Blog Posting # 771, Copyright 15 December 2023. EducateMHC
Parallel Perspectives. HUD-Code manufactured housing is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable & attainable factory-built housing! And, land lease communities, (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’) comprise the investment real estate component of manufactured housing! EducateMHC is the online advocate, historian, trend tracker, and text resource for these two related business models! Reach EducateMHC by phoning (317) 881-3815; email: gfa7156@aol.com, or visit www.educatemhc.com, and to order Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry. This is the sole professional property management text in print today! SWAN SONG is a history of land lease communities & official record of annual MH production totals since 1955; and my autobiography, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven – describes personal combat adventures in Vietnam, a 45 year business career in MH and community ownership/management, and as author/consultant.
George Allen, CPM®Emeritus, MHM®Master, is only emeritus member of the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’), an RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrine, retired lieutenant colonel of U.S. Marines, & author/editor of 20 books re MH, communities, business management & prayer.
Manufactured Housing’s Conundrum
(‘a riddle; hard question’)
Without land cost, the average HUD-Code manufactured home today costs $127,300 and average new single floor site-built house costs $430,808.*1
The Conundrum. In light of the previous paragraph, and our nation being in the midst of a perennial national affordable housing availability crisis, how can HUD-Code manufactured housing prices, up 77 percent between years 2017 & 2022, experience manufactured housing production down 24 percent year to date (‘YTD’) 2023???*2
WHY? I don’t know the answer to that question.*3 That conundrum is the very reason I proposed, months ago, our manufactured housing industry leaders should be discussing this matter among themselves, and including entrepreneur business people who have vested interests in this industry and realty asset class in the conversation! Is this happening? Not that I know of! IF it’s happening within the confines of national advocacy trade group gatherings (i.e. MHARR & MHI), it’s not apparent to those of us on the outside and wondering what the future holds for us.
A suggestion. Perhaps the meeting planners and hosts of the upcoming Louisville MHShow (17-19 January 2024) would plan a public session where this conundrum is front and center! Several key individuals could be tapped to prepare in advance, brief personal or corporate reasons and solutions to this conundrum. Distribute these position papers at the door, then publicly discuss during said session. Who to invite? Heads of MHI & MHARR, as well as top executives of the ‘Big Three C’ HUD-Code manufacturing firms: Clayton, Skyline-Champion, & CAVCO. Limit each presenter to five minutes of explanation, followed by five minutes of controlled, moderated discussion; ending with a ten minute summation by the moderator. That’s one hour’s time to get our industry’s conundrum out into the open and, hopefully, stimulate action and resolution!
What do you think? If you agree with this suggestion, and are a member of either or both national advocacy groups cited above, reach out to them and suggest they encourage the Louisville MHShow organizer/host get started on this right away!
End Notes.
- According to the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (‘HUD’), U.S. Census Bureau Manufactured Housing Survey (‘MHS’), and Survey of Construction (‘SOC”)
- Information from a Lending Tree Survey dated 12/23
- Some say 1) lack of easy to access ‘home only’ loans & presently high interest rates, 2) pandemic era high prices on building components & lack of available labor, 3) local regulatory barriers to all forms of affordable housing, 4) too few housing sales centers, a.k.a. independent (street) MHRetailers & ‘company stores’, and lately, 5) challenges working with local permitting and engineering authorities, even when land planning and zoning boards approve development of raw land into land lease communities and subdivisions.
Where Were You in 1968?
Me? During most of year 1968 (April through December), I was a young U.S. Marine lieutenant in the Republic of Vietnam. I share those adventures in my autobiography, ‘From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven’. (Google: From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven, & tap the educatemhc.com prompt)
Well, there’s a new book about to debut (January 15, 2024) covering that timeframe. It’s Rick Robinson’s ‘1968: A Primer for Understanding Baby Boomers’. I’ve already ordered my advance copy from amazon.com You’re probably already aware that Robinson is an accomplished and popular novelist (Think ‘Opposition Research’), besides being a primary resource at manufacturedhomes.com
Here’s what the book press release has to say about Rick’s book: “…a small-town deep-dive into one of the most significant and controversial years in American history. Vietnam, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bobby Kennedy, civil rights protests at home and abroad, Nixon versus Humphrey, all made 1968 a seminal year. It offers a lens of understanding how this year helped shape not only baby boomers but all generations that followed.”