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