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

August 9, 2022

700 and Counting…

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 7:35 am

Blog Posting # 700. Copyright @ 9 August 2022. EducateMHC

Perspective. ‘Land lease communities, previously manufactured home communities, and earlier, ‘mobile home parks’, comprise the real estate component of manufactured housing!’

EducateMHC is the online national advocate, realty asset class historian, trend spotter, education resource, textbook supplier for land lease communities throughout North America. To input this blog and or connect with EducateMHC, telephone (317) 881-3815, email gfa7156@aol.com and or visit www.edcatemhc.com

INTRODUCTION:

This is my 700th consecutive blog posting via GFA Management dba PMN Publishing, now via EducateMHC. That’s 14 years of empirical and op/ed writing for the manufactured housing industry and land lease communities nationwide.

Have you purchased your ticket for the 50th anniversary RV/MH Hall of Fame Induction Banquet occurring on 15 August 2022? If not, do so soon via (574) 293-2344. In a recent email to industry leaders I shared how this will be a unique opportunity to rub shoulders with notables as Jim Clayton, Spencer Roane, Kevin Clayton, Tim Williams (21st Mortgage), et. al. Also, this is our first opportunity to visit the new huge MH exhibit hall at the Hall of Fame!

Last week we reviewed parts of MHARR’s comprehensive White Paper having to do with the ‘Exploitation of Federal Housing Finance & Mortgage Funding Assistance Programs & Potential Solutions’ thereto. Won’t rehash the commentary here but suffice it to say, this was the latest volley in the ‘PUT UP or SHUT UP’ challenge relative to forming a new national advocacy entity for post-production sectors of the manufactured housing industry. Now we wait to see if MHARR, an online MH newsletter, and like-minded individuals, take steps, on or before 15 August 2022, to bring this about. After all, 600+/- industry folk will be on hand in Elkhart for the just described festivities on the 15th.  And if you’d like a personal copy of the White Paper, contact MHARR via (202) 783-4075.

By the way, we did receive responses and reactions to the aforementioned commentary on MHARR’s White Paper. “Regarding two items. First, zoning, where we’ve earned what we have received. Zoning is a local matter and changing the mindset of locals is a prejudice thing. Changing that is coming slowly and the need for affordable homes is making MH a more acceptable option. Top down edicts from feds and states don’t work well. Education, like MHI is doing, is a slow but sure way to make this (change) happen. And, the number of units produced per year is a production thing. Demand is high, and it is very difficult to match the previous numbers, given current capacity and difficulty increasing plants and finding workers. Homes today can’t be banged out like in the past when the cheapo ugly 12 wides were knocked out by the hundred thousands. What we need today is more cooperation, not another voice, and certainly less of the competition between MHI & MHARR.” (lightly edited. GFA)

A couple weeks ago, in an earlier blog posting, we told you how Clayton Homes was reducing unit prices on some models of their HUD-Code manufactured homes. Well, we’ve just received notice that Fleetwood Homes and ScotBilt are doing likewise – in the latter case, ranging in price from $1055 to $2225 per home, effective 1 August 2022.  Now that’s GOOD NEWS!

“Ginnie Mae has now issued a Request for Input (‘RFI’) seeking comments from interested parties (No reason that couldn’t be you!) with respect to the revitalization of the Title I program, and changes to ‘issuer eligibility requirement’ (i.e. their nefarious 10-10 criteria.” (Lightly edited. GFA) Comment deadline is 26 September 2022. This quoted from MHARR correspondence dated 1 August 2022.

Have you read the URBAN Institute’s (July 2022) research report titled, ‘The Role of Manufactured Housing In Increasing the Supply of Affordable Housing.’? You should. It’s chock full of solid statistics relative to manufactured housing. And if you do obtain a copy, know every time they mention ‘community’, they’re talking about land lease communities. Space limits what I can review here, but a few gems:

  • US housing supply shortage has five causes: local & state zoning restrictions, stringent building codes,, chronic labor shortages, high costs of building materials, and financing difficulties for affordable options, such as manufactured homes, ADUs, etc.
  • “…smaller cities, towns, and rural areas have experienced rapid home price increases and dwindling inventory levels because of out-migration from large cities.” P.3 IMHO, think crime waves especially in blue cities and states.
  • “…manufactured home shipments as a share of new single-family production remains low. This share ranged from 15 percent to 27 percent between 1977 and 1995, but has averaged only about 9 percent in the past decade.” P.4
  • Did you know? The Big 3-C HUD-Code manufacturers command 78.3 percent of the new housing market share nationally?  47.3% @ Clayton Homes; 17% @ Skyline/Champion; and 14% @ Cavco Industries. P.5.
  • Here’s one place I believe the author of this report got it wrong, by not spotting a now decade old trend: “Sometimes, communities will buy homes directly from manufacturers and sell to borrowers for habitation in that community.” P.13 Last I checked, close to 40 percent of all new HUD-Code homes have been going directly into land lease communities as leased or sold homes, with property owner often providing the home-only financing.

There’s much more to this report; most of it good and helpful, though with a few questionable observations like the one just cited.

FYI – or someone you know. “The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline launched on 16 July, enabling callers to dial three digits to reach a trained crisis counselor. 988 is easier to remember than the 10 digit-number, 1-800-273-8255 – and the Federal Communications Commission predicts calls to the hotline will double in the year following (this) 988 transition.” Quoted from Journalists Resource.

That’s all for this week. Remember; you can always let me know your reactions to what I pen here. Also send me information you’d like shared among our peers in the business. Do this via gfa7156@aol.com

George Allen, CPM, MHM

EducateMHC

P.S.

If you don’t already have a copy of my autobiography, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven, visit educatemhc.com to purchase one. It’s been a year this month since it was released at the final Networking Roundtable in Nashville, TN., and to date, more than 200 copies are in the hands of friends and associates throughout the manufactured housing industry and land lease communities.

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