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

Blog # 500; Copyright @ 26 August 2018; community-investor.com

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

This blog posting is the sole national advocate, voice, official ombudsman, historian, research reporter & online communication media for all North American LLCommunities

To input this blog &/or affiliate with Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, a.k.a. COBA7, use Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764

COBA7 Motto: ‘U Support US & WE Serve U!’ Goal of its’ print & online media =
to not only inform & opine, but to transform & improve MHBusiness performance!
_____________________________________________________________________

INTRODUCTION: One’s 500th blog posting deserves, if not requires, a purposeful STOP, & time of REFLECTION, upon

1) Where we’ve been together these past ten years;

2) Where we are today – or ‘think we are’; and,

3) Where we might be headed, individually & collectively, moving into the future.

So, are you ready to be caught up in this manifesto of reflective, timely, forward-looking musings relative to housing, affordability, manufactured housing, and land lease communities, suggesting lines of thought and probable action?

I.

Where We’ve Been…

The previous decade (1998 – 2008), before this one (2008 – 2018), is characterized by the 1994 REIT wavelet, eventually changing the label of manufactured home communities to land lease communities. Also remember acme year 1998, as the short-lived renascence, when 372,943+/- new HUD-Code homes were shipped throughout the U.S. That was then…

Next, the decade (2008 – 2018), marked at its beginning, by the demise of Manufactured Home Merchandiser magazine; followed a year later (2009) by the nadir year of new HUD-Code housing shipments, with only 49,789+/- homes shipped! And in 2010, a Manufactured Housing Finance Roundtable, attended by FHFA & both GSEs, convened in Elkhart, IN., making it clear to the manufactured housing industry, where personal property finance, or chattel capital, was concerned, the industry and realty asset class were on their own! The remainder of this decade has been marked by these ‘fits & starts’:

• 2014. Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, or COBA7, was launched as a division of GFA Management, Inc., dba PMN Publishing, to better serve the research, product, & service needs of land lease community owners/operators, large and small, nationwide.

• 2016. First ever ‘Two Days of Plant Tours & Home Sales Seminars’ was hosted at the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN., to teach land lease community owners/operators how to buy new HUD-Code homes, then sell and seller-finance them on-site, to fill vacant rental homesites.

• 2018. Culmination of ‘where we’ve been’ and realization of ‘where we are now’.

Bottom line? Recognition of the decade, and longer, paradigm shift in the manner by which new HUD-Code homes are distributed to would be buyers. Heretofore, this occurred via independent (street) MHRetailers (a.k.a. ‘dealers’) shipping 75+/-% of new homes into land lease communities; today, roughly half the new home shipments are delivered directly into these properties, as they are purchased wholesale, for resale to homebuyer/site lessees.

II.

Where We Are Now…

During year 2018 we’ll likely eclipse 100,000 new HUD-Code homes shipped! That’s significant, considering where we were nine years ago; but still only 27% of the volume shipped 20 years ago! Which, in some minds, begs this question:

‘What is the Sweet Spot, new home shipment wise, where HUD-Code manufactured housing is concerned?’ 100,000; 200,000; or 300,000? Your opinion? Tell me!

The Good News? Federal Housing Finance Agency (‘FHFA’), Fannie Mae, & Freddie Mac, having distanced themselves from ‘us’ in 2010, are ‘back in the picture’ where manufactured housing finance is concerned! They are now reengaged, effecting Duty to Serve (‘DTS’) programs to facilitate new manufactured housing sales and lending.

For example, on 6 September, at the 27th annual Networking Roundtable, in Indianapolis, IN., FHFA and both GSEs will man a panel. moderated by Dr. David Funk, manufactured housing’s lead academic and statistician, to describe what’s happening to support HUD-Code manufactured housing finance, via emerging DTS programs. Be there! At The Alexander Hotel at 10:15-11:00AM. Seriously.

The Bad New? In my opinion, national advocacy in behalf of HUD-Code manufactured housing and land lease communities, via representation, lobbying, and product/service provision, remains relatively ineffective at best, disparate at worst. How so? As long as two HUD-Code manufacturer-dominated national entities compete for the attention and favor of federal legislators and regulators, relative to manufactured housing, we’ll be ‘played off one against the other’, seriously diluting our efficacy as a housing provider!

And there’s been no really effective national advocacy in behalf of land lease communities since early 1996. So, no surprise a stopgap entity was formed in 2014 (i.e. COBA7); and another is being organized this year, to address continuing and growing lobbying needs of property owners, large and small, coast to coast.

The Improving News? With the demise of Manufactured Home Merchandiser magazine and The Journal ((2016), manufactured housing endured a trade press wasteland for awhile, served in the interim by two print, subscriber-supported monthly business newsletters (the Allen Letter professional journal & the Allen CONFIDENTIAL!), two ezines (Manufactured Housing Review and MHPro), and 500 blog postings since early 2008.

