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

Blog Column # 287 Copyright 2014 9 March 2014

Perspective. ‘Land-lease-lifestyle communities, a.k.a. manufactured home communities cum ‘mobile home parks’, comprise the real estate component of manufactured housing.’

Reason for this blog. “It’s the national advocacy voice, statistical research reporter, & communication resource for LLLCommunities, of all sizes, throughout North America!’

Input this blog & affiliate with the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, a.k.a. ‘COBA7’, via Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764

I.

Finally, a National Advocacy Body Steps Forward to Lead!
But Will Anyone Follow?

II.

Ever Desire To Help Write a Book or Two?

III.

Community Series Homes & Plant Shows in 2014

I.

Finally, a National Advocacy Body Steps Forward to Lead!
But Will Anyone Follow?

A national manufactured housing advocacy body, domiciled inside the Washington, DC. beltway, “…invites all affected stakeholders (i.e. That’s thee & me, as entrepreneurs & corporate businessmen & women!) to join its’ efforts, including key (chattel) financial institutions vital to homebuyers, (in) an industry return to production levels measured in the hundreds-of-thousands of homes annually!” Edited from full and half page MHARR paid ads running in the March 2014 issue of The Journal and the Allen Letter professional journal.

Not only do these bold ads reach out to motivate manufactured housing and land-lease-lifestyle community (A.k.a. manufactured home community) stakeholders, they identify KEY PRIORITIES for the days and months ahead:

• Full and appropriate HUD implementation of the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000, a.k.a. MHA@2000. After 13+ years, it’s still a work in progress, or some would say ‘regress’!

• Full implementation of the Duty to Serve (underserved markets), including the securitization of chattel loans

• Full inclusion by Congress, of all manufactured housing loans in any housing finance reform legislation, e.g. GSE reform; through clear, definitive and mandatory language

• Full and unrestricted homebuyer access, nationwide, to the financing sources and providers of their choice.

• Full acceptance of manufactured housing by states, cities, and localities

Whew! Now that’s what I’d call ‘one full and aggressive manufactured housing agenda’. How ‘bout you? Agreed? If so, suggest you contact Danny Ghorbani via (202) 783-4087 and ask him: HOW can YOU help ADDRESS these FIVE KEY PRIORITIES, in your areas of influence, during the days, weeks, and months ahead?! I’m on board!

And lest you think the preceding is happening in a vacuum; it isn’t! Last week, Part I of the blog posted at this website, ended with this Challenge Question directed at manufactured housing’s national advocacy bodies inside-&-outside the Washington, DC beltway:

“Is the present day national advocacy representation format (i.e. two national trade bodies) and singular focus (‘Change Dodd-Frank legislation & CFPB regs!’), for HUD-Code manufactured housing, the Most Effective Use of Lobbying Efforts & Dollars in (‘futile to date’) attempts to influence legislators and regulators in our nation’s capitol? OR, is it now time – finally, for a Serious National Conversation regarding where (1) manufactured housing production and distribution, (2) all post-production segments of our industry, and (3) the land-lease-lifestyle community realty asset class, are today; where we should and would like to be going; and, how to best arrive at desired destination(s) and or goal(s)?! Until we do so as an industry, ‘we’re hopelessly adrift in an ocean of business opportunity’ and will not return to prosperity anytime soon! Hope our elected and salaried national leaders are (finally) paying attention to US!

Are They? I have no idea. But some of YOU are! Here’re two responses from readers commenting on last weekends blog posting at this website.

“Hope all is well with you. My admiration continues to be with you for your tenacity in doing battle with those who misguide our industry. Many of those folk simply don’t have the scars of battle that people like you and me wear, to evidence our experience in the trenches.” MG

&

“I loved your blog yesterday on ‘upside down’ (in a mobile home park). That’s really it in a nutshell isn’t it? I think there’re a lot of advocates and others who’d get on board with a moderate position, like the one you put out here (in the blog).It’s where I’ve always been: ‘Offer a good, affordable and secure homeownership asset and one’s business will be solid.’ We bank on that in our own business interests!. Know what George? We (this industry & asset class) just might be suffering from too many MBAs and too much Wall Street influence! Hmm. Just a hunch.”

So, where do we go from here, national manufactured housing industry leaders? Know what? These folk get angry when I ‘call them out by name’, but do nothing when I don’t.
Hmm. Maybe next week….

II.

Ever Desire to Help Write a Book or Two?

Well, here’s your big chance. Actually maybe two opportunities; one for folk in the land-lease-lifestyle community business model, the other for HUD-Code home manufacturers – and their Business Development Managers, interested in selling more new homes into LLLCommunities! So, read the two descriptions here, then ‘take your pick’ or two; and if so inclined, express your interest to me – and the sooner the better….

In the first instance, we’re talking about a collection or compendium of first hand experiences, penned by land-lease-lifestyle community owners/operators, willing to share Lessons Learned during their operation of this unique, income-producing property type. So, whether you’ve been – or continue to be, an owner and or property manager (on-site & regional alike) of one or more LLLCommunities, pick out a particular PM function area and describe ‘your Lesson Learned’. Function areas? Oh, property marketing; rental homesite leasing; cultivating good resident relations; maintenance-related adventures with a ‘lesson’; even the employee recruiting, screening, hiring, training, supervising cycle; etc.. Any helpful Rules of Thumb to share?

Here’s the best way to respond. Write, pen, or type a paragraph or two describing the territory you’d like to cover in a passage prepared for submission and consideration as a Lesson Learned During LLLCommunity Operations. Be sure to include your name, mailing address, and other contact information when you send it to GFA c/o Box # 47024, Indpls, IN. 46247.

Will need your initial input (i.e. paragraph or paragraphs) by the end of March 2014.

This means I can have you rewrite, refine and submit your selection by the end of April; to be evaluated, edited and possibly selected for inclusion in the book during May; for printing during June; binding during July; for distribution in early September. And OK to include a form or other aid (training & otherwise) that was integral to, or came out of this property management Lesson Learned being described. Questions? Simply phone me via (317) 346-7156.

In the second instance, we’re talking about a much-needed HOW TO guide for owners/operators of land-lease-lifestyle communities, who’re getting into the marketing, sale and financing of new HUD-Code homes on-site, for the first time; or have tried to do so – unsuccessfully, to date. In this instance, we’re looking for input from related but disparate sources: 1) LLLCommunity owners/operators with successful home sale experience on-site to date – and willing to share their ‘lessons learned’; and, 2) HUD-Code home manufacturers with a passion for filling vacant rental homesites in LLLCommunities – and willing to ‘teach how it’s done’, knowing there’ll need to be adjustments for the nuances of on-site home sales procedures. Assignment preference will be given to Business Development Managers, or BDMs, already identified as specialists in the Community Series Home designed product.

At this point, it’s envisioned this’ll be a two part book. Part I = “How to Spec & Buy New HUD-Code Homes from the Factory’; and, Part II = ‘How to Market, Sell, & when need be, Finance the Home Transaction on-site. Do YOU feel you have expertise you’d be willing to share in either or both these foci? While we have a lead author in mind, to shepherd this project from start to finish; if you feel you have special ability, even experience in handing this sort of writing project, by all means let us know ASAP. In the meantime; to participate as a writer, prepare a paragraph or two describing where you believe your strengths lie, and send this typed information to GFA c/o Box # 47024, Indpls, IN. 46247.

Here too, need your initial input no later than the end of this month, March 2014.

And again; if you have questions, phone me via (317) 346-7156.

III.

Community Series Homes & Plant Shows in 2014

Wow! Who ‘lit a fire’ under HUD-Code home manufacturers? During the past 60 days, here at GFA Management, Inc., dba PMN Publishing, and where the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, or COBA7, was launched this past December, we’ve experienced the following, all in short order:

• More Community Series Homes, or CSH Model HUD-Code manufactured homes on display (e.g. Luavul MHShow in mid-January) than in any previous year, going back to 2/27/2009 when the concept was birthed! And now HUD-Code manufacturers, via their BDMs, are asking to have a say in refining the list of features used to describe CSH Models during the past five years. That’s exciting! Do YOU have recommended features, changes, etc? Let us know ASAP, as we’ll be reconstituting said list later this month (March) and distributing it in the Allen Letter professional journal.

• New BDMs! Where are they coming from? It’s like HUD-Code home manufacturers have suddenly decided they do want to have an active role filling the estimated 250,000 vacant rental homesites in LLLCommunities across the U.S.. Great! Keep submitting those names of new Business Development Managers to us via (317) 346-7156. New BDM list in a few weeks.

• Plant Shows Everywhere! Nothing new about having plant shows – except this: Year 2014 appears to becoming the ‘Year of the Land-lease-lifestyle Community!’ as HUD-Code home manufacturers reach out not only to present home-buying owners/operators, but prospective ones as well. To date, it appears the Plant Shows, to this end, will feature an 1) Official State of the MHIndustry & LLLCommunity Asset Class, followed by 2) a plant tour, then 3) Open Discussions among participants re: ‘Why are you buying Community Series Homes?’ & ‘What will it take to get you to buy CSH Models?’ Need us for your plant show? Phone (317) 346-7156.

• COBA7. Already several major and regional HUD-Code home manufacturers have affiliated with the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance! Why? For direct mail and networking access to the vast majority of LLLCommunity owners/operators not aligned with any national, and oft times not even state, manufactured housing associations, but who are known to be among the 500+/- property portfolio ‘players’ in the U.S. and Canada. If you’d like to learn more about this unique ‘new home sales’ marketing opportunity, simply phone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764.

See what I mean? The Growing Excitement is palpable and certainly palatable! And all this but scratches the surface of what’s going on these days outside historic, politically-charged trade circles. The most vibrant get-togethers are those organized by groups of businessmen and women insisting they’re NOT ‘down and out’, BUT ‘up and coming’, as they spec, buy, sell, and when need be, self-finance new and resale manufactured homes into and within their income-producing properties!

Here’re several examples. Plan NOW to participate in the 23rd annual Networking Roundtable in Peachtree City, GA., 10-12 September. And less than a month later, return to Atlanta, GA, on 1 & 2 October for the SECO Symposium! The latter two day event is replete with a half dozen homes on display, and is planned and hosted entirely by LLLCommunity owners/operators domiciled in the Southeast. For information, contact Chris Nicely via chrisnicely1@gmail.com

And for an ‘invite’ to the 23rd Networking Roundtable, use the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE cited earlier in this blog. 250 expected at this annual event. Oh, by the way, there’ll be a one day professional property management training and certification class on 30 September in Atlanta, GA. Have you earned your Manufactured Housing Manager® or MHM® certification yet?

Catch the Excitement of the 23rd Networking Roundtable, SECO Symposium, and get certified as a Manufactured Housing Manager®!

***

George Allen, CPM & MHM
Box # 47024, Indpls, IN. 46247
(317) 346-7156

Blog Column # 286 Copyright 2014 2 March 2014

Perspective. ‘Land-lease-lifestyle communities, a.k.a. manufactured home communities cum ‘mobile home parks’, comprise the real estate component of manufactured housing.’

Reason for this Bg. ‘It’s the national advocacy voice, statistical research reporter, & communication resource for LLLCommunities, of all sizes, throughout North America!’

Input this blog & Affiliate with the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, a.k.a. ‘COBA7’, via Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877)MFD-HSNG or 633-4764

I.

WHY I CONTINUE…

to write about manufactured housing & land-lease-lifestyle communities.

The following unsolicited reader response to last week’s blog posting, ‘UPSIDE DOWN in a Mobilehome Park’, struck a thoughtful chord with me, as I pondered where to take us on our manufactured housing adventure this week.

“We, as in ‘the totality of the manufactured housing industry’, have left the Free Enterprise ‘tempered-by-social-consciousness’ building, all but forgetting our trademark roots: fast, low cost, decent quality housing! Most rental homesite rents are too high in many local housing markets; home payments (i.e. ‘PITI’, as in principal, interest, taxes & insurance alone, not including utility costs) often exceed the 30% federal Housing Expense Factor guideline by at least an additional 10-20%; we continue to not protect our residents with long term leases; and finally, continue to market new homes, as described in ‘UPSIDE DOWN in a Mobilehome Park’, the way we’ve always done: ‘Ain’t she purty, dontcha want one?’, instead of diligently matching housing needs and wants with prospective homebuyer’s ability to pay.” (Edited, GFA) And I add: Until we develop a viable secondary market for HUD-Code manufactured home valuation, marketing, and resale – we’ll NOT return to the prosperous days of 250,000 new homes shipped per year!

