COBA7® @ community-investor.com Blog # 318 Copyright @ 12 October2014
Perspective. ’Land-lease-lifestyle communities, a.k.la. manufactured home communities and ‘mobile home parks’, comprise the real estate component of manufactured housing’.
This blog posting ‘is a national advocacy voice, ombudsman press*, statistical research reporter, & online communications resource for all LLLCommunities in North America!’
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• Ombudsman press. ‘Manufactured housing’s ronin, fielding inquiries, complaints, etc..
Introduction to this week’s COBA7® blog posting at community-investor.com website:
I.
‘What No One Else Will Tell You About Insights & Errors Gleaned from the CFPB’s ‘Manufactured-housing (sic) Consumer Finance in the U.S. White Paper’!
II.
NEW ERA Continues to Unfold as CHALLENGE/OPPORTUNITY Forms Arrive with Pithy Ideas. However, national advocacy bodies show no interest in planning & hosting the manufactured housing industry’s first National Strategic Planning Meeting for businessmen and women.
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I.
WHAT NO ONE ELSE WILL TELL YOU ABOUT INSIGHTS & ERRORS GLEANED FROM THE CONSUMER FINANCE PROTTECTION BUREAU’S
‘Manufactured-housing (sic) Consumer Finance in the U.S.’ White Paper, released the last week of September.
Installment # 1 = this blog posting (insights) @ community-investor.com
Installment # 2 = next week’s blog posting (errors) at this website
Not a bad first, albeit somewhat flawed, attempt to describe and understand manufactured housing (one of four types of factory-built housing) and its’ joined at the hip real estate component, the land-lease-lifestyle community (a.k.a. manufactured home community) real estate asset class.
Here follows a recitation of interesting industry-related stats, some commonly known, most not so, with many recited here for the first time. Next week we’ll turn our attention to errors and omissions found throughout the White Paper.
“Manufactured housing accounts for six percent of all occupied housing…in the U.S.” p.4
“A greater proportion of households that live in manufactured housing are headed by a retiree (32 percent) than site-built households (24 percent).” P.5.
“About three-fifths of manufactured-housing residents who own their home also own the land it is sited on.” P.6 (Note the hyphenated M-H and dangling participle) Also, not footnoted.
“An estimated 65 percent of borrowers who own their land and who took out a loan to buy a manufactured home between 2001 and 2010 financed the purchase with a chattel loan.” P.6 (Where have all the commas gone?)
“…in the year 2000 alone, more than 75,000 consumers had their manufactured homes repossessed, about 3.5 times the typical number during the 1990s. Between the beginning of 1999 and the end of 2002, repossessed inventory grew more than fourfold to $1.3 billion.” P.6
“A factory-built home constructed after June 15, 1976 is eligible for designation as a manufactured home if…the structure is at least 320 square feet (in size) and constructed on a permanent (steel) chassis.” P.8 (Hmm. I always thought the figure was closer to 400 square feet)
“…in 112 U.S. counties – predominately in southeastern and southwestern states – over one-third of homes are manufactured housing.” P.11
“…the heads of households …in manufactured housing are a bit more likely to be younger than 30 or older than 70 than are site-built owner-occupant household heads.” P.13. A.k.a. homes long popular with the ‘newly wed & nearly dead’
“About 20 percent of households who recently purchased a manufactured home moved in from a previous manufactured home residence.” P.16 Not footnoted.
“…the median net worth among households…in manufactured housing of $26,000 (in 2010 dollars) was just about one quarter the median net worth of families in site—built homes.” *.17
“The median combined value of manufactured homes and associated land (among households that own the home and the land)is about 42 percent of the median value of existing site-bu8ilt homes in the U.S.” p.21
“…manufactured homes in land-lease communities – about 30 percent of all manufactured housing placements in recent years – are generally only eligible for chattel financing.” P.24. But the associated footnote goes on to say: “Anecdotal evidence and American Housing Survey data suggest an even greater share, potentially almost half, of the stock of manufactured homes purchased in recent years are located in (land-lease) communities.” NOTE. This is a clear indication of WHY WE NEED to identify the number of new HUD-Code homes, especially Community Series Homes, or CSH Models, going from the factory directly into land-lease-lifestyle communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities) throughout the U.S. today! GFA
“In mid-2003 Fannie Mae owned or guaranteed $9.1 billion in manufactured-housing (sic) securities, and by the end of 2004, after substantial impairments, the portfolio was valued at just $5.4billion.” p.29
“…it appears the national lending market for chattel loans is concentrated among five lenders: 21st Mortgage, Vanderbilt Mortgage, Triad Financial Services, U.S. Bank, and San Antonio Federal Credit Union.” P.30 Commonly known but rarely put in writing.