Fortunately, that trade journalism landscape has changed markedly, and for the better, with the debut, earlier this year, of a robust MHInsider magazine, published by DATACOMP & MHVillage.

A 2018 Sidebar You Need to Read…

Hopeful News or not?

Early in 2018, a proposal was proffered (‘offered’) to one national MH advocacy organization, suggesting the launch of a National Manufactured Housing Resource Center (‘NMHRC’), using existing resources, and vacant office space, at the IMHA/RVIC headquarters in Indianapolis, IN. No response to date!

And a formal textbook proposal was submitted, again during 2018, to J. Wiley & Sons publishing company, to update their ‘manufactured housing community standards of development & operating performance’, first published in 1994 & 1996.*1 Likewise, no response to date.

***

III

Where We’re (Likely) Headed…

ON A VERY PERSONAL NOTE

Since 1980, when we founded GFA Management, Inc., as a fee management firm, professionally managing – as Carolyn was wont to say at the time – ‘Anything that didn’t move!’, we’ve learned, served, and promoted manufactured housing and (what was then) manufactured home communities nationwide and throughout Canada. We’re proud of what we accomplished relative to identifying 500+/- property portfolios in North America, engaging in valuable statistical research (Think 30 annual ALLEN REPORTs by year 2019), resource (‘SSRD’) sharing, print & online communication, national interpersonal networking, income-property deal-making, and professional property management training & certification, via Manufactured Housing Manager (‘MHM’) program. To date, more than 1,000 MHMs own and operate land lease communities throughout the U.S. & CN..

Next MHM class, is all day, 5 September in Indianapolis, IN. (Only $295.00/MHM candidate). And again, 8 October in Atlanta, GA. Phone (317) 346-7156 for information.

Now, however, time has come for us to move on into other foci, relative to our industry, its’ realty asset class, and broader perspectives of housing at large and affordable housing in particular. How to happen? Maybe…

1) Others step forward to shoulder some, if not most, of the seven activity areas covered by the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, or COBA7*2.

2) I continue to align myself with ‘housers’ of every stripe, defining the broader picture of affordable housing (i.e. Not just ‘low income housing’ as is so oft opined today), then identifying ways to address such needs on local housing market by local housing market basis. Time and effort will ‘tell’ if I’m going to be successful in this new and worthy endeavor.

Bottom line for me? As long as my health allows, I want to invest my 40 years of personal and corporate experience in the present and future of affordable housing, with a manufactured housing flavor and land lease community lifestyle emphasis. Will you continue to support me to this end? I’d sure like to now….

.
End Notes

1. Development, Marketing & Operations of Manufactured Home Communities, Allen, Alley & Hicks; & How to Find, Buy, Manage & Sell a Manufactured Home Community, Allen. Both published by J. Wiley & Sons in 1994 & 1996 respectively. New copies of the former available from COBA7 for $85.00; used copies of the latter, from AMAZON.com for $75.00+/-. However SWAN SONG, for $24.95 (postpaid), is the contemporary book of choice for most MH & LLCommunity businessmen & women. Order via Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764.

2. COBA7. Seven ‘parts’: ongoing statistical research, updating & distribution of 12+ Signature Series Resource Documents or SSRDs, weekly & monthly print & online communications (newsletters & blog postings), superb networking opportunities, deal-making opportunities, professional property management training & certification via MHM program, and national advocacy if and when need be, e.g. official ombudsman, and official historian, to the MHIndustry & LLCommunity asset class.

George Allen, CPM, MHM
COBA7, a division of GFA Management, Inc., dba PMN Publishing
Box # 47024
Indianapolis, IN. 46247
(317) 346-7156

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

This blog posting is the sole national advocate, voice, official ombudsman, historian, research report & online communication media for all North American LLCommuniities.

To input this blog &/or affiliate with Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, a.k.a. COBA7, use Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764

COBA7 Motto: ‘U Support US & WE serve U!’ Goal of its’ print & online media =
to not only inform & opine, but to transform & improve MHBusiness performance!
_____________________________________________________________________

Why Affordable Housing Crisis Remains A Crisis

National Association of Home Builders (‘NAHB’) says builders will begin 900,000 new homes during 2018; that’s 400,000 short of what’s needed to keep up with U.S. population growth. And it’s estimated 100,000 of those 900,000 new homes will be of the HUD-Code manufactured housing variety. So, what might it take, over time, to address this 400,000 new housing shortfall in 2019 and beyond?