So, in light of such dismal status quo and future for HUD-Code housing, ‘Why Do I continue to write about contemporary manufactured housing and LLLCommunities’? And as need be, (1) alternately support, expose, even agitate decision-makers and trade politicos responsible for the industry’s 15 year malaise, (2) continuing slide into obscurity, and (3) pricing oneself out of many local housing markets throughout the U.S.

BECAUSE No One Else, it Appears, Will Do So! They certainly haven’t done so to date!

But know what? There’re business and personal cost and consequences to exposing and agitating decision-makers and trade politicos – even (especially) when one is ‘right’ about what is said or penned, as is with the case of the aforementioned ‘blog flogger’ (reader), citing: ‘too high new housing product costs and too high site rents compared to other forms of multifamily housing in the same local housing market.’ And of course, this reality is aggravated by the inability of prospective homebuyers to qualify for chattel capital, unless they enjoy the highest of credit scores. What’s the business and personal cost of being right and forthright? Oft times, rejection by some – but of late, acceptance by a few and support by many more!

Let’s begin with my Chapbook of Business & Management Wisdom. Near the end, there’s a chapter titled, ‘Scintillatingly Salient but Salacious Secrets to Business Management Consulting Success…’ which contains this pithy, time-honed Rule of Thumb:

“To clearly identify one’s supporters, detractors, and in-betweens; observe who contracts for one’s consulting services, buys one’s books, and pays to subscribe to one’s periodicals – and who does not do so!” The ‘rule’ goes on to point out: “Some smart ones buy and subscribe – to learn or imitate what you’re doing well; the lazy ones simply don’t care or know any better; and the rest? Their ‘not-buying’ mirrors their protest.”

This is so very true. I’ve been watching it play out on the national scene this past year, in three clear but different ways.

• We’ve long made it a point to observe who subscribes, and who does not, where the Allen Letter professional journal & The Allen CONFIDENTIAL! business newsletter is concerned. Both are subscriber-supported, with some advertising revenue in play. Here, the frequently cited Bell-Shaped Curve is instructive. At one end of the curve are a relatively few mega-sized property portfolio owners/operators who do NOT subscribe to anything (Though their peers do so), likely because they believe ‘They’re big enough to be know it alls’, eschewing information, good advice, and services from outside their corporate boardrooms. At the other end of the bell-shaped curve are small Mom & Pop firms who generally can’t afford annual subscription fees – or don’t think they can. But then, there’s the huge center-of-the-curve mass section of the curve, where we find the remaining single property owners and super-abundance of small to mid-sized, even large-sized LLLCommunity portfolio owners/operators from throughout the U.S. and Canada.

• Then there’s the relatively recent hijacking of land-lease-lifestyle community national advocacy effort by a couple of the largest property portfolio firms and a couple politically-active individuals. The game plan here plays out in dual-focus fashion: On one hand, ‘affluence gerrymandering’ (i.e. ‘The artful limiting of meeting attendance by keeping the cost of member participation higher than necessary.’) enables ‘these few’ to plan and effect decision-making ‘in behalf of everyone’ (members). And, on the other hand, ‘once a year’ – as was the case this past Fall, invite the most affluent ‘players’ in the realty asset class, to the most expensive of downtown venues, for a day long ‘see and be seen’ ego-enhancing session, where little of substance was accomplished.

• Since the first of the year, there’s been a needed and noticeable ‘Breath of fresh air’ flowing through the ranks of land-lease-lifestyle community owners/operators nationwide and Canada. Interested parties have hailed from manufacturing and post production segments of the manufactured housing industry. affiliating with the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, or COBA7, to collectively advance their mutual business interests, NOT via periodic meetings in high cost urban and resort settings, but via reasonable peer networking and deal making environments! There’s also been a keen and growing desire for improved print and online communication of key industry and asset class statistics, identification of trends, and How To information. And last but not least, interest – finally, in availing themselves of affordable professional property management training and certification among LLLCommunity owners and managers alike.

No, this is not the whole, and certainly not the end of the story, where manufactured housing and land-lease-lifestyle communities are concerned. It is, however, a tender stage. While the seven functions of COBA7 have been identified and publicized, time and again these past 60 days, it’s vital the manufactured housing industry and land-lease-lifestyle community asset class have united and ‘more than adequate’ national advocacy representation in our Nation’s Capitol. Therefore, the following, perennial, tough question continues to be asked, and remains – to this day – unanswered by our elected and salaried leaders:

Is the present day dual national advocacy representation format (two national trade bodies) and foci (‘Change Dodd-Frank legislation & CFPB regs), for HUD-Code manufactured housing, the Most Effective Approach to lobbying legislators and regulators in our nation’s capitol; OR is it time, for a Serious National Conversation regarding where (1) manufactured housing production and distribution, (2)all post-production segments of the industry, and (3) the land-lease-lifestyle communities realty asset class are today; where we should or would like to be going; and how to best arrive at said destination(s) or goal(s)? Until we do so, frankly, as an industry ‘we’re dead in the water’ of business opportunity and return to prosperity! Hope our national leaders are paying attention….

The sole whiff of intent, to this end (Reread previous paragraph) can be seen and read in full page ads run by the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory’ Reform (‘MHARR’), in current issues of The Journal and the Allen Letter professional journal – the only two remaining trade print publications continuing to serve the manufactured housing industry & land-lease-lifestyle community realty asset class! Read & Respond!

Your considered response to all this? Let me know via this website, or the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764.

II.

‘What Does It Take to be an Exceptional Company?’

Quoted from an ad for Deloitte Consulting in the ATLANTIC magazine.

Reportedly, after analyzing 45 years of data, among 25,000 companies, Deloitte Consulting identified 174 exceptional companies, whose successes appeared to depend on a commitment to Three Rules apparently governing how exceptional companies think – under any and all circumstances, these being:

• Better Before Cheaper. Be known for higher quality, not lower prices

• Revenue Before Cost. Higher revenue is worth more than lower cost

• There Are No Other Rules. Make every choice based on the first two rules.

After reading, rereading, and pondering these Three Rules, I found myself attempting to apply them to companies I’ve known, over three decades, in manufactured housing and throughout the land-lease-lifestyle community realty asset class. Know what? I can easily think of firms who, for awhile anyway, excelled as their quality housing product, and exceptional lifestyle opportunities buoyed them above their competition at the time. And even at the other end of the spectrum, where producing/shipping inexpensive housing, and operating bare bones rental properties, were concerned, one still had to perform ‘better than cheaper’, where the competition was concerned.

And Revenue Before Cost. Not as ‘cut & dry’. Any businessman or woman, with a modicum of business sense, understands this ‘rule of thumb’. BUT, for awhile, just prior to the turn of the century, when HUD-Code home manufacturers, in concert with independent ‘street’ MHRetailers competed head-to-head with site builders; and LLLCommunity REITs, et. al., increased rental homesite rents to please Wall Street analysts, our ‘double dual industry’ (home manufacturing/distribution & realty development/investment) went on such a ‘revenue binge’, selling homes and leasing sites, to people who couldn’t afford them, that today – 15 years later, we’re still reeling from the negative consequences of playing that rule too far too long.

Learn more about these three rules at: TheThreeRules.com

III

Illinois Legislators Consider Needless
LLLCommunityLegislation

Letters, Phone Calls & Petitions Needed ASAP = Yes, This Coming Week!

A bill considered and defeated last year in the Illinois House, has been quietly and quickly resurrected – to the clear detriment of owners and residents of land-lease-lifestyle communities (A.k.a. manufactured home communities) throughout the state.

This bill, if passed, would force LLLCommunity owners to collect $1.00 – $3.00 per resident each month, to be paid into a Relocation Fund. This fund, in turn, would be used if/when a multifamily rental property of this type is closed at some point in the future.

Why is this proposed legislation needless? Because only two Illinois LLLCommunities have been ‘closed’ during the past decade, and relocation costs in both instances, were generous and paid by companies buying the properties to convert them into higher, better uses.

So, if you’re reading this blog posting and have business interests in the state of Illinois, contact the Illinois Manufactured Housing Association to learn how YOU can help defeat this onerous legislation this week!. Suggest phoning (217) 528-3423, and talk to Frank Bowman.

IV.

Do These COBA7 Opportunities Interest YOU?

Here’re Several Unique Opportunities for YOU to Consider This Week….

This past week, letters of inquiry went out to 60 individuals known as independent, freelance consultants serving the manufactured housing industry and land-lease-lifestyle community asset class nationwide. If you receive one of these letters, please respond right away, to ensure your talents and expertise are properly described in the 15th annual ‘Who Ya Gonna Call in 2014?’ Signature Series Resource Document, or SSRD, scheduled for distribution to COBA7 affiliates, in the March issue of the Allen Letter professional journal. And if you don’t receive one of these inquiry letters, but believe you should be included in the SSRD as ‘an independent, freelance consultant serving the MHIndustry & LLLCommunity asset class’, FAX your business description and or personal vitae, to (317) 346-7158 for consideration. Submission of information does not guarantee inclusion in the ‘Who Ya Gonna Call in 2014?’ SSRD. Questions? Call COBA7 via the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG o r 633-4764.

This past week, announcements were sent to 60 individuals who’ve participated in past FOCUS Group meetings, as well as LLLCommunity owners/operators who’ve expressed interest in participating in a future such gathering. If you receive one of these announcements, indicate your date & location preference, as well as list three topics you’d like to see discussed during the 1 ½ day session, and return the questionnaire via FAX, on or before Friday, 7 march 2014, using FAX # (317) 346-7158. If you’re a LLLCommunity owner/operator reading this, and would like to volunteer use of your clubhouse (Must seat 30+/- comfortably, from 8AM – 4PM), and the property is within a half hour of a major airport, contact me ASAP: (317) 346-7156. And if you’re a LLLCommunity owner/operator and would like to be put on the list of FOCUS Group invitees (for this or subsequent sessions), contact me via Official MHIndustry HOTLINE cited in the previous paragraph. COBA7 affiliates will be given priority as invitees. To become a COBA7 affiliate, also use the aforementioned Official MHIndustry HOTLINE.

This past week, tentative contract arrangements were made to host the 23rd International Networking Roundtable at a conference center in Peachtree City, GA., from 10 – 12 September 2014. Not ready to announce details; they’ll be coming soon.

Those of you who’ve expressed interest in writing a selection or two for inclusion in the Lessons Learned from LLLCommunity Operations book, being researched and prepared this year, should contact me by email (gfa7156@aol.com) ASAP, so I have your name and tentative subject at hand. Also phone (317) 346-7156.

And probably the most exciting announcement of this past week, was that of the dates & location for annual SECO gathering of LLLCommunity owners/operators in Atlanta, GA., on 1 & 2 October 2014. Besides the half dozen or more new HUD-Code homes on display, and a series of exciting HOW TO seminars being planned, I’ll be conducting the popular one day professional property management, Manufactured Housing Manager® or MHM® one day class on September 30, at the same Wyndham Hotel, the day before the SECO event begins. What a Great Opportunity for YOU and or your on-site managers to participate in two seminal events in as many days! For information on both venues, contact Chris Nicely via (865) 385-9675 or chrisnicely1@gmail.com. And now there’s a website to visit: www.seco14.org

****

George Allen, CPM®Emeritus, MHM®Master
Box # 47024, Indianapolis, IN. 46247
(317) 346-7156

Blog Column # 285 Copyright 2014 16 February 2014

Perspective. ‘Land-lease-lifestyle communities, a.k.a. manufactured home communities & earlier, ‘mobile home parks’, is the real estate component of manufactured housing.’

Purpose of this blog. ‘It’s the national advocacy voice, statistical research reporter, & communication resource for LLLCommunities, of all sizes, throughout North America!’

Input this blog, & Affiliate with the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, a.k.a. COBA7, via the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764

I.

