than what IBTS reported to them. This is because MHI, after deducting the 26 Destination Pending units from IBTS’ total, adds back the number of Destination Pending units deducted the previous month (July). As long as this confusing practice continues, the MH industry will never realize universally accurate reporting of HUD-Code housing shipments!

• Park Model RVs. The question sometimes arises, ‘Why include Park Model RVs’ as part of offsite construction? Two reasons. First, an increasing number of Park Model RVs (i.e. 400 square feet or less in size) are used as permanent and seasonal dwellings across the U.S., e.g. entire Park Model RV villages in the state of Florida and elsewhere. Second, including Park Model RVs serves as a ‘place holder’ for accessory dwelling units (‘ADUs’), yet another increasingly popular form of housing (i.e. Think ‘tiny houses’).

• Yet another issue lurks in this reporting of ‘Total U.S. Housing Completions’. Has to do with ‘manufactured housing as percentage of single-family home starts’. MHI in its’ Monthly Economic Report dated 3 October 2025, covering August 2025, claims: “Manufactured housing accounted for 10.0% of single-family home starts in August 2025.” However, given the accuracy of numbers reported in the previous paragraphs, it appears the correct answer to this question is not 10 percent, but 6 ½%. How so? MHI-reported 8688 HUD-Code MHs divided by 134,000 onsite construction units equals 6 ½%

.

George Allen

Blog Posting # 861; Copyright 3 October 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). And 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, an 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.

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.

‘TURN YOUR STORY INTO HISTORY!’

Several notable personages, active in manufactured housing and land lease community ownership, are penning their autobiographies! Are you one of them? While I hope so, I doubt it. Why? Because writing personal and corporate memoirs (i.e. short stories) is a time-consuming and lonely task. But pulling memoirs together into a self-published corporate history, biography (of someone else) or one’s autobiography, while turning ‘stories into history’ – is a laborious service to mankind and preservation of one’s legacy! In my opinion, it’s well worth the time, effort and expense. Here’s why….

So many of our personal, even corporate experiences, are unique to us, our family, our business, our industry, and deserve recording. Just one example. As many know, I’ve been researching and penning a comprehensive history of the RV/MH Hall of Fame for the past two years – and know I’ve got another two years to go. Along the way I’ve relied on anecdotes and histories archived in the Hall of Fame library, and a raft of autobiographies. I’ve read and used material from more than a dozen manufactured housing and land lease community-specific autobiographies (More about this later), and of late, a half dozen RV-related collections of memoirs. If these personal and corporate histories had NOT been penned and, for the most part, self-published, I’d be ‘dead in the water’ where this project is concerned, and all this ‘history’ would be lost to future generations of MH/RV aficionados and would be practitioners.

Since I have these tomes for my use, the stories have fleshed-out ‘specific events by date’ histories I’d have otherwise not written. For example, I’ve learned of the fair number of immigrants who’ve come to America and realized Horatio Algier dreams of personal and corporate success (e.g. Kris Jensen, Dan Pocapalio, Boris Vukovich, et. al.). And how many, if not most, MH & RV manufacturers started, fabricating product prototypes, in someone’s garage.

So, are there stories in particular I’d like to see penned and published? Sure, here’s a sampling.

Several corporate owners/operators of land lease community portfolios ‘went public’ as real estate investment trusts (‘REITs’) in 1994 – and all have continued to grow in size since then. So there’re certainly interesting, if not exciting, stories to share now and in the future.

How ‘bout the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’). Everyone in the MH business knows who they are, but ‘who’ really knows the institute’s history? Some tidbits to disclose: original name and when started; who were the many executive directors during past seven or more decades? How was MHARR spun off in 1985? Same to be said about the RVIA (Recreational Vehicle Industry of America).

Adventure Homes in Auburn, IN. This was originally a plant for a major MH player, but is now owned/run by employees – or so I’m told. There simply has to be ‘a grand tale to be told there’.

Annual SECO Conference in Atlanta, GA. During the past 13 years this event has grown from a small regional gathering into the premier gathering of small-to-mid-sized land lease community owners/operators from throughout the U.S! New manufactured homes are always on display. Rumor has it that a book is being written, but mainly about one of the transaction methodologies conceived and matured along with this annual event: MH lease option.