Leadership & United Perspectives

National Association of Realtors (‘NAR’) University, in Washington, DC., last week hosted a luncheon and lecture featuring Dr. Katrin Anacker, of George Mason University. Dr. Anacker held forth on the ‘Regulation of Accessory Dwelling Units (‘ADUs’).’ And my host, Scholastica (Gay) D. Cororaton, CBE, of the NAR staff, had recently prepared a research study titled, the Market for Manufactured Housing. Well, this two hour session, along with conversations before and after the luncheon, reaffirmed observations first realized at, and articulated following, the National Housing conference, also in DC, last Fall. Specifically,

First

As long as government agencies, regulators, and research organizations meet like this – for good reason, but without the balanced presence of, and input from, businessmen and women, and other pertinent (e.g. housing-related) NGOs (non governmental organizations), even national advocates for various types of housing, little to no progress will be made solving this nation’s perennial affordable housing crisis! The ‘problem’ (challenge)? It’s one thing to have knowledge of ‘public policy & funding’ where certain types of (low income) housing are concerned; it can be – and oft is, an altogether different perspective where ‘private sector business model & funding’ is concerned. And never the twain shall meet, unless a purposeful effort is made to address and bring disparate perspectives together in search of practical, workable solutions to the affordable housing crisis! So, in the future, ‘let’s get together to work together’!

Second

Then there’s the question of leadership. I’ve been fussing around this business of affordable housing for more than a decade, penning HOUSING AFFORDOGRAPHY back in 2008 (now out of print). To this day, if my life depended on it, I could not identify any one or two individuals who truly stand out as leaders of the supposed Solve Affordable Housing Crisis Movement. Oh sure, there’re ‘names’ out there, associated with one or another aspect of affordable housing, even ‘think tanks’ they’ve bankrolled. But nary a leader who inspires, and aspires to bring ‘housers’ together to address this challenge! And until THAT happens, U.S. housing, in my opinion, is ‘dead in the water’!

Third

One thing we did accomplish, kinda, at this NAR University luncheon, was to identify some of the affordable housing variants by type, and not necessarily public funding. I’ve expanded said list since the luncheon, to include:

• Storage buildings or sheds. Think ice fishing villages in northern climes.
• Tiny Houses, the shelter fad of the early 21st Century & ‘bait’ to sell larger homes
• Accessory Dwelling Units, or ADUs, a.k.a cottages, Granny Flats, and more
• Container Homes. Large steel shipping container houses & or duplex apartments
• Park Model RVs less than 400 sq. ft. in size; common in Sunbelt regions
• Recreational Vehicles. Though not intended as housing, certainly used as such
• Modular Homes per local building codes with utility core; simple & sophisticated.
• Manufactured Housing. Singlesection & multisection; Community Series Homes.
• 3D Houses. 409 sq. ft; 24 hour fabrication via software-driven liquid concrete

The point in sharing this ‘Third’ point with you? To demonstrate how little the ‘left hand’ of affordable housing knows about the ‘right hand’. And until we start having public and private sectors of housing supply and finance meet together in search of common ground, goals, and means to achieve same, we will continue to be one big fragmented, inefficient housing supply industry. Expanded list of nine housing types available upon request via gfa7156@aol.com

***
George Allen, CPM, MHM
COBA7, a division of GFA Management, Inc., dba PMN Publishing
Box # 47024, Indianapolis, IN. 46247

Blog # 498; Copyright @ 17 August; community-investor.com

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

This blog posting is the sole national advocate, voice, official ombudsman, historian, research report & online communication media for all North American LLCommunities

To input this blog &/or affiliate with Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, a.k.a. COBA7, use Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764

COBA7 Motto: ‘U Support US & WE Serve U!’ Goal of it’s’ print & online media =
to not only inform & opine, but to transform & improve MHBusiness performance!
______________________________________________________________________

INTRODUCTION: As best I could tell, there were 500 place settings for this year’s RV/MH Hall of Fame Induction Banquet. And what a gala affair it was! But much of the ‘real action’ occurred earlier in the day when small groups of businessmen and women met in the RV/MH Heritage Foundation’s board room for an MHAlive! ‘think tank’ session, and later, a writers’ workshop. Here following are some of those proceedings. However, to make this ‘word picture’ (Part III) complete, you’ll need to read the September issue of the Allen Letter professional journal. Why? Read on…

And Part IV. The 27th Networking Roundtable is only three weeks away. Are YOU registered yet? Sure hope so, as we’re nearing our max registration limit. However, if you read the exciting event plan here, know you can register this week, and maybe even next week, and still be able to attend. See YOU there!

I.

WHAT YOU MISSED, Part I

MHAlive! ‘think tank’ proceedings….

Everyone present received a copy of the recently updated mini-White Paper titled: ‘Solving Our Nation’s (Lack of) Affordable Housing Crisis, with Factory-built Housing & Land Lease Communities!’. Want a FREE copy? Just request it via email: gfa7156@aol.com. Be sure to provide your postal mailing address when you do.

And the new edition of the very popular Community Series Homes information summary. This includes the features of CSH model homes, along with HUD-Code housing manufacturers’ representatives specializing in this specially-designed home, helping to resurrect the manufactured housing industry since year 2009. Also FREE for the asking.