‘UPSIDE DOWN in a Mobilehome Park’

Stimulates Record Response from Blog Floggers (Readers)!

If YOU missed last week’s posting, at this website, scroll back to blog # 284.
Suggest you peruse it (again?) before reading further here…

Space here for only two responses; first from a land-lease-lifestyle community turnaround specialist in California; the second, from a Midwest independent (street) MHRetailer.

“Outstanding commentary! (Summarizing) “…manufactured housing industry devotes an extraordinary amount of its’ resources to sell homes to people who really aren’t qualified home buyers. Why? Because they allow us to sell the old mobile home way…it’s easier than selling to qualified buyers who require a lot more effort. Manufactured housing may be the only industry in America who ignores the customer’s desires in their marketing practices. Unfortunately for us, potential buyers are much more savvy these days and appear to be abandoning us n droves.” Gub Mix, circa 2000

That was penned 14 years ago! And not only did homebuyers abandon us, so did chattel capital. Recall these ‘telling numbers’? 1999 = 348,843 new HUD-Code homes shipped; 2000 = 250,550; 2009 = only 49,789; & by 2013 = 60,228.*1 Year 2014?

In my opinion, the HUD-Code manufactured housing industry’s return to 1990s era performance and profitability depends on three factors, aptly expressed using the acronym ACE. That’s short for AFFORDABILITY (Many, if not most, new homes continue to be overpriced! When will our home manufacturers learn?), CAPITAL. We’re going ‘nowhere’ without ready and accessible sources of chattel and real estate-secured capital. So, land-lease-lifestyle community owners/operators Must Learn HOW to engage in effective, regulatory compliant self-finance of on-site home sale transactions via one or another form of ‘captive finance’, the lease-option, even the ‘renting of homes as apartments’ when need be; and, EQUILIBRIUM – meaning, HUD-Code home manufacturers must believe and perform in a manner acknowledging LLLCommunities are ‘Where the Action is!’, relative to filling an estimated 250,000 vacant rental homesites throughout the U.S. Do they believe? Not yet! But it is ‘telling’, in some local housing markets, as many singlesection manufactured homes are being built and shipped these days, as multisection homes. So, remember and practice ACE!

And here’s another reaction to the midweek posting of ‘UPSIDE DOWN in a Mobilehome Park’. This from a commissioned salesperson, and lightly edited:

‘Would it be anyone’s (including lender, salesperson, or park’s fault) that she (the wife/mother in the story) lost her job?

They were ‘big spenders’ and bought the large SUV. In my book, that’s just flat-out irresponsible, not creating a ‘buffer’ for unforeseen expenses. That’s part of being an adult, homeowner, and having a family.

The unexpected child? Blessing for sure, but kids are expensive and there are methods to prevent this if so desired.

They didn’t PLAN for the lot rent to kick in? WHY? They KNEW it would! Refer to previous ‘buffer’ statement…and their VARIABLE (Yes, it means just that…variable) rate to go up as it sure could have gone down (as the trend was in roughly 1996 – 2005).

And, how would this (tale) reflect poorly on our industry when nothing illegal or even ‘shady’ had been done? All promises seem to have been fulfilled by all parties involved, and terms seem to have been presented in an honest, forthright manner at point of sale.’ HM

How would you answer this latter commentary regarding ‘UPSIDE DOWN in a Mobilehome Community’?

End Note: *1. Remember the ‘2013 annual new HUD-Code home shipment total’ controversy raised in Part IV. of blog # 283 a few weeks ago? Whether, as an industry, we’d shipped 60,228 or 60,210 new HUD-Code homes during year 2013? Well, after studying official shipment tallies provided by HUD; as unofficial MHIndustry historian, we’re opting to go with the former, or 60,228 number in COBA7 Signature Series Resource Documents we research, print, and distribute throughout the year. These SSRDs include:1) the Industry Briefing Sheet (most popular four page reference requested in the U.S. & Canada); 2) Official State of the MHIndustry & LLLCommunity Realty Asset Class briefing outline; and, 3) whatever book(s) we publish during the year. To affiliate with COBA7, to receive the monthly Allen Letter professional journal, 25th anniversary ALLEN REPORT, and a dozen other SSRDs, simply phone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764.

II.

Signature Series Resource Documents, or SSRDs, Published to Date by COBA7

Reading & Using This Seminal Information in Your Business?

Did YOU Know? According to 25th Anniversary ALLEN REPORT (A.k.a. ‘Who’s Who Among LLLCommunity Portfolio Owners/operators Throughout North America’), the total number of rental homesites (in land-lease-lifestyle communities, a.k.a. manufactured home communities) owned by real estate investment trusts (‘REITs’) has increased from just 88,450 in 1994, to 217,769 in 2013; a 246 percent increase in sites!

Did YOU Know? According to the Official State of the MHIndustry & LLLCommunity Realty Asset Class presentation outline, distributed February 2014, by year 2012, the HUD-Code manufactured housing industry was shipping almost same number of singlesection homes as multisection homes to customers throughout the U.S.?

Did YOU Know? According to the 16th National Registry of Lenders, listing 21 real estate-secured mortgage originators and all chattel capital sources, the real estate – secured lenders & brokers originated a grand total of $4,195,000,000.00 in finance and refinance loans during year 2013! This ‘second most popular SSRD, behind the aforementioned ALLEN REPORT, will be distributed to COBA7 affiliates with the March edition of the Allen Letter professional journal. So, if not already having done so, phone and affiliate with COBA7 today, via Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764.

Did YOU Know? In April, COBA7 will be distributing the 15th edition of the annual ‘Who Ya Gonna Call in 2014?’ list of freelance consultants working manufactured housing and LLLCommunities coast to coast and in Canada. If you’re a freelance consultant and want to be considered for inclusion in this widely referenced directory, simply phone (317) 346-7156 and present your bona fides. GFA

III.

A Special Offer

to State & Province Manufactured Housing Associations in U.S. & Canada!

As you likely know by now, the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance has been ‘up & running’ since mid-December 2013. To date, COBA7 has signed-up more businessmen and women affiliates, than the total number of members claimed by national advocacy entities representing land-lease-lifestyle communities, a.k.a. manufactured home communities, in North America!

Here’s how one New England-based LLLCommunity owner/operator views this debut: “I continue to enjoy reading your perspective, on industry happenings, in your blog – and look forward to see how COBA7 develops. Personally, I think an alliance is a much better approach, as opposed to (creating) another lobbying effort. Thank you for your continued dedication to the (manufactured housing) industry.” JC

These businessmen and women include mostly LLLCommunity operators, large and small; product/service vendors serving the realty asset class (e.g. real estate-secured lenders and brokers); as well as HUD-Code home manufacturers desiring to market their new homes to these property owners.

COBA7 is NOT a new, national, not for profit trade body; but rather, an alliance of independent businessmen and women who’ve decided to affiliate with the sole international resource actively engaged in effecting the following seven functions:

• Ongoing statistical research and data distribution, e.g. 25th annual ALLEN REPORT, a.k.a. the ‘Who’s Who Among LLLCommunity Portfolio Owners/operators Throughout North America!’ There is no other source of LLLCommunity related benchmark and performance statistics.

• Continual updating and distribution of more than a dozen Signature Series Resource Documents. These SSRDs include the 16th annual National Registry of Lenders – both real estate-secured and chattel capital sources & servicer; Official State of the MHIndustry & LLLCommunity Asset Class presentation outline, and at least ten more such reports & directories

• Online & print communication via 1) this weekly blog posting,2) the Allen Letter professional journal, and 3) the Allen CONFIDENTIAL! business newsletter – patronized by corporate officers needing timely intelligence.

• Superb peer networking opportunities via periodic FOCUS Groups, and 23rd annual International Networking Roundtable. Latter is tentatively scheduled for 10-12 September 2014.

• Deal-making opportunities via newsletters, peer networking, and more….
• Professional property management training and certification via popular Manufactured Housing Manager® – with nearly 1,000 MHMs® already trained, certified, and now working throughout the U.S. & Canada!

• And, when necessary, engage in national advocacy, relative to matters ignored or overlooked by other LLLCommunity bodies. Two initiatives are being pursued at present.

So, effective with the posting of this weekly blog, state and province MHAssociations, with LLLCommunity owners/operators members, are too welcome to affiliate with COBA7. Cost? Same as with business affiliates, only $544.95/year. For that amount, receive a 12 month subscription to the Allen Letter professional journal, all the SSRDs, and invitation to participate in the annual Networking Roundtable. Also consider the opportunity to host the one day MHM® training session, with tuition at $250.00/MHM candidate – and your association receives a $50.00 rebate for each person attending. Two states already considering scheduling MHM® classes this year.

This $544.95 annual COBA7 affiliation fee is less than what state & province MHAssociations presently pay to belong to most national advocacy bodies. And look what you receive – relative to LLLCommunities, in return?

Again, if interested in additional information, or want to affiliate with COBA7, simply phone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764 today!

*****

George Allen, CPM®Emeritus, MHM®Master
GFA Management, Inc.,
Box # 47024, Indianapolis, IN. 46247
(317) 346-7156

Lest We Forget!

14 years ago, I penned ‘UPSIDE DOWN in a Mobilehome Park’ for the now defunct Manufactured Home Merchandiser magazine. The feature bluntly described sorry homeownership situations the manufactured housing industry, and its’ home buying/site lessee customers, frequently got themselves into, circa year 2000.

Few at the time appreciated my ‘airing our industry’s dirty laundry in public’; but as annual new home shipment volume continued the precipitous slide begun in 1999, ending in 2009, the expose’ proved warranted and instructional! It returns here today, as a timely and authoritative ‘WARNING to the MHIndustry’, to eschew any revival of interest in, or efforts to obtain, ‘too easy to access chattel capital’ for manufactured homes.

The ‘numbers’?: 1999 = 348,843; 2000 = 250,550; 2009 = 49,789; & 2013 = 60,228

‘UPSIDE DOWN in a Mobilehome Park’
(lightly edited)

By George Allen, CPM®Emeritus, MHM®Master

The title ‘Upside Down…’ caught my eye as I browsed among art film titles in a local video store. Rented the film, took it home, and here’s what was viewed..

The movie’s setting is unclear. Could easily have been in New England, the Southeast, or the Pacific Northwest, though I’ve seen similar manufactured home communities in the rural Midwest. No question however, this was an upscale land lease MHCommunity installing new multisection manufactured homes on-site.

Central characters were a young couple, George & Carolyn, buying their first home. Both employed, no children or pets, and two older cars. And there was H. ‘Itch’ Balle, the retail sales center salesman/manager. Film begins with George reading this classified ad: ‘L(.)(.)K, New Homes for sale at Sherwood Forest Estates’. What catches his eye, besides the nearby location, is the $4,000.00 move-in incentive offer! George phones, he and Carolyn visit, really like what they see, and buy. Their new home, already sited, but not yet landscaped, is an $80,000.00 multisection HUD-Code manufactured home.

Everything seemed to be going their way! Originally expecting to have to come up with $4,500.00 down payment, they only paid $500.00! How so? The $4,000.00 ‘move-in incentive’ was graciously applied, by the retailer/developer, to improve their homesite with shrubs, porch and carport. Then that amount was added to the balance they’d be financing.

Even financing arrangements were a steal! Mr. Balle arranged for them to avoid paying ‘10% over 30 years’ terms (that’d have meant $733.13/month payments *1), and got them a variable rate loan of only ‘9% over 30 years’ with maximum possible increase of 2% (or two points) after one year. Their first year rate was only $672.18/month *2 on their new home mortgage!

And the Good News didn’t stop there! At the point in the movie when George & Carolyn suggest they might ‘shop around’ before committing to buy at Sherwood Forest, ‘Itch’ announced the entire first year’s rent of $285.00/month would be waived if they signed the sales contract that very day!

Now, that was a ‘no brainer’ decision if ever there was one. They’d already ‘saved’ $4,000.00 on the housing down payment (Somehow they thought they’d be paying off less than $83,500 though….); were saving $60.95/month on the loan payment, or $731.40 per year; and now, a ‘signing bonus’ (Just like a pro athlete!), they were saving yet another $3,420.00 in rent during the first year of being a resident at Sherwood Forest Estates. This was all too good to be true! No question; they signed.