“…most manufactured-housing (sic) purchasers finance between $10,000 and $80,000.. The median loan amount for site-built home purchase(s) was $176,000, more than three times the manufactured home purchase loan median of $55,000.” P.30
“Due to the limited secondary market for…manufactured-home (sic) chattel and mortgage loans, over 70 percent of manufactured-home (sic) loans in HMDA are held in portfolio, compared with about 16 percent of mortgages for site-built homes.” P.37 HMDA not defined.
“…compared to approximately 88 manufactured housing producers in the U.S.in 2002, around half that many are active in the space today.” P.39
“The largest three manufacturers held almost 70 percent (national) market share of new manufactured housing production as of the end of 2013. Clayton Homes…has been the largest manufacturer…with home production share of 45 percent as of the end of 2013. Other large national and regional manufacturers include Cavco Industries, Champion Home Builders, Legacy Housing, and Skyhline Corporation.” P.40
The smaller-dollar loan exemption FOR “Transactions secured solely by a manufactured home and not land will be exempt from the (‘in-person’) appraisal requirement if the creditor gives the consumer one of three types of information about the home’s value.” P.53
Well, that does it for now. Remember to return here next week, for a list of errors, terminology missteps, and other shortfalls, gleaned from CFPB’s White Paper titled: ‘Manufactured –housing (sic) Consumer Finance in the U.S.’
II.
NEW ERA Continues to Unfold as CHALLENGE/OPPORTUNITY Forms Arrive with Pithy Ideas. However, national advocacy bodies show no interest in planning & hosting the manufactured housing industry’s first National Strategic Planning Meeting for Businessmen & Women.
Last week or so we shared the first ‘matters & suggestions’ offered in support of discussion regarding ‘The Future of Manufactured Housing as ‘housing’ versus ‘trailers’.
Here’re the latest ideas to arrive:
• Maybe reorient our industry to think home ‘sales first’ and ‘shipments second’, reversing the decades long practice of needlessly saturating local housing markets with new homes for which there are few or no legitimately qualified buyers.
• Begin to allow prospective homebuyers to ‘shop and buy’ new manufactured homes online, matching them with qualified installers, independent (street) MHRetailers, even land-lease-lifestyle community owners/operators who’re selling and seller-financing new homes on-site.
• Perhaps cultivate capable, qualified, experienced manufactured housing installers to become customer service and or warranty work agents for HUD-Code home manufacturers.
• Seriously explore the possibility of promoting net zero (utility usage) home designs, presently enjoying popularity in California, to other local housing markets in the U.S.
And then there’re ideas relating to ‘The Future of land-lease-lifestyle communities’ as ‘lifestyle’ & ‘investment’:
• Continue the Networking Roundtable-initiated conversation with Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, to identify real estate-secured mortgage vehicles that also take into account the full or partial value of new manufactured homes sold and seller-financed on-site.
• Effect wider knowledge and distribution of tools already in place, designed to ensure we sell new and resale homes on-site to prospective homebuyers qualified to buy them, e.g. Use of ‘Ah Ha! & Uh Oh! Worksheet, the 3:1 Site Rent Rule, etc..
• Once and for all, replace the obsolete Woodall Star Systems of quality-grading land-lease-lifestyle communities. Reconsider the ABClassification System rejected by the NCC a decade ago – or come up with an entirely new, workable quality grading system.
It’s not too late for you to make your ideas and views known. Simply mail them to GFA c/o Box # 47024, Indianapolis, IN. 46247 or FAX them to (317) 346-7158, or email: gfa7156@aol.com