MHAlive! participants identified factors that might be slowing 2018 shipment volume. At end of June 2018 YTD we were 4,295 new HUD-Code homes ahead of where we were during the same period 2017. That’s Great! However, for the month of June 2018 alone, we were only 106 homes ahead of the number shipped during June 2017 . That’s not so great! We might be starting to lag….

The factors? Maybe…

• Unsettled nature and enforcement of new HUD-Code housing installations in land lease communities. Some owners are refusing to buy new homes and having to spend upwards of $5,000/rental homesite in retrofit costs; others are (allegedly) buying and siting homes, ignoring potentially costly consequences

• Reported ‘return to prosperity’ for independent (street) MHRetailers in some local housing markets – mainly in Southern locales, but continued dearth of such sales centers in other regions, e.g. Indianapolis enjoyed 18 in 1998; now the market barely supports two.

• Very few new land lease communities being developed, just about anywhere in the U.S. The two in MI, Oaks at Rockford & Bluffs on Manistee Lake, are doing fine, but both are picking up where past developers failed. And yes, there’re others, but more ‘expansions’ than raw land development, certainly from scratch.

• While many property portfolio owners/operators are routinely engaged in buying, selling, & seller-financing new HUD-Code homes on-site; the vast majority of single property owners continue to struggle to ‘learn that drill’. There’s help on the horizon though, as Four Leaf Properties now teaches their business model.

• With employment rates, throughout the U.S., at near record lows, it’s becoming more and more difficult to keep HUD-Code housing factory production lines up and going. While probably a good challenge to resolve, it is – and will continue to affect new home production and shipments, just as we’re recovering our mojo.

• Continued lack of effective national brand advertising by HUD-Code housing manufacturers still afraid their advertising financial largesse will, in some way, benefit their smaller, regional housing manufacturer competitors. That, unfortunately, has been a perennial ‘non starter’ problem for the past two decades.

Now is as good a time as any to introduce a new and appropriate business term to the manufactured housing industry & land lease community real estate asset class.

EVERGREEN matters, issues, topics themes & factors….

Casual definition? Anything that remains perennially fresh, interesting, enduring.

So there you have it. Six of the evergreen factors holding back the recovery of our industry, in terms of new home shipments, and filing of vacant rental homesites!

II.

WHAT YOU MISSED, Part II

Will Your Personal & Corporate Legacies Continue Beyond Your Demise, or Be Lost Forever?

As I pen in, the beginning of the ‘Who Will Preserve Your Legacy?’ booklet, “Stories will live forever only if you write them.” So, why not make a personal commitment NOW, to begin recollecting and writing one memoir (‘short story’) per month for the next 12 months? Then decide if it’s worth it to you to, in the words of author William Zinsser, “…to leave a record of what we (you!) did & thought & felt (during) your journey.”

This kinda happened during the writers’ workshop at the RV/MH Hall of Fame on 6 August, in Elkhart, IN. There, two individuals met for the first time, one a writer, and one the son of our industry’s last remaining pioneer community developers of the early 1960s. Watch for a ‘story or two, for the ages’ to materialize from this chance encounter.

Know what’s sad though? During 40 years in this business, I’ve met many an individual with worthwhile if not exciting personal and corporate tales to tell and preserve. But very few of them did so! Look at the In Memoriam list featured in every issue of the Allen Letter. Who wouldn’t have wanted to read more about the business adventures of Ron Richardson (e.g. Origin of ‘ballerina’ names for his properties?), Myles Sampson (a family ‘in the RE business since the Revolutionary War), Bud Zeman, Grayson Schwepfinger, Craig Fulmer (The former banker who ‘wrote the book’ re contract sale financing of MHs), Judy Carr, Maurice Wilder, Tom Horner, Jr.(Former pro football player turned land lease community developer/owner), and most recently, Howard Walker – cited in Sam Zell’s autobiography, Am I Being Too Subtle? See what I mean? Those stories are likely lost to posterity. And I sure don’t have the time to research and pull all that material together.

So, where does this leave us? In a recent blog posting I mentioned my interest in planning and hosting a day long writers’ workshop, again, on this very subject: ‘Preserving Your Personal & or Corporate Legacy via Memoirs & Autobiography.’ Invited response, and so far have received several encouragements to do so. How ’bout you? Is this a project that interests you – as the story teller, maybe even a family member or employee with an interest in preserving someone’s personal or corporate legacy? If so, please let me know. Not asking you to commit at this point; just express a desire to learn more, and possibly attend a one day writers’ workshop, possibly just before or during the Louisville MHShow later this year and early into 2019.

Phone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764; or simply email: gfa7156@aol.com

Something you may not realize, I’ve been down this ‘book writing path’ more than a dozen times now since 1988 – one of those times authoring a semi-autobiographical text.. And have assisted in the editing and pre-press preparation of another’s autobiography. So, what are you waiting for?