Then the video fast-forwarded a year and a month into the future. The euphoric sales center scene of 13 months ago is now a distant bittersweet memory. During the past year, Carolyn had become pregnant and was no longer working. And with the extra money from the ‘house deal’ – more than $4,000.00 in down payment and mortgage savings, waived rent, and no security deposit (Forgot to mention that little gem earlier), they’d bought an expensive new SUV on payments.

It was bill-paying day and George & Carolyn were out of money. Their variable rate mortgage payment had just jumped from $672.18/month to almost $800.00/month *3 – not including property tax and homeowner insurance commitments. And a previously unknown notice had just arrived, a monthly site rent bill of not $285.00/month, but $300.00/month, incorporating an annual rent increase. Where in the world were they going to come up with at least an extra $400.00 every month, on just one salary, to pay rent, mortgage, payments on the new car, and with a baby on the way?

As the movie ended, this couple was, in effect, completely upside down in their financial commitments and responsibilities – with no easy way out, but to walk away from their new dream home. The epilogue, through a voice-over by a moderator, listed the winners and losers in this housing transaction….

Winners. Commissioned salespersons selling new homes. Lenders providing high interest chattel mortgages. Developers intent on filling new MHCommunities within a year, and then flipping/selling to the highest bidder. Homeowner/site lessees during only the first year of their tenancy.

Losers. The HUD-Code manufactured housing industry’s image and reputation! Lenders risking repossession and losing money, but able to resell and originate new loans. Salespersons setting homebuyers up for a ‘fall’ will likely suffer consequences somewhere, somehow, along the line. And developers earn a reputation for profiteering.

As I contemplated an appropriate moral, lesson learned, or summary for ‘Upside Down in a Mobilehome Park’, several came to mind: a little Latin, a slang expression, a Biblical admonition, and a quote from Gub Mix’s popular column, ‘From My Soapbox’:

• Caveat emptor…’Let the buyer beware!’

• ‘A sucker is born every minute.’

• The Golden Rule…’Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You!’ Matthew 7:12, and NOT the God Rule: ‘He who Has the Gold Rules!’

• “…manufactured housing industry devotes an extraordinary amount of its’ resources to sell homes to people who really aren’t qualified home buyers. Why? Because they allow us to sell the old mobile home way…it’s easier than attempting to sell to qualified buyers who require a lot more effort. Manufactured housing may be the only industry in America who ignores the customer’s desires in their marketing practices. Unfortunately for us, potential buyers are much more savvy these days and appear to be abandoning us in droves.” June 2000. Gub Mix has since retired.

End Notes.

1. $80,000 (-) $500 DP (+) $4,000 add back = $83,500.00 (or 83.5) X 8.78 loan factor = $733.13/month

2. $83,500 ( or 83.5) X 8.05 loan factor = $672.18/month

3. $83,500 ( or 83.5) X 9.52 loan factor = $794.92/month.

If interested in learning more about the Community Owners Business Alliance, or COBA7, simply phone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764.

Affiliates include land-lease-lifestyle community owners/operators, HUD-Code home manufacturers, product/service providers, and state MHAssociations in the U.S. & CN.

George Allen, CPM®Emeritus, MHM®Master
Box # 47024, Indianapolis, IN. 46247
(317) 346-7156

Blog Column # 283 Copyright 2014 9 February 2014

Perspective. ‘Land-lease-lifestyle communities, a.k.a. manufactured home communities & earlier, ‘mobile home parks’, is the real estate component of manufactured housing.’

Purpose of this blog. “It’s the national advocacy voice, statistical research reporter, & communication resource for LLLCommunities, of all sizes, throughout North America!’

Input this blog, & Affiliate with the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, a.k.a. COBA7, via the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764.

I.

MHConspiracies # 101 & 102

II.

I Feel Change Coming On….

III.

JP Morgan Chase Funds ROC Conversions!

IV.

FLASH NEWS!
60,228 &/or 60,210?
(You don’t want to miss this)

I.

MHConspiracies # 101 & 102

It wasn’t long after blog # 281 was posted two weeks ago, on the community-investor.com website, before two distinct types of telephone calls and email messages began arriving at our office in central Indiana.

One type caller expressed enthusiastic appreciation for our publicly identifying the proverbial ‘elephant in the room’, where ‘affluence gerrymandering’ has long been and continues to be, a serious but ignored concern regarding most national meetings of certain industry advocacy bodies. For those reading this, who didn’t peruse the earlier blog posting, ‘affluence gerrymandering’ was defined as being ‘The artful limiting of meeting attendance by keeping the cost of member participation higher than necessary.’ Hmm. Might we describe this then, as MHConspiracy # 101? No. Conspiracy is too strong a word choice here, being defined as ‘a plan or agreement formulated, especially in secret, by two or more persons, to commit an unlawful, harmful, or treacherous act.’ However, IF ‘the plan or agreement’ is indeed to ‘limit the number of potential decision maker members involved in national advocacy meeting proceedings’; well, that could prove ‘Harmful’ to the work, even the greater purpose of the trade or advocacy group as a whole! SO, is there a more appropriate word choice than conspiracy?

‘Cabal’ fits better, given its definition as ‘a secret scheme or intrigue’. For example, when was the last time national advocacy body leaders or staff asked us, who’re direct, dues-paying members and certified representatives, if we enjoyed, let alone were/are able to afford, spending ‘big bucks’ for two days of committee meetings in Sunbelt Mecca’s and high-priced downtown locales, instead of patronizing more affordable venues? They haven’t, don’t, and likely won’t! So, with that said, meet MHCabal # 101! But this telling question begs answering: Is indeed, ‘affluence gerrymandering’ Harmful to the Work and Purpose of National Advocacy Body(ies)?
I say YES! How ‘bout YOU? And if you agree ‘affluence gerrymandering’ is Harmful, guess who can do something about it? YOU, if a direct, dues-paying member of such a national advocacy body.

The other type caller had a markedly different focus, describing yet another alleged conspiracy (Again, their word choice, not mine – yet), I’d long heard whispered, but hoped to be untrue. And here I think, if indeed true, ‘conspiracy of silence’ is the most appropriate word choice, given this definition: ‘…a usually secret or unstated agreement to remain silent about something that might be damaging or harmful to those participating in the agreement if disclosed.’ How so? Well these latter callers described a sorry duplicitous matter, using words to this effect:

The manufactured housing industry has long suffered home builder competitors, and real estate-related detractors, inside and around the Washington, DC beltway.

And while it’s difficult enough, to offset negative image stereotypes foisted on the manufactured housing industry by itself, dealing effectively with arcane and esoteric interpersonal relationships and intrigues among outside detractors and industry insiders – with oft harmful results to manufactured housing – is a daunting, under-addressed task! Like, ‘Who does one trust?’ Heretofore, ‘You didn’t!’; and going forward, ‘You can’t!’, at least for the time being, or until corrective ‘change’ is deemed necessary, effected, and a new start begun….

Frankly, the ‘conspiracy of silence’ label aptly describes how disparaging, scheming parties and others, seem frequently to be ‘reading our strategic planning minds’, before and during lobbying with legislators and federal regulators – with either ‘no’, bad, or marginal consequences to the manufactured housing industry! Examples? Look no further than the pitiful lack of progress implementing the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 during the past 13 years! During year 2013, the botched – accidental or otherwise – appointment process to seat an agreed upon Non-career Administrator for the Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee. And then there was the necessary rush to disabuse the Government Accounting Office (‘GAO’) of the erroneous survey notion that doing away with the HUD-Code for manufactured housing, would have little to no effect on the annual shipment volume of new homes! Well, nothing much has changed, that I see, so the ‘conspiracy of silence’ continues in and around the DC beltway….

What do YOU think? Depending on personal and corporate perspectives, relative to national advocacy matters regarding HUD-Code manufactured housing, and whether you’re dealing with these matters from afar or up close, you’ve surely experienced, maybe even dealt with, one or another aspect of home builder, real estate, and insider detractions, relative to our industry and its realty asset class, the land-lease-lifestyle community. IF so affected, have YOU then ever wondered – better yet, known firsthand, why neutralizing such contretemps (e.g. ‘unexpected & embarrassing events or mishaps’), like the ones just described, have been nigh impossible to prevent to date? Your answer to that question clarifies whether all this is simple connivance, a serious collusion, or double dealing conspiracy of silence, a.k.a. ‘MHConspiracy # 102’!

II.

I Feel Change Coming On….

Coming off a failed national Dodd-Frank amendment lobbying campaign, as year 2013 ended, the manufactured housing industry Needs Change on several fronts, not simply, expensively, and expansively ‘More of the Same’ – as is being video ballyhooed today! For example; how many reading this blog were present at the industry meeting in San Antonio, TX., 1 ½ years ago, and recall a Midwest state MHAssociation executive famously asking aloud:

“What’s Plan B, if the Dodd-Frank amendment lobbying campaign, in Congress, fails?”

There was no Plan B then, nor is there one now – that we’ve heard, other than the above-referenced cry for ‘More of the Same!” NO; what the HUD-Code manufactured housing industry Needs NOW is CHANGE, a new Plan B, replete with Lessons (just) Learned on Capitol Hill during the past six months! And Please, NO more ‘throwing good money after bad’ WHY? Well, in the minds of some, there might just be a MHConspiracy of sorts afoot within the housing finance segment of our industry, and draining our resources at this time, will only weaken us as we move into the future. But that story is not yet ready to be told, by me anyway….

But if the cryptic message describing ‘MHConspiracy # 102’ is accurate – and it is – we need a manufactured housing advocacy body(ies) housecleaning of sorts, the sooner the better! ‘Business as Usual’ will only take us as far as ‘More of the Same’ – not far, not effective at all! And that, blog flogger (‘reader’) is where we are today, and that’s Unsatisfactory to many grassroots businessmen and women across the U.S.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT. If YOU want to ‘speak your mind’ about a MHIndustry-related issue, take time to organize and pen your thoughts. Then send your 200-300 word op/ed (opinion/editorial) piece to gfa7156@aol.com, for consideration, and possible inclusion, in a future blog posting at this website: community-investor.com

Now, back to the timely and thought-provoking topics at hand….

Who, What, When, Where, How, & How Much Change? Hey, I’m not an elected leader of this not so merry band. But I am a direct, dues-paying member of one of three national manufactured housing-related trade and advocacy bodies (NOT including the Community Owners Business Alliance, or COBA7, as it isn’t a national, not for profit or non profit advocacy entity), and One who isn’t planning on attending any more of their meetings anytime soon.! Why? Should be obvious to all by now: MHCabal # 101, MHConspiracy # 102, maybe even a MHConspiracy #…..

Now, if someone wants to pay my registration fee and travel expense (Just kidding!) – or at least promise the fees and expenses will be reasonable from this time forward; and, that we’ll ALL sit down in a day or two long problem-solving session or MHInitiative®, OPEN to bona fide, direct, dues-paying members of the host national advocacy body(ies), to deal with MHConspiracy # 102, ‘Count me in!’ – but it sure won’t be as soon as this week or next will it? And how ‘bout ever?

III.

JP Morgan Chase Funds ROC Conversions!

ROC USA® was recently awarded $MM by JPMorgan Chase Foundation to help more co-ops buy their land-lease-lifestyle communities (A.k.a. manufactured home communities). Most of the funds will be used as equity in the firm’s community purchase financing subsidiary, ROC USA Capital, and shared with two other nonprofit community development lenders: Leviticus 25:23 Alternatives Funs & Mercy Loan Fund.

ROC USA® is unique among resident-ownership service providers, in that it provides expert assistance and proven systems (before and after residents purchase) swell as financing (for due diligence, acquisition, & rehab) to deliver resident-ownership effectively and efficiently Since it launch in 2008, ROC USA® has helped co-ops (i.e. ‘cooperatives’) purchase a LLLCommunity every 36 days, with transactions ranging from a half-million dollars to $23 million in value.

For more information, contact Paul Bradley via (603) 856-0709 or visit rocusa.org

IV.

FLASH NEWS!
60,228 & or 60,210?