There’s a new tale unfolding right now – the acquisition of American Homestar by CAVCO Industries. Hmm. Wonder if anyone there will pick up the pen and tell us that inside story? Maybe a similar tale, albeit larger in $ size, is the soon acquisition of YES! Communities.

A story I’d really like to read is one that describes the growth of Lautrec, Ltd, under Spencer Partridge; then the founding and rapid growth of RHP Properties, under his son Ross Partridge.

ROC USA is surely a tale with many tangents. Resident-owned Communities (‘ROC’) have come into their own during the past couple (few?) decades. Founder Paul Bradley has moved into other leadership there, succeeded Emily Haden. Anyone going to tell us this compelling story?

The most intriguing story yet to be told, is about Randy Rowe of Green Courte Partners. I was at his side when his saga began in the early 90s – when he took MHC cum ELS, Inc. public as a REIT. Then came his founding and rapid growth of Hometown America, followed by Green Courte Partners. And along the way, Randy was the inspiration to launch the National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division at MHI*1; Oh, and lest we forget, the short-lived Manufactured Housing Communities Council (‘MHCC’), of the Urban Land Institute (‘ULI’).

Know what? There are many additional individuals out there who have very worthwhile personal success stories to tell. I’ll name just a few here: Charles Fanaro of Saddlebrook Farms fame – as visionary real estate developer and top shelf MH manufacturer*2; Eugene & Sam Landy, father/son at UMH Properties; the Hames family in Iowa; Jim Ayotte, executive director of FMHA (Florida), Mike Sullivan, CPM, of Newport Pacific Family of Companies; Sharon Niccum, now retired Indiana-based community owner/operator; Don Westphal, renowned landscape architect; George Porter, father of MH installations; and Suzanne Felber, interior decorator par excellence.

Earlier I spoke of land lease community owners/operators who’ve penned and published their autobiographies. Quoting from the booklet ‘Who Will Preserve Your Legacy? Answer: you!’:

Kristian Jensen, Sr., A Danish American. Long out of print but in the RV/MH Hall of Fame library

John Crean, The Wheel & I. Most extravagant MH book ever published, with gilt edged pages…

James Clayton, First A Dream. Profits from these book sales donated to RV/MH Hall of Fame

The Life & Times of B.M. Vukovich, a photoautobiography prepared and published by his family.

Harrell & Darrell Cohron, The Trailer Twins. Both deceased; company in 3^rd or 4^th generation

Mike Conlon, Unconventional Wealth. Covers first half author’s life, more to come….

George N. Goldman, The Road Less Traveled. Once renown Midwest owner/operator

Alvan L. Schrader, No Respect At All…A PATH TO MILLION$. Contains pithy challenge to MH folk

George Allen’s SWAN SONG, History of Land Lease Communities & annual MH #s from 1955…

Samuel Zell, Am I Being Too Subtle? Long awaited book from largest public owner/operator.

Matthew Jenkins, DVM, Positive Possibilities. USAF veteran, veterinarian, owner/operator

Jim, Ralph & Jeff Scoular, Leap of Faith. Tale of three MH ‘players’ all in one family.

George Allen, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven. From Vietnam combat to community owner

George O’Leary, the O’Learys of Beechwood. Little known MH & RV developer/operator

Now, wouldn’t you like to see your life story, or corporate history, added to this august list? For a head start to this end, request a FREE copy of the aforementioned booklet. It contains brief summaries of these titles, and at the end, a Five Step procedure for preparing one’s memoirs and autobiography. Request via gfa7156@aol.com Most of these books are available to purchase via the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN. Visit their website: RV/MH Hall of Fame.

And remember, tongue in cheek, that “Autobiography is an unrivaled vehicle for telling the truth about other people.” Philip Guedalla

End Notes

1. Read the late Bruce Savage’s The First 20 Years! Available: www.educatemhc.com
2. Read SWAN SONG, Available: www.educatemhc.com

George Allen