Finally. If you’d like a copy of the aforementioned booklet, it’s now FREE. Someone has stepped forward and covered our printing and binding expenses. All we ask of you, is to pay ‘shipping & handling’ for $5.00 when you request it. Just send a personal note & check to GFA c/o Box # 47024, Indianapolis, IN. 46247. Make sure you include your postal mailing address as well.

III.

WHAT YOU MISSED, Part III

One of Best Tributes Ever & ‘MH Trumps RV’

There’re two parts to this Part III of blog posting # 498. First; the RV/MH Hall of Fame Induction Banquet acceptance address, shared in the delivery by two grandsons of Darrel Cohron, and his identical twin, the late Harrel Cohron, were downright justifiably poignant (‘painfully acute & affecting’) for everyone there who knew – and didn’t know ‘the brothers’. The full text of this fitting tribute will be featured in the September issue of the Allen Letter professional journal.

Now this part takes many of us back two decades, to when the manufactured housing industry fabricated and shipped 372,943 new HUD-Code homes nationwide!

At that time, and as I recall; when in or around the original site of the (now) RV/MH Hall of Fame, in downtown Elkhart, the foundation’s moniker was oft cited as being the MH/RV Hall of Fame. Some would halfway jokingly tell MH neophytes (‘novices’), the letters MH precede RV because manufactured housing is ‘today’ more prosperous than RVs. Well, today, the RV industry is more prosperous than MH; so, RV/MH Hall of Fame!

So, what happened during this year’s (2018) RV/MH Hall of Fame Induction Banquet reminiscent of this informal innocuous (‘harmless’) competition for top billing between RV & MH? Well, for the first time in years, the huge projection screen hanging in back of the evening speakers and Hall of Fame inductees featured, at the very top and in large letters: COHRON’S MANUFACTURED HOMES. This accompanied by the firm’s iconic white & black cow logo! Then, below that Diamond sponsorship headline, were several RV firms, always faithful in their ongoing financial support of the RV/MH Heritage Foundation. But for some, if not many of us MH folk, this was the first time in a long time, MH ‘trumped’ RV at the Hall of Fame!

Now, do you suppose this tale is patently (‘obviously’) true, or simply an urban legend?

What You Don’t Want to Miss, Part IV.

27th Networking Roundtable Set to Rock!

If you’re a faithful reader of this ‘almost always’ weekly blog, you read the detailed schedule of events – and who the presenters are this year, in last week’s posting. If you missed it, just scroll back into your PC’s archived messages (blog postings) to pull it up. Then register by visiting www.GetMeRegistered.com/COBA7NRT2018

For some reason, this year’s Networking Roundtable is garnering more national interest than usual! Best I can tell, the curiosity and inquiries are coming from ‘housers’ engaged in solving our nation’s affordable housing crisis. If so, that’s GREAT. Why? Because manufactured housing & land lease communities have long been, and now seem to have been recently discovered as being, if not The Answer, certainly an important and ongoing major part of the needed Solution! So, wouldn’t you want to be present to maybe make manufactured housing industry history?

The FHFA, both GSEs, most HUD-Code manufacturers, MHI, NAMHCO, COBA7, representatives from academia, major lenders, trade publications, and nearly three dozen presenters will be on hand to educate, network, even engage in deal-making as need be.

How can you not want to be present for this superb start to the Fall meeting season?

***

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

Blog # 497; Copyright @ 10 August 2018; community-investor.com

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

This blog posting is the sole national advocate, voice, official ombudsman, historian, research report & online communication media for all North American LLCommunities

To input this blog &/or affiliate with Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, a.k.a. COBA7, use Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764.

COBA7 Motto: ‘U Support US & WE Serve U!’ Goal of its’ print & online media =
to not only inform & opine, but to transform & improve MHBusiness performance!
_____________________________________________________________________

INTRODUCTION:

27 years ago, Carolyn & I planned & hosted the 1st International Networking Roundtable – in Clearwater, Florida. 75 of our (then) mobile home park owner friends joined us for the Thursday, Friday, Saturday venue. And the annual event grew in size from there.

A decade later we convened in Colorado Springs, CO. There we were stranded in a the host hotel thru Sunday, until we dug out of that city’s heaviest pre-season snowfall on record! Lou Vela phoned the hotel’s owner & persuaded him to keep the beer flowing as we watched the baseball world series on TV in the hotel lounge. A legend was born…

The following year everyone opted for a warm Florida locale. As Carolyn & I arrived at East coast Delray Beach, Hurricane Georges slammed the host beachfront hotel. Sure, it cut back on attendance, but not much. Even had stragglers arrive after storm passed.

And the following year, as Carolyn & I prepared to drive from Indianapolis to the Chicago venue, two planes slammed into the World Trade Center Towers in New York City! As you’ll recall, ALL transportation came to a halt. We postponed the event until November – and had a larger audience. That’s when the Thursday morning Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag, & Friday morning informal Prayer Meeting began.