READ CAREFULLY & YOU DECIDE
(Hint: There’re three discrepancies here, not just one)

An MHARR Press Release dated 3 February 2013 announced, “Cumulative 2013 industry production thus totaled 60,228 homes, an increase of 9.7% over the 54,881 homes produced in 2012.”; & continued, “2013…becomes the first year since 2008, that annual industry production has broken through the +/- 50,000-home level (sic).” *1 On request, MHARR clarified ‘their 60,228 number’ on 7 February, as follows: “MHARR’s numbers are based on official HUD monthly production and shipment reports: The total for 2013 is 60,228, as reported by MHARR.”

MHI’s Monthly Economic Report distributed 7 February 2014 announced, “Year to date shipments totaled 60,210 homes compared with 54,891 homes in 2012, a net increase of 9.7 percent.” On request, MHI clarified ‘their 60,210 number’ on 7 February, as follows: “The distinction between MHARR’s number and MHI’s number is nuanced. The 60,228 figure is the total production of HUD Code homes whereas the 60,210 is the number of homes shipped. The slight difference is a result of ‘destination pending’ and other inventory and timing issues. In this instance, both numbers are correct but are counting two different items – production versus shipments.”

In fairness to MHARR, I’ve not had an opportunity to ask if they agree with the explanation put forth in the previous paragraph. And frankly – to me anyway – that’s not the issue anyway. Rather; it’s about ‘Correcting a minor but perennial reporting procedure error (#1)’, and HOW the HUD-Code manufactured housing industry will ‘Keep Score’ going forward. Will it be production or shipments numbers; and or, ‘HUD monthly production and shipment reports’ vs. what?

By careful reading, did you catch the other discrepancy (#2) in reported production/shipment numbers from these two national advocacy bodies? Look again, and check-out the reported annual total of new HUD-Code homes produced or shipped during year 2012? Was it 54,881 as reported by MHARR, or 54,891 as reported by MHI?

POINT? Last year, in 2012, for unspecific reasons, the two annual manufactured housing production/shipment totals were 10 homes apart; this year in 2013, they’re 18 homes apart! *2 And by the end of year 2014, if the unspecific trend continues unaddressed, and no reporting consensus is achieved, another 80 percent increase, takes us to what, maybe 32 homes? I realize two years don’t make for a trend, but there is no good reason why two national advocacy bodies can’t agree, once and for all, on how to tally and report our industry’s annual production/shipments. And while they’re at it, agree to include an appropriate end or footnote, to said Press Releases and Monthly Economic Reports, clarifying if, whether, and how ‘floors’ were counted and represented in the reported numbers. Do YOU know right now, the effect of that distinction on the 60,228 and 60,210 figures? Not many do….

Why is all this important? Simple. Individuals, journalists, researchers, all Street analysts, legislators, regulators, and others, use our industry stats, so we owe them accurate and clear reporting! For example; the Community Owners Business Alliance, or COBA7, this month, published and distributed its’ annual ‘Official State of the Manufactured Housing & Land-lease-lifestyle Community Asset Class Briefing Outline’ to its’ affiliates. One of the supporting documents, ‘Mobile & Manufactured Housing –related statistics, from 1959 to the Present Day’, cites 54,881 new HUD-Code homes shipped during 2012. So, is the correct reporting, for 2012: 54,881 homes produced and 54,891 homes shipped, or the other way around, 54,881 homes shipped and 54,981 homes produced? Confused yet? You should be. If not, take a gander at end note # 2. If ‘we’ as an industry, don’t understand our production and shipment numbers ‘across the board’, how can we expect anyone else to do so? These present circumstances do not help our industry’s credibility and business image at all.

End Notes:

1. Should have read ‘60,000 home level’, as all the years, except 2009, since 2008, have ‘broken through the 50,000-home level, i.e. 2008 = 81,457; 2009 = 49,683; 2010 = 50,056; 2011 = 51,618; 2012 = 54,881; and, 2013 = 60,228. From MHARR’s aforementioned Press Release dated 7 February 2014. NOTE. This was the (#3) discrepancy hinted at in the title of this part of the blog posting today. GFA

2. Dropping deeper into confusion, contemplate these number relationships:
MHARR = 60,228 homes in 2013; 54,881 homes in 2012
MHI = 60,210 homes in 2013; 54,891 homes in 2012
MHARR’s total annual ‘whatever’ number is ‘18’ MORE than MHI’s in 2013, BUT ‘10’ LESS than MHI’s number in 2012; hence the disparity moves in different directions, two years in a row. What will we find, going back in years?

***

George Allen, CPM®Emeritus, MHM®Master
Box # 47024, Indpls, IN. 46247
(317) 346-7156

Blog Column # 282 Copyright 2014 2 February 2014

Perspective. ‘Land-lease-lifestyle communities, a.k.a. manufactured home communities & earlier, ‘mobile home parks’, is the real estate component of manufactured housing.’

Purpose of this blog. ‘It’s the national advocacy voice, statistical research reporter, & communication resource for LLLCommunities, of all sizes, throughout North America!’

Input this blog, & Affiliate with the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, a.k.a. COBA7, via the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764.

I.

How to Complain About the CFPB!

II.

Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee

III.

COBA7 Update. What to Expect in February…

IV.

Grayson Schwepfinger died on 21 December 2013

V.

Next Week? Maybe, MHConspiracy Theories 101 & 102!

___________________________________________

I.

How to Complain about the CFPB!

(That’s the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)

The House (U.S. Congress) Financial Services Committee wants to hold the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (‘CFPB’) accountable for the manner in which they’re enforcing financial regulations initiated by the Dodd-Frank legislation, and how they’re impacting consumers and business owners alike! From the committee’s Press Release:

“The committee’s web form gives individuals the choice of having their story shared publicly or kept confidential. The committee website also allows for individuals who’d rather phone and record their story, about the CFPB’s work, to dial (240) 490-2372 and leave a message.”

It’s worthwhile to simply phone the number and listen to the message. Sounds like businesses just might have ‘a friend in court’, so to speak, where this oversight committee is concerned.

I phoned the above number, however, to learn the committee’s web address, since it wasn’t included in the Press Release. Heard back, and the appropriate website address:

www.financialservices.house.gov/tellyourstory/ (I’ve visited it and it does work!)

SO, if these onerous CFPB regs already affect your ability to engage in Free Enterprise, where your manufactured housing customers are concerned, Tell Your Story Now!

II.

Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee

‘Department of HUD Invites Individuals to Serve on the MHCC’
(from the Federal Registry / Vol. 79, No. 12, page # 3220, dtd. 1/17/2014)

The MHCC is a Federal Advisory Committee that exists under auspices of the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000. If you’d like to be considered for selection as a member of the MHCC, you’ll have to decide whether you qualify as a

1. Producers/Retailers of manufactured housing.

2. Users/Consumers, e.g. consumer organizations, leaders, homeowners, site lessees

3. General Interest & Public Officials

A sample application form containing information for consideration is available on the HUD Website: hud.gov, or contact the Office of Manufactured Housing Programs via (202) 708-6423. Your application may be accompanied by a cover letter, expressing your desire to serve on the MHCC, as well as your resume’. Your package will be retained, for consideration, for three years.

Nominations (including self-nominations) must be in writing and submitted to: Henry S. Czauski, Acting Deputy Administrator, Office of Manufactured Housing Programs, Department of HUD, 451 7th Street SW, Room # 9168, Washington,. DC 20410-8000

Thoughtfully read what follows in the next paragraph.

In my experience, there’s a stark and discouraging aspect of the MHCC member selection procedure. You’d best have significant political pull, and or strong manufactured housing industry influence in your favor and corner, if you’re ‘throwing your hat in this ring’, the Opportunity to Serve the Manufactured Housing Industry and Fellow Citizens. How do I know? Twice, during the past 20 years, I’ve been so-nominated, once with a U.S. Senator’s support – yet failed to be appointed to the Manufactured Housing Advisory Council to HUD during the 1990s, and the MHCC since year 2000. Each time, I was told in retrospect, my nomination application had been derailed due to, let’s nicely say, ‘industry prejudice’. So, as is oft said, ‘Forewarned is Forearmed’, if you decide to take this heady step.

III.

COBA7 Update. What to Expect in February…

The launch of Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, or COBA7, during December and January, exceeded all expectations; as land-lease-lifestyle community owners/operators & portfolio ‘players’, as well as product & service vendors, even a few HUD-Code home manufacturers (Yes, that’s plural ‘several times over’), affiliated via their choice of Options I, II or III. And close to 100 copies of the 25th anniversary ALLEN REPORT (A.k.a. ‘Who’s Who Among LLLCommunity Portfolio Owners/operators Throughout North America!’) are now in the hands of COBA7 affiliates throughout the U.S. and Canada! Guess one could appropriately and proudly proclaim: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Gotta tell you this too. Most COBA7 affiliates to date, have chosen Option II (That’s the Allen Letter subscription, copy of the 25th annual ALLEN REPORT, & 12 Signature Series Resource Documents, or SSRDs, all for $544.95). And on more than one occasion, registering affiliates have told or written us:

“This is the best $500.00 we’ll spend on LLLCommunity(ies) resources during 2014!”

So, if YOU haven’t yet affiliated, but desire to do so, simply phone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764. Credit card orders Welcome!

And we’re just getting started! Here’s what to expect during the month of February and beyond…. At the Louisville MHShow (Think 48 homes on display, 25% of which were Community Series Homes, 86+/- exhibitors, & 1,500+ registrants by mid-show), COBA7…

• Signed up nearly a dozen LLLCommunity owners/operators willing to share their personal and corporate Lessons Learned as property managers. These experiences will be collected and published in a new book due out later this year. As a COBA7 affiliate, your contributions are especially sought and appreciated. Simply phone the HOTLINE for details.

• Heard from a couple dozen LLLCommunity owners/operators who insist on participating in the national FOCUS Group planned to convene during early April. Again, COBA7 affiliates should use the HOTLINE to ensure they’re on the ‘invite’ list.

• Talked with HUD-Code home manufacturers, especially those displaying Community Series Homes, or CSH Models, regarding the planned – but now likely postponed – MHInitiative® at the RV/MH Hall of Fame on 2/27/2014. Why? Everyone wants to know how to market and sell more new homes into LLLCommunities nationwide, but not while in the presence of their competitors. SO, if you’re reading this and are a HUD-Code home manufacturer, or Business Development Manager, and seriously interested in meeting with me on 27 February in Elkhart, at the RV/MH Hall of Fame, phone (317) 346-7156 ASAP.

• Solicited ideas for topics and speakers to be featured at COBA7’s 23rd annual International Networking Roundtable, 10-12 September 2014. this popular annual event is open to LLLCommunity owners/operators, product/service vendors, and HUD-Code home manufacturers selling into our properties. Again, use the HOTLINE to ensure your firm’s name is on the invitation list.

During February, the second of 12 Signature Series Resource Documents, or SSRDs, will be enclosed with Allen Letter professional journals going to COBA7 affiliates. The first SSRD was 25th anniversary edition of the annual ALLEN REPORT. This time, however, it’s the Official State of the MHIndustry & LLLCommunity Presentation Outline – in a format YOU can easily use to brief your peers, your employees, your bankers, your zoning review board, your community service organizations! No one else, anywhere in the manufactured housing industry, is going to provide you with a more comprehensive collection of timely MHIndustry & LLLCommunity statistics and trends! And in the February Allen Letter itself, there’ll be ‘the list of issues’ identified by LLLCommunity owners/operators responding to the ALLEN REPORT questionnaires last Fall. No real surprises, but certainly some insights into ‘What keeps owners/operators awake at night.’

And know this; we’ve already begun the Direct Mail Questionnaire research pursuant to preparing the 16th annual National Registry of Lenders, for distribution in March of 2014. Just this past week, 50 letters, with questionnaires, were mailed to lenders and brokers specializing in originating acquisition and refinance real estate – secured mortgages for land-lease-lifestyle communities throughout North America. If the need for LLLCommunity mortgage capital is in the near future for you, be sure to affiliate with COBA7, to receive the very first copies of this seminal SSRD. And, if you’re a LLLCommunity $ lender, to ensure you’re included in this year’s edition, phone GFA c/o (317) 346-7158.

The National Registry of Lenders also features a comprehensive list of independent chattel capital providers (i.e. The Big Five + 1 firms), as well as mortgage servicers. This latter information is researched and prepared by Rishel Consulting. To ensure your chattel source info in included in this year’s 16th annual edition, contact Ken Rishel, manufactured housing industry’s person of the year (2014), via (312) 878-2802.

IV.

Grayson Schwepfinger died on 21 December 2013

To his many friends and business colleagues in the HUD-Code manufactured housing industry he was known simply as ‘Schwep’. When inducted into the RV/MH Heritage Foundation’s prestigious Hall of Fame in 1979, he’d already been engaged as a freelance sales trainer, by many of our industry’s pioneers, for more than a decade. And he continued sharing his expertise and experience with ‘newbies to the business’, like this industry observer, right up until a couple years ago, when he was a presenter at the annual International Networking Roundtable for land-lease-lifestyle community owners/operators.

Not only will Grayson’s manufactured housing sales training legacy live on in the minds and practices of his many clients and son, but also through his copyrighted sales training literature in the stacks at the RV/MH Heritage Foundations’ Library in Elkhart, IN. For that matter, one of Schweps many guidelines, and in this case, a Rule of Thumb, is identified as such and published in the Book of Formulae, Rules of Thumb & Helpful Measures – for LLLCommunities & HUD-Code Manufactured Housing, Indianapolis, IN., 2012. On pages 11 & 12, the Schwep Rule of Thumb reads thusly:

‘A manufactured home loan monthly PITI (principal, interest, taxes & insurance) and site rent total together, must be 15 – 20% less in dollar amount, than the monthly rental rate amount for a (3BR2B) conventional apartment unit in the same local housing market’ – for the ‘home & homesite’ package to be competitive.

The 78 pages ‘book of numbers’ is available from PMN Publishing @ (317) 346-7156.

If you’d like to send personal or corporate condolences to Grayson’s longtime companion Marilyn Vogel, I’d be pleased to collect and forward them to her. Just mail same to GFA c/o Box # 47024, Indpls, IN. 46247. Grayson requested no obituary or memorial services in his memory.

V.

Next Week? Maybe, MHConspiracy Theories 101 & 102!

A hint. Affluence gerrymandering is simply the tip of this manufactured housing iceberg.

***

George Allen
Box # 47024, Indpls, IN. 46247
(317) 346-7156.

Blog Column @ 281 Copyright 2014 26 January 2014

Perspective. ‘Land-lease-lifestyle communities, a.k.a. manufactured home communities & earlier, ‘mobile home parks’, is the real estate component of manufactured housing.’

Purpose of this blog. ‘To be the national advocacy voice, statistical research reporter, & communication resource for LLLCommunities, of all sizes, throughout North America!’

Input this Blog, & Affiliate with Community Owners Business Alliance, or COBA7; via
Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764 and gfa7156@aol.com

I.

Another ‘Affluence Gerrymandering’ Casualty..

II,

NEW ERA Launch of ‘Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance’ has been Astounding!

___________________________________________________________

I.

Another ‘Affluence Gerrymandering’ Casualty…

Just returned home from the Luavul (Louisville) Manufactured Housing Show. A lot of newsy notes to share with you during the weeks ahead (e.g. ‘Guess how many Community Series Homes, or CSH Models, were on display this year?), but suffice it to say for now, this was one frigid – but worthwhile – regional meeting experience! And as a voting member of the Louisville Manufactured Housing Show Committee, I’ll share this with you: Show participation, in terms of display homes (48), exhibitors (80+), and registered guests (1500+) exceeded several previous years of ‘returning to normal’ growth.

If you missed Rishel Consulting’s day long (home finance compliance) seminar, for independent (street) MHRetailers & land-lease-lifestyle community on-site salespersons, just prior to the KY Show, you missed a timely and valuable educational opportunity! Phone (312) 878-2802 to ask Ken – the Manufactured Housing Industry’s Person of the Year!, or his wife Donna, when they’ll be facilitating their next similar opportunity, so YOU can be ‘brought up to speed’ as to what YOU Can & what YOU Can’t say to prospective homebuyers during the selling process. Very important to know!

Another ‘affluence gerrymandering’ casualty? Simply means I’m not the only entrepreneur businessman who’s decided NOT to travel to Washington, DC. next month for an industry legislative conference and meeting. The costly combination of travel expenses (flight into & from DC, plus hotel for a couple days in Arlington, VA, plus taxis, plus meals, plus parking) and a hefty event registration fee, make this trip prohibitively expensive! SO, sad to say, I’ll NOT have a ‘say’ (vote) in any of the proceedings at a national meeting hosted by an advocacy entity of which I’m a direct, dues-paying member; especially since it disallows absentee balloting and voting. Yep; another casualty of ‘affluence gerrymandering’, i.e. the artful limiting of meeting attendance by keeping the cost of participation higher than necessary.

II.

NEW ERA Launch, of ‘Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance’, has been Astounding!

Already, more land-lease-lifestyle community owners/operators, and their preferred product and service vendors – including several HUD-Code home manufacturers, have affiliated with COBA7, than the combined number of realty asset class’ members claimed by our unique, income-producing property type’s national advocacy and ‘think tank’ councils! And know what’s especially encouraging? Retired manufactured housing executives have been affiliating, wanting to ‘stay informed about what’s really going on – and not going on – throughout the industry today’. What an encouraging vote of confidence that is!

To date, dozens of copies of the ‘biggest & best’ 25th anniversary ALLEN REPORT (A.k.a. ‘Who’s Who Among Land-lease-lifestyle Community Portfolio Owners/operators Throughout North America!’) have been mailed to COBA7 affiliates throughout the U.S. and Canada.

While the Community Owners Business Alliance exists to serve seven function areas (*) important to land-lease-lifestyle community owners/operators throughout North America, the fact that product and service vendors (e.g. chattel & real estate – secured mortgage originators & lenders, insurance & realty brokerages, aftermarket parts suppliers), as well as HUD-Code home manufacturers (Who’re selling an increasing volume of new manufactured homes into LLLCommunities), are WELCOME to affiliate, has struck a very responsive chord among these segments of the manufactured housing industry. Reminder. COBA7 is NOT a new, national, not for profit trade group; simply a business alliance, serving seven function areas (*) important to LLLCommunities, large and small, throughout North America!

The seven function areas (*)? Ongoing statistical research (e.g. annual ALLEN REPORT), distribution of helpful resources (e.g. dozen Signature Series Resource Documents or SSRDs), online & print communication (e.g. this weekly blog posting & two subscriber-supported monthly newsletters), superb peer networking (e.g. upcoming FOCUS Group meeting & annual Networking Roundtable), deal – making opportunities, professional property management training & certification (e.g. Manufactured Housing Manager® or MHM® program via class sessions or correspondence), and when need be, national advocacy (e.g. COBA7 affiliates already being considered for several national appointments….)

How to affiliate? Simply phone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764 and decide which of three options best serves your business needs:

Option I = Allen Letter only, no ALLEN REPORT, none of the 12 SSRDs @ $134.95/yr.

Option II = Allen Letter, 25th ALLEN REPORT, 12 SSRDs (issued monthly) @ $544.95

Option III = Allen Letter, 25th ALLEN REPORT, 12 SSRDs, & the Allen CONFIDENTIAL! business newsletter for corporate CEOs & sole proprietors @ $944.95

And what’s in the near future for the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance?

Some sort of MHInitiative® aimed at helping HUD-Code home manufacturers identify and effectively sell new Community Series Homes to the 42,000+/- smaller (100 & fewer rental homesites) LLLCommunities throughout the U.S. Most HUD-Code home manufacturers know they can easily access the 500+/- known portfolio owners/operators, via direct mail, using the exclusive, confidential data base available via COBA7. Had planned a mega-event at the RV/MH Heritage Federations’ Hall of Fame facility in Elkhart, IN., on 27 February 2014, but there’s not now really enough time to pull all those pieces together. Suggestions anyone – for accessing 42,000+/- LLLCommunities?

Presently soliciting topics and potential writers’ names to participate in a Lessons Learned from LLLCommunity Operations book, for distribution at the 23rd annual Networking Roundtable this coming Fall. Interested? Contact via Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764. Preference likely given to COBA7 affiliates.

First national FOCUS Group meeting tentatively scheduled for 2 & 3 April, at an as yet undisclosed location. Looking for a large LLLCommunity with a clubhouse capable of seating 100 men and women. If interested, reach GFA via (317) 346-7156. The Best FOCUS Groups take place on-site at a LLLCommunity!

23rd annual International Networking Roundtable. Details to follow, but likely @ 10 – 12 September, somewhere in the Midwest. If you’re reading this and would like to be considered as a presenter; let me know, also the nature of the topic you’d like to present. Past speakers know we publicize their participation, in the Roundtable, ahead of time, and also in a feature article, summarizing the event, afterwards – complete with contact information. Who else does that for YOU in this industry and realty asset class?

Hope you decide to affiliate with COBA7 during the days and week ahead! Once you’ve selected Option II or III, we get a copy of the 25th ALLEN REPORT, and a copy of January’s Allen Letter professional journal in the mail to you right away! And if you’re already a newsletter subscriber, we credit the unused portion of said subscription to your Option II or III choice. Remember; Option I is only a subscription to the Allen Letter professional journal.

***

Blog Column #280 Copyright 2014 19 January 2014

George Allen writes about MHBusiness Matters, Issues & Serious Concerns

Perspective. ‘Land-lease-lifestyle communities, a.k.a. manufactured home communities & earlier, ‘mobile home parks’, is the real estate component of manufactured housing.’

Purpose of this blog. ‘To be the national advocacy voice, statistical research reporter, & communication resource for LLLCommunities, of all sizes, throughout North America!’

How to Input. Critical responses & helpful ideas Welcome for future blog coverage, via gfa7156@aol.com & Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764

I.

Duty to Serve, DTS, &
‘duty to serve underserved markets’,
Three Ways to Describe the Same Concept

II.

YOUR OPPORTUNITY
to
Share Good Ideas With Me at the Louisville MHShow This Week!

III.

‘DUELING CURVES: The Battle for Housing’

New Book on MH, by Bob Vahsholtz, draws closer to Publication

I.

Duty to Serve, DTS, &
‘duty to serve underserved markets’,
Three Ways to Describe the Same Concept

The ‘Newest Old Mandate’ affecting Manufactured Housing; adopted by Congress in 2008; ‘dead in the water’ since 2010; Now to be Revived?!

Bloggers Note. Following material was prepared as a feature for the February 2014 issue of the Allen Letter professional journal. However, given the recent, increasing level of interest in this ‘Newest Old Mandate’, we’re sharing it here first, to bring you up to speed regarding one of the legislative battles likely to be fought this year. Responses Welcome

OK folks, we and our industry’s ‘political wonks’* learned a valuable lesson during the last half of year 2013. As one national advocacy exec put it in a recent issue of a trade publication: ‘No longer deceive ourselves about hoped-for legislative victory, by putting all our eggs (lobbying focus) in one basket, ‘effectively holding everything else (other lobbying foci) ‘hostage’!’ Look what that misguided strategy got us regarding Dodd-Frank and the CFFB = Nothing at all! And don’t expect success during 2014 either…

• wonk = ‘an obsessive student (in this case, national advocacy execs & leaders), grind.’

YOU owe it to yourself to ‘read up’ on Duty to Serve, or DTS. Start with last month’s
issue of The Journal, and MHARR’s column therein. Here’re a few salient quotes from it:

“…DTS, on its’ face, refers to three segments of the housing market – rural housing, ‘affordable housing preservation’ and manufactured housing….”

“Federal Housing Finance Authority (‘FHFA’) @ June 7, 2010, in a proposed DTS ‘implementation’ rule…totally exclude(d) chattel loans – comprising 76 percent of all manufactured home placements – from DTS….”

“…the value of DTS, as a means of spurring an expansion of manufactured home financing…was disputed by some in the industry, as a ‘waste of time’.”

The present day hope? “DTS, with a relatively minor technical correction and a concerted industry effort…still can lead…to the high-volume securitization of as much as 76% of the industry homes titled in the states.” And just what is that minor technical correction? Despite inquiries to the national advocacy body making that claim, no answer has been forthcoming, so is not described here.