Yes, it’s been an exciting run these past 26 years. Every year we wonder if we can ‘top’ the year before? Well we’ve done it this year in spades (‘to the utmost’)! I can’t recall any other national MHIndustry & or LLCommunity venue, during my 40 years in this business, offering more education (30 presenters & panelists!), better interpersonal networking, and deal-making opportunities, than this year’s Networking Roundtable!

Read through this schedule. Then go to GetMeRegistered.com/COBA7NRT2018 to register. We’re almost at our max limit of 200 registrants, so don’t delay doing so!

27th annual International Networking Roundtable

Schedule of Events

Wednesday, September 5

9AM-4PM Manufactured Housing Manager (‘MHM’) class
Taught by Katie Hauck, MHM, & Kathy Taylor, MHM
This session requires a separate registration & fee….

4-6PM ‘Art of the Deal’; Marketing Land Lease Communities
Led by Joanne Stevens, CCIM, & Tammy Fonk, CAIC

6-8PM Welcoming Reception for All! Bring business cards.
‘Celebrating National Land Lease Community Week!’

Thursday, September 6

7:30-8:30AM Networking Breakfast for All!
Get name tags & info from Carolyn Allen, PMN Publ.

8:30-9:15AM Welcome & Introduction of Everyone Present!
George Allen, CPM, MHM. Roundtable host.

9:15-10AM Keynote I. Overview of MHIndustry & Hall of Fame
Joe Stegmayer, CAVCO Industries, MHI, RV/MH HOF

10-10:15AM Morning Break at Nourishment Bar in Open Area

10:15-11AM Keynote II. FHFA, Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Panel
Mike Price from FHFA
Griffin Cotter & Michael Harn from Freddie Mac
Jose Villarreal & Ben Navarro from Fannie Mae

11-11:45AM Keynote III. A Business Model that Works Well!
‘How to Buy, Sell & Seller-finance New Homes’ on-site
Michael Callaghan & Lisa Lane, Four Leaf Properties

11:45-1PM Networking Luncheon for All!

1-1:45PM Attend Either of Two Educational Sessions This Hour:

* How to Develop a New Land Lease Community!
Jamie Dougherty, Community Management Group

* Acquisition $ & Refinancing of LLCommunities
Tony Petosa, Wells Fargo Multifamily Lending

2-2:45PM Attend Either of Two Educational Sessions This Hour:

* Types of MH Today: CSH, ‘new type, RVs, & more
Mark Bowersox, Manufactured Housing Institute

* Using Print, Signage & Gifts to Promote Your Firm
Erin Smith, Spotlight-Strategies

3-3:45Pm Attend Either of Two Educational Sessions This Hour:

* Creating Compliant, Stress Free Environments
Doug Ottersberg

* Building America’s Homes Together!
Mark Yost & Phil Copeland, Skyline Champion

4-4:45PM Attend Either of Two Educational Sessions This Hour:

* Compensation Guidelines for Property Managers
Frank Bowman, MHM, Illinois Mfd. Hsg. Association

* ‘Preserving One’s Personal & Corporate Legacy via
Memoirs & Autobiography’ George Allen, CPM, MHM

4:45-6PM Attend One of Two Meetings, or Relax Until 6PM

* IMHA/RVIC (Indiana) Informal Members Meeting
Ron Breymier & Glen James hosting & leading

* National Association of Manufactured Housing
Communities ‘open meeting’ led by Susan Brenton
* Relax & Enjoy The Alexander Hotel or slip on down
to the nearby Slippery Noodle Inn – oldest bar in IN.

6-8PM RV/MH Hall of Fame Celebration Reception for All
RV/MH Hall of Fame Members encouraged to wear their
distinctive green blazers to this social networking event.

Friday, September 7

7-8AM Informal Prayer Meeting for U.S. & Leaders since 9/11
George & Carolyn Allen, hosts

7:30-8:45AM Networking Breakfast for All!

9-10AM Real Estate Lenders’ Panel/Open Discussion of $ Issues
Panel comprised of Networking Roundtable $$ Sponsors

10-11AM Chattel Capital Lenders Panel/Discussion of $$ Issues
Mix of independent lenders, hybrid & ‘captive finance’

11-12Noon Attend One of Two Educational Sessions This Hour

* How to Find, Value, Buy a Land Lease Community
Michael Power, MHCInvestor

* Writing Basics for Publication. Be a trade writer!
Patrick Revere, MHInsider magazine

12-1Pm Networking Luncheon for All!

1-2PM Attend One of Two Educational Sessions This Hour

* New Technology=Tracking Underground Systems
Brian King, Underground Infrastructure

* Third Party Fee (Property) Management Basics
Maria Horton, MHM, Newport Pacific Family of Co.