AND

YOU owe it to yourself to ‘google’ Duty to Serve, on the internet, and read the aforementioned ‘Notice of proposed rulemaking; request for comments.’ Here’re a few salient quotes from that notice:

“…the proposed rule would, among other things: (1) consider only manufactured homes titled as real property, for purposes of the duty to serve the manufactured housing market….” P.1.

Why exclusion of chattel loans from this rulemaking document? In part, “Since establishment of the conservatorships, combined losses at the two GSEs depleted all their capital and required them to draw about $145 billion from the Dept. of the Treasury, under the Senior Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements…Acting Director reported to Congress that having the Enterprises engage in new products would be inconsistent with the goals of conservatorship….” P.7. As a taxpayer, that’s responsible and easy to understand. As a businessman, it tells me the money honey pot has been closed for the time being.

A hard reality. “According to Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data for 2008, home purchase applications for manufactured homes are denied at three times the rate that applications for site-built homes are denied.” P.11. So, what, if anything, can be done about that sad state of affairs?

Five advantages to personal property mortgages cited by the Manufactured Housing Institute: overall principal loan amount is more affordable due to absence of land in the transaction; no appraisal, survey or private mortgage insurance is necessary, which lowers closing costs; customer does not encumber any real property; tax, titling fees, homeowners insurance, and service warranties can be financed; and transaction is generally faster.” P.11, footnote # 12.

“Organizations representing consumers and manufactured home community residents expressed serious reservations about chattel lending. DFED, for example, stated chattel loans provide low-income families with higher rates, less optimal terms, and reduced consumer protections, as compared to a mortgage loan….” P.17. So, it’s not just federal bureaucrats we’re battling here, but our own homebuyers, mortgagors, and tenants.

Is this a potential solution? “Commenters suggested if FHFA determines manufactured homes, secured by chattel loans be considered, FHFA should require borrower protections such as: 1) capping the annual percentage rate or APR at 3.5 points above the prime rate; 2) banning prepayment penalties; 3) banning yield spread premiums; & 4) requiring lease terms extend five years beyond the term of the loan.” P.19

Manufactured homes are generally regarded as depreciating assets, even in a strong market environment. A 2005 report by Lehman Brothers, estimated the expected annual depreciation rate at three to four percent annually.” P.20.

“Enterprise assistance to manufactured home communities would not be considered for purposes of the duty to serve the manufactured housing market in the proposed rule.” P.22. Why? Maybe because, “With regard to manufactured home communities, individuals, nonprofit organizations, and policy advocacy groups expressed concern about the lack of tenant protections in communities owned by investors.” P.9

“ROC-USA commented, after 25 years and over $150 million in originations for resident-owned communities, it had ‘not had a single loan lost or charged off.’”p.23

AND

YOU owe it to yourself, to not only become better educated about Duty to Serve or DTS, but to stay well-informed about what either or both national advocacy bodies say and do, ‘in our (your) behalf’, on this sensitive subject during the months to come during year 2014!

II.

YOUR OPPORTUNITY
To
Share Good Ideas with Me at the Louisville MHShow This Week!

It’s as simple as this: Look me up at Rishel Consulting’s one day seminar on 21 January (The day ‘before’ the Louisville MHShow actually begins!) at the Crown Plaza Hotel; &/or, anytime on 22 January, as I’m admiring & photographing new HUD-Code homes on display (The BIG QUESTION THIS YEAR? How many of these will be Community Series Homes or CSH Models, desired by land-lease-lifestyle community owners/operators?) and meeting & talking with various product & service suppliers! Don’t wait for the 23rd though, as I’ll be touring LLLCommunities that morning and in meetings that afternoon.

Why look me up? Here, let’s identify at least five good and timely reasons:

FIRST; I’ll be handing out TICKETS, during private conversations (With you?), inviting land-lease-lifestyle community owners/operators, and their product/service vendors – especially HUD-Code home manufacturers, to affiliate with the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance or COBA7, launched last month by GFA Management, Inc., dba PMN Publishing. This is NOT a new, national trade group, simply an opportunity for businessmen and women, associated in one or another fashion with the LLLCommunity realty asset class, to – at a minimum, receive the Allen Letter professional journal each month, the (25th anniversary) ALLEN REPORT (A.k.a. ‘Who’s Who Among LLLCommunity Portfolio Owners/operators Throughout North America!’), and a dozen Signature Series Resource Documents or SSRDs, e.g. annual National Lenders’ Registry, during the course of the year. When you see me, just ask for your TICKET!

SECOND; We’re deep into planning some sort of MHInitiative®2014, with this GOAL: Helping HUD-Code home manufacturers successfully market and sell more new Community Series Homes, or CSH Models, into land-lease-lifestyle communities in the U.S.. Manufacturers now routinely access our exclusive, confidential data base to put their firm’s name, via Direct Mail, in front of the 500+/- known LLLCommunity portfolio owners/operators throughout North America! BUT, the Big Question now begging answering is ‘How to Get This Same Message in Front of the 42,500+/- Mom&Pop-sized LLLCommunities across the country?’ IDEAS? And how many manufacturers are using Lifestylist ‘services’ to ensure product designs are indeed ‘right’ for targeted local housing markets? And, for the first time in decades, they’re calculating ‘affordable’& ‘risky’ Price Points for new and resale homes per local housing market’s Average Median Income or AMI, and prospective homebuyer’s Annual Gross Income or AGI! Do YOU know how to do this? Finally; really would like your creative ideas on how to effect MHInitiative@2014: at the RV/MH Hall of Fame on 27 February 2014; or some other venue later in the year?

THIRD; we’re looking for subject matter and volunteer writers to input the new book, Lessons Learned from LLLCommunity Operations. So, if you’re a capable, successful, experienced owner/operator of one or more land-lease-lifestyle communities, and willing to share one or more personal or corporate LESSONS LEARNED, with your peers, in this book – and have your contribution serve as Your Lasting Legacy, talk to me during the Louisville MHShow – or contact me via means listed at beginning of this blog posting. This is a COBA7 project for LLLCommunity owners/operators nationwide.

FOURTH. There’ll be a national FOCUS Group meeting of land-lease-lifestyle community owners/operators during the first week of April 2014, planned and facilitated by COBA7. If you’d like to have your name on the ‘invite’ list, let me know at the Louisville MHShow. Already have 40 businessmen and women who’ve expressed their desire to participate. In this instance, ‘you’ recommend the agenda (i.e. issues you face); we meet on-site in a clubhouse at a large LLLCommunity for 1 ½ days. Proceedings confidential!

FIFTH. The 23rd annual International Networking Roundtable is scheduled for 10-12 September. If there’re topics you’d like to see covered this year, and presenters you’d like to hear – including your interest in being a speaker, let me know this as well. If you’ve got something worthwhile to share (Not necessarily a sales pitch), with your peers, we’d like to know. Being featured at the annual Networking Roundtable is invaluable, as your name and topic are publicized on the advance brochure, and summarized – along with your contact information, in a Signature Series Resource Document published following the event. Who else gives YOU that sort of exposure in this business? Look Me Up!

WHEW! This is going to be one very busy Louisville MHShow for us this year! Looking forward to seeing you there – or having you contact me otherwise, if not going to be in attendance – and ask about COBA7, when you call or write! GFA

III.

‘DUELING CURVES The Battle for Housing’

New Book on MH, by Bob Vahsholtz, draws closer to publication

It’s not official, but Bob Vahsholtz’s new book about factory-built housing in general, manufactured housing in particular, is drawing closer to publication. The DRAFT copy I just helped edit is chock full of principles & methods, examples & statistics, biographies & corporate histories, all helping carry & support his dual themes of ‘learning curve’, and it’s effect on housing industry fundamentals, over the decades.

We’ll be among the first to let you know when and how this tome will be available for purchase by housing aficionados and practitioners.

***

George Allen, CPM & MHM
Box # 47024, Indpls, IN. 46247
(317) 346-7156

Blog Column @ 279 Copyright 2014 12 January 2014

George Allen writes about MHBusiness Matters, Issues & Serious Concerns

Perspective. ‘Land-lease-lifestyle communities, a.k.a. manufactured home communities & earlier, ‘mobile home parks’, is the real estate component of manufactured housing.’

Purpose of this blog. “To be the national advocacy voice, statistical research reporter, & communication resource for LLLCommunities, of all sizes, throughout North America!’

How to Input. Critical responses & helpful ideas Welcome for future blog coverage; via gfa7156@aol.com & Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764

I.

MHIndustry Meetings @ January & February 2014

II.

MHInitiative® 2014?

III.

‘Hats off to Mharrio!’

*******************************

I.

MHIndustry Meetings @ January & February 2014

What do Rishel Consulting, the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance or COBA7, Louisville MHShow, a national manufactured housing advocacy body’s annual legislative conference, and MHInitiative®2014, all convening during January & February 2014, have in common?

A lively interest in HOW TO MARKET, SELL & FINANCE MORE NEW MANUFACTURED HOMES ON-SITE WITHIN LAND-LEASE-LIFESTYLE COMMUNITIES DURING 2014! Here’s how this might well materialize with your help:

1. Need to ‘Learn How to Advertise, Market, and Sell Homes Successfully and Legally in 2014’?, be present at Rishel Consulting’s one day seminar, 21 January at the Crown Plaza Hotel adjacent to Kentucky State Fairgrounds in Louisville, KY! 100+ already signed up. Learn from Ken & Donna Rishel (Ken is Manufactured Housing’s ‘Industry Person of the Year for 2013’!), Dennis Ohnstad, MHM®; Bill & Chad Carr; John Ace Underwood; & Eddie Hicks. To register, for $ 95., phone (312) 878-2802.

2. While the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance won’t be formally meeting in Louisville, during 21 – 24 January, there’ll be face-to-face opportunities for YOU to input three key COBA7 events and projects: a) Ask for ‘an invite’ to participate in MHInitiative®2014 (See paragraph # 5 to follow) when HUD-Code home manufacturers and LLLCommunity owners/operators convene again, at the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN; b) Have an itch to describe your LLLCommunity operations experiences and create a personal legacy? Volunteer to input the new book planned this year: Lessons Learned in LLLCommunity Operations! No writing experience required; and, c) Want to attend the National FOCUS Group meeting, 2 & 3 April 2014? ‘Ask ME for an invite’, to avoid being missed later. Or phone Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764.

3. 22 – 24 January 2014 = Louisville MHShow. This is rejuvenated Midwest MHTrade Show canceled several years ago. Dozens of new HUD-Code homes will be displayed indoors, along with dozens of supplier exhibits. The Big Question This Year? How many ‘show homes’ will be Community Series Homes, or CSH Models, designed for placement within land-lease-lifestyle communities? This has been a sad shortfall with previous regional shows. Home manufacturers must realize, any major increase in annual home shipment volume, depends on filling 250,000 vacant rental homesites nationwide! Call Dennis Hill @ (770) 587-3350

4. 9 – 11 February 2014. Annual Legislative Conference in Arlington, VA. If you have a hankering for a firsthand look at how manufactured housing industry lobbying is handled in our nation’s capitol, consider participating in this event. Phone (703) 558-0400 for details and to register.
.

5. 27 February 2014. Does the date ring familiar to YOU? If an industry veteran, it should! Why? On 27 February 2009, 100+/- HUD-Code home manufacturers and (then) manufactured home community owners/operators, from throughout the U.S., convened at the RV/MH Hall of Fame facility in Elkhart, IN., to address this challenge: How to Sell More Manufactured Homes Into MHCommunities!’ That’s where the Community Series Home, or CSH Model homes concept was birthed! And now, on 27 February 2014, six years later, we’re returning! Why? Read the next segment (II) of this blog posting. Might surprise you….

II.

MHInitiative @ 2014?

At RV/MH Hall of Fame on Thursday, 27 February 2014. Be there! Why?