2-3PM Open Forum Discussion of MHIndustry Issues
Moderated by George Allen, CPM, MHM

3-4PM 27th Networking Roundtable Wrap-up Session

***

Blog # 496; Copyright @ 5 August 2018; community-investor.com

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

This blog posting is the sole national advocate, voice, official ombudsman, historian, research report & online communication media for all North American LLCommunities.

To input this blog &/or affiliate with Community Owners (7 part) Business Alliance, a.k.a. COBA7, use Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764.

COBA7 Motto: ‘U Support US & WE Serve U!’ Goal of its’ print & online media =
to not only inform & opine, but to transform & improve MHBusiness performance!
____________________________________________________________________

INTRODUCTION:

26 years ago, in 1992, engineer David Alley, consultant Edward Hicks and I, along with our wives, met in a downtown Philadelphia, PA., hotel to plan the book proposal we’d submit to J. Wiley & Sons (New York publisher). I’d been encouraged by the brisk sale of self-published Mobile Home Park Management following its’ release in 1988; and now, the three of us believed there was a ‘window of opportunity’ for new community development, as HUD-Code home shipments numbered 210,787 units that year. Turns out we were right! Shipment volume continued to rise, year by year thru 1998. So, Development, Marketing & Operation of Manufactured Home Communities debuted in 1994. It was followed, in 1996, by How to Find, Buy, Manage & Sell a Manufactured Home Community. It too proved highly popular and sold well.

A quarter century has passed, and the manufactured housing industry, along with its’ land lease community segment, is – in my opinion – poised to effectively address our nation’s affordable housing supply crisis! We must educate legislators, regulators, bureaucrats, investors, homebuilders, and prospective homebuyers/site lessees as to the aesthetics, quality, economy, energy efficiency and durability of our type factory-built housing product. That’s where this formal book proposal comes into play.

This formal book proposal has already been submitted to J. Wiley & Sons, in the hope they too will once again ‘catch this vision’, and revisit their ‘setting of the manufactured housing business standards’ effected back in 1994 & 1996. Will they? Too soon to tell, but the offer has been made to, once again, serve our industry and realty asset class by researching and authoring a seminal text needed for these promising times.

And you should hope, for several reasons, this project gets the green light. Not only do we need the text, as a reference and HOW TO guide, but we’ll need at least a dozen ‘duty expert’ writers to pen various parts of the text. Are you qualified, experienced, motivated, and interested? If so, let me know via gfa7156@aol.com.

I.

TO: J. Wiley & Sons Publishers

FROM: George Allen, CPM Emeritus, MHM Master
40 Year Consultant to the Factory-built Housing Industry,

SUBJ: Book Proposal Opportunity for J. Wiley & Sons, to once again,
Publish the ‘Business Standard for all Manufactured Housing’!

In 1994, J. Wiley & Sons published a text ‘setting the business standard’ for raw land development of (then) manufactured home communities throughout North America!*1 Two years later, another J. Wiley & Sons-published text was quickly acclaimed to be
‘the bible’ for acquisition, property management, & disposition of manufactured home communities throughout North America!*2 Two decades have passed. Though long out of print, both case bound books continue to be sell online at $ amounts only slightly less than their respective retail prices in 1994 & 1996. Talk about retaining value!

I co-authored the first text, and was lead author and editor of the second one. See personal vitae enclosed with this book proposal.

Well, it’s high time for a new tome, covering similar subject matter, but in an expanded fashion, featuring today’s trade terminology, appropriate statistics, and business trends.

Not only is historicity and usefulness in play and demand here; know there’s a widely recognized affordable housing supply crisis afoot in our nation today. Only during the past several years have ‘housers’, across housing-type lines, begun to seriously consider the nature, availability, energy efficiency, and pricing viability of HUD-Code manufactured housing, and its’ related land lease community lifestyle, as being – if not ‘the answer’, certainly a significant part of the solution to this worsening national crisis. What the national housing supply audience needs now, is a contemporary text with which to educate themselves and others! And J. Wiley & Sons, by dint of the firm’s 1994 & 1996 enduring textual contributions, is well-positioned to address today’s housing education need.

Since the mid 1990s, I’ve authored a dozen books, mostly having to do with manufactured housing and (now) land lease communities.*3,4,5,6,7,8,9. Additional titles have to do with figurative language & figures of speech, a Chapbook of Business & Management, HOUSING AFFORDOGRAPHY, a Chapbook of Prayer, and more.

The proposed J. Wiley & Sons book will pick up and update from where the first two ended. The manufactured housing industry and land lease community real estate asset class have changed significantly, especially since the turn of this century – when the unique factory-built housing type, thru its’ own missteps, lost easy access to chattel capital needed for home mortgages on new homes sited on leased realty.*10. Today, the industry is on its’ way to recovery. * 11,12

Just what might the Table of Contents, of a new J. Wiley & Sons-published book, on affordable housing, manufactured housing & land lease communities, contain?

• An Introduction to Affordable Housing & overview of this nation’s affordable housing supply crisis….

• Manufactured Housing; one of four types of factory-built housing

• Land Lease Communities; development & operations, including property valuation, acquisition & disposition

• Making the Case for Manufactured Housing & Land Lease Communities as this Nation’s Most Practical Solution to its’ Affordable Housing Crisis!

Well, there you have it; the makings of a dynamic, hands-on, HOW TO text, relative to ins & outs of factory-built housing in general, manufactured housing in particular; raw land development into land lease communities – or, acquisition, management & sale thereof. And most important of all, how this type housing – costing 50% per square foot less than traditional stick-built housing – and its’ related community lifestyle, are indeed, ‘the answer’ to the affordable housing supply crisis in the U.S. today!

Who will author this text? My plan is to follow the successful pattern used in the J. Wiley & Sons-published text, How to Find, Buy, Manage & Sell a Manufactured Home Community, 1996. Then I identified and recruited 16 contributors to pen various parts of the 508 page text. While few of those individuals remain active in business circles today, I well know more than a dozen other businessmen and women who’ve become ‘duty experts’ in their own right, relative to affordable housing, manufactured housing, and land lease communities. I see my role being as a contributor to, and editor of, the new text.

Possible titles for the new text?

• Manufactured Housing = Affordable Housing

• Manufactured Housing & Land Lease Communities Today!

• Affordable Housing Supply Crisis Solution? Manufactured Housing!

Is J. Wiley & Sons interested in exploring this book proposal further?

For book marketing purposes, know I pen, publish, and distribute the only two print manufactured housing-related, subscriber-supported, monthly business newsletters: the Allen Letter professional journal ($134.95/year) & the Allen CONFIDENTIAL! ($944.95/year). In addition I write for the MHInsider trade (advertising-supported) magazine, and post a weekly blog read by many. Newsletter samples available on request.

Furthermore, since 1989, our firm has grown and maintained an exclusive, confidential data base containing names and contact information of 500+/- known portfolio owners/operators of land lease communities throughout North America! According to the 29th annual ALLEN REPORT (a.k.a. ‘Who’s Who Among Land Lease Community Portfolio Owners/operators in North America!’), the average property portfolio today, contains 39 land lease communities, and each property contained therein averages more than 200 rental homesites. We exercise this unique, one of a kind, data base almost monthly, for a $1,000.00 fee, in behalf of lenders, would be investors, product/service suppliers, and portfolios in disposition. This data base is their sole access to all these major players! And it’d certainly be a major marketing avenue for this new J. Wiley & Sons text as well. Sample ALLEN REPORT also available on request.

Looking forward, maybe, to working with J. Wiley & Sons once again.

End Notes to book proposal not included as part of this blog posting..

***

George Allen, CPM, MHM
COBA7, a division of GFA Management, Inc., dba PMN Publishing
Box # 47024
Indianapolis, IN. 46247
(317) 346-7156

Blog # 495; Copyright @ 29 July 2018; community-investor.com

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

This blog posting is the sole national advocate, voice, official ombudsman, historian, research report & online communication media for all North American LLCommunities.

To input this blog &/or affiliate with Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance,
a.k.a. COBA7, use Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764

COBA7 Motto: ‘U Support US & WE Serve U!’ Goal of its’ print & online media =
to not only inform & opine, but to transform & improve MHBusiness performance!
_____________________________________________________________________
something we’d all like to ignore; but it’s not going away, so ‘be aware, be careful, and maybe, beware!’

RV/MH Hall of Fame Induction
INTROUDCTION:

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. Yes, this is a sincere WARNING about
Banquet, the MHAlive! ‘think tank’, Legacy Writer’s Seminar, & 27th annual International Networking Roundtable, collectively kick off the Fall 2018 meeting schedule. Be there and enjoy the events with your friends!

I.

WARNING!

Your Undocumented Pre-death Press Interview May be Used Gratuitously (‘in an uncalled for fashion’), to Convey a Maybe Different Message Than You Intended, After You Are Gone!

Seriously. To the best of my knowledge this sort of imbroglio (‘perplexing state of affairs’) has not occurred before, to any manufactured housing and or land lease community businessman or woman! But it appears to be occurring now. So, ‘be aware, be careful, and maybe, beware!’

II.

MHAlive! ‘think tank’

At this point I have no idea how many manufactured housing and or land lease community businessmen and women will join us at the RV/MH Hall of Fame, from 9AM to Noon, on 6 August. RSVP deadline isn’t until the day after you likely receive and read this blog # 495 posting (31 July 2018). But frankly, that does not concern me in the least.

Why? In years past, MHAlive!, on RV/MH Hall of Fame Induction (banquet) day, has attracted between a