Well, the first time around, 2/27/2009, we did successfully ‘break the ice’ and get HUD-Code home manufacturers and property portfolio owners/operators talking – then designing/manufacturing/ordering/shipping new homes! These manufacturers now routinely use the annual ALLEN REPORT and Direct Mail Campaigns to the 500+/- known portfolio ‘players’ to market their homes. But this time around, the challenge is different, and actually more difficult to solve. Being? ‘How to Market & Sell More Manufactured Homes Into (Stand alone) Land-lease-lifestyle Communities!’ Yes, Mom&Pop-sized/owned LLLCommunities, for the most part, are ‘emptying out’, as longtime owners/operators no longer can rely on independent ‘street’ MHRetailers, in local housing markets, to fill vacant rental homesites within their properties. So, this is a one day opportunity for HUD-Code home manufacturers, and property owners, to figure out: 1) How to identify these 40,000+/- prospective, one-off customers, 2) How to effectively sell new Community Series Homes directly to them, & 3) How to find chattel capital to finance on-site deals – and/or 4) How to engage in Lease-Options, and other ‘captive finance’ alternatives – all the while being compliant with applicable state and federal finance regulations. YES, this is a very tall order, but have YOU noticed anyone, anywhere else, in the entire manufactured housing industry ‘stepping up to the plate’ to BRAINSTORM HOW TO: 1) Market & Sell more HUD-Code homes, & 2) Fill vacant rental homesites in LLLCommunities? The answer is a resounding and disappointing, NO! So, if YOU’d like an ‘invite’ to this seminal, albeit ‘historic’ session; phone the MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764. This MHInitiative® session is One more Good Reason for YOU, as a LLLCommunity owner/operator, home manufacturer, and/or product/service vendor, serving this realty asset class, to formally affiliate with the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, or COBA7, the sooner the better. How? Read next paragraph….

Talk to me about the MHInitiative®2014, and affiliating with COBA7, during our time together in Louisville, KY., from 21 – 24 January 2014. In brief, COBA7 Option I is a one year subscription to the Allen Letter professional journal for $134.95. Option II is the same newsletter, plus 25th annual ALLEN REPORT (A.k.a. ‘Who’s Who Among Land-lease-lifestyle Community Portfolio Owners/operators Throughout North America!’), and a dozen Signature Series Resource Documents & directories, all for $544.95. And Option III is all that’s in Option II, plus a one year subscription to the Allen CONFIDENTIAL! business newsletter for corporate presidents and CEOs, @ $944.95.

III.

‘Hats off to Mharrio!’

Have YOU seen and or read the Fall segment of the Federal 2013 Semi-Annual Regulatory Agenda (‘SRA’), detailing pending and anticipated rulemaking activities of 1) HUD, 2) DOE, & 3) EPA – pertaining to HUD-Code manufactured housing? Well, I hadn’t either; and likely never would have seen it, but for the efforts of Mharrio, there in Washington, DC. If you’d like a copy of this four page Memorandum, penned by Mark Weiss, dated 6 January 2014, phone (202) 783-4087. Tell him ‘George told me to call!’

One of several ‘concerns’ flagged in this document, reads thusly: “…instead of playing the active role…maintaining and preserving the affordability of manufactured housing – in conjunction with expert analysis and input of the MHCC (i.e. Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee’) – HUD may take the route of least resistance, and simply accept whatever ‘findings’ are concocted by DOE, which has already engaged in regulatory misconduct by selectively leaking a ‘draft’ of the proposed rule.” What does this mean t our industry and asset class? In my opinion, it’s an indication of a planned sneak attack – until reported by Mharrio – on the eminent affordability of HUD-Code manufactured housing, especially that sited within land-lease-lifestyle communities nationwide!

Where’s Mhiki? Waiting to read another view on this SRA (Semi-Annual Regulatory Agenda). How ‘bout you?

Mharrio & Mhiki? Introduced you to them two weeks ago in blog posting # 277 at the web site: community-investor.com

***

George Allen, CPM & MHM
Box # 47024, Indpls, IN. 46247
(317) 346-7156

Blog Column # 278 Copyright 2014 5 January 2014

George Allen writes about MHBusiness Matters, Issues & Serious Concerns

Perspective. ‘Land-lease-lifestyle communities, a.k.a. manufactured home communities & earlier, ‘mobile home parks’, is the real estate component of manufactured housing.’

Purpose of this blog. ‘To be the national advocacy voice, statistical research reporter, & communication resource for LLLCommunities, of all sizes, throughout North America!’

How to Input. Critical responses & helpful ideas Welcome for future blog coverage; via gfa7156@aol.com & Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764

I.

‘By George, They’ve Got It! They Really Do!’

II.

Will I See YOU at the Louisville MHShow?

************************************

I.

‘By George, They’ve Got It! They Really Do!’

Here’s How Land-lease-lifestyle Community Owners/operators Can Double the Value of Their $544.00+/- Corporate Investment in Realty Asset Class Knowledge & National Advocacy in 2014!

When the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, or COBA7, was launched during December, and now January 2014, there’d been – and remains, a strong desire to ‘clearly communicate the business alliance concept’ to a national target audience of land-lease-lifestyle community owners/operators of all sizes, AND all the product and service vendors servicing the property type’s information & consulting, real estate & chattel lending, property insurance, water sub metering & billing, valuation & brokerage needs! For awhile, there was even talk of a breakfast meeting on 22 January, in Louisville, KY., to ‘splain’ everything. Now that’s not even necessary. Why? Individual and corporate paid subscriptions re: Options I, II, or III*, in effect affiliating with COBA7, have been pouring into our offices. The concept has evidently been well-communicated and understood enough, to prompt this heavy flood of individual and corporate investment in realty asset class knowledge and national advocacy, during 2014 and beyond. So, you might say, ‘We’re off and running!’

A recent email from one portfolio owner/operator of LLLCommunities, not even listed in this year’s 25th Anniversary ALLEN REPORT – but signed up for an Option II subscription nonetheless, well summarizes the affiliation concept and its’ ‘double the value’ potential nicely:

“George. The way I look at it, I’m going to spend at least $500.00, one way or the other, in support of our properties nationwide. I can either ‘put all my eggs into one (national advocacy) basket’; OR, I can send nearly the same amount ($544.00) to affiliate our business with COBA7, then rely on membership in one or another state manufactured housing association, to represent us where national political and regulatory advocacy is concerned. AND, while ‘the state’ is doing my bidding, we’ll benefit from the seven function areas COBA7 administers. Now that’s what I call ‘doubling the value’ of the $500 or $544 I’ve invested in behalf of our LLLCommunities!” BBP

By way of clarification, those Seven Function Areas COBA7 are: 1) ongoing statistical research (e.g. ALLEN REPORT); 2) resource & directory distribution (e.g. a dozen Signature Series Resource Documents or SSRDs, issued monthly); 3) print & online communication (weekly & monthly); 4) peer networking events (Networking Roundtable & FOCUS Groups); 5) deal – making opportunities; 6) professional property management training & certification (e.g. Manufactured Housing Manger® or MHM® program); and, 7) supplement the national advocacy effort, when appropriate or needed.

Have YOU affiliated with COBA7 yet? January 2014 Allen Letters, and the 25th annual ALLEN REPORT go into the mail shortly. Only those individuals and firms having already opted for Option II or III will be receiving the ALLEN REPORT this year. Not too late to subscribe; just phone the Official MHIndustry HOTINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764 and sign-up for Option II. All three options described in the following End Note below.

End Note.

Option I. $134.95 paid subscription (12 monthly issues) to the Allen Letter professional journal. No longer is the ALLEN REPORT or any of the dozen Signature Series Resource Documents, or SSRDs, enclosed with the monthly newsletter.

Option II. $544.95 paid subscription (12 monthly issues) to the Allen Letter professional journal, the 25th Anniversary ALLEN REPORT (Biggest & Best Edition in 25 years!), and 12 SSRDs during the course of the year, e.g. annual National Registry of Lenders, annual ‘Who Ya Gonna Call in 2014?’ list of freelance consultants, & 10 more SSRDs

Option III. $944.95 paid subscription (12 monthly issues) to the Allen Letter professional journal, the 25th Anniversary ALLEN REPORT, 12 SSRDs, and paid subscription (12 monthly issues) to the Allen CONFIDENTIAL! business newsletter for corporate presidents and chief executive officers. The industry news you’ll get nowhere else!

Again, to obtain your personal or corporate copy of the 25th Anniversary ALLEN REPORT (a.k.a. ‘Who’s Who Among Land-lease-lifestyle Community Owners/operators Throughout North America!’) this month (January 2014), select Option II or III, then phone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764. During that conversation, assuming you’re already a paid subscriber to the Allen Letter professional journal, we’ll apply credit for your unused subscription months to the Option II or III $ amount; OR, adjust your ‘start date’, whichever you prefer. If not already a paid subscriber, we’ll start your Option I, II, or III subscription affiliation right away!

***

II.

Will I See YOU at the Louisville MHShow?

There are many reasons YOU should make it a point to participate in this year’s Louisville MHShow! Here are just a few features to bear in mind:

• 21 January. The day before the Louisville MHShow begins! Rishel Consulting is facilitating a day long program at the nearby Crown Plaza Hotel for everyone concerned about ‘what to say’ & ‘what not to say’ when selling new and resale manufactured homes in today’s regulatory rich, consumer protection finance market! Already more than 100 signed-up. I’ll be there. Phone (217) 971-3968 and pay $95.00 to register. Added benefit? Superb networking opportunity for all.

• 22-24 January. Wander the show floor, visit and maybe buy some new homes, and talk with the exhibitors. The question on everyone’s mind this year: ‘How many of the HUD-Code homes are of the Community Series Homes, or CSH Model design, for placement within land-lease-lifestyle communities? The answer to that question will be a ‘leading indicator’ as to whether HUD-Code home manufacturers are paying attention to the fact that ‘their future = filling an estimated 250,000 vacant rental homesites in LLLCommunities around the U.S. Oh, and there’ll also be some show seminars to consider….

• Doing Lease-Option’ on-site in your land-lease-lifestyle community; or thinking to do so? Know that Spencer Roane, MHM®Master, will be in town from Atlanta, for this year’s MHShow. GA. Look for his name tag and ask his advice on this rich topic! More and more LLLCommunity owners are opting for on-site ‘rental units’, and use of the Lease-Option, if in states allowing its’ use.

• Freelance consultant Michael Power too will be around, with a full quiver of property management – related arrows, to help you improve the day to day operation of your land-lease-lifestyle community. Even has a Shared Equity Plan in hand, to fill vacant rental homesites on your property with new homes!

• And hey, if you’ve got questions about the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, a.k.a. COBA7, stop me on the show floor, and ‘Ask to see a copy of the 25th Anniversary ALLEN REPORT!’ Will sign you up, right there, if you wish, with a subscription to Option I, II, or III, affiliating your firm with COBA7. Will also be carrying around FREE copies of the popular new plastic wallet card: ‘5-RPs of Marketing & Selling New Homes, & Leasing Rental Homesites, Within LLLCommunities!’ Do YOU have yours yet? Almost everyone else does!

• Wondering why there’re so many itinerant MHIndustry & LLLCommunity freelance consultants and experts circulating at this year’s Louisville MHShow, but NOT on the formal program? Visit the MHShow office and ask the show director, Dennis Hill of Showways. By the way, I’m on the MHShow committee this year, and am open to your suggestions for improving the program in 2015. Want to be an exhibitor or presenter? Let me know! (317) 346-7156

• And finally. Since I canceled the previously announced COBA7 breakfast on 21 January, we still want to hear from you regarding two important 2014 plans: First, if you’re interested in being invited to the first national FOCUS Group meeting of LLLCommunity owners/operators this Spring, let me know at the MHShow – along with discussion topics you’d like to see considered for the agenda. AND, I’m looking for writers to input Lessons Learned in LLLCommunity Operations!, the new book planned for this year, with distribution at the 23rd annual International Networking Roundtable in September. If you miss me at the MHShow, but want to talk of these two matters, reach me via (317) 346-7156 the week before or after the Louisville MHShow.

Looking forward to seeing many of you, who read this weekly blog posting, at the 2014 Louisville MHShow. Registration is FREE to most folk in the MHBusiness. Just show up at the exhibit hall and complete appropriate paperwork at 10AM on 22, 23, & 24 January 2014. Have questions beforehand, give me a call at the Official MHIndustry HOTINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764. Keep this number handy for everyday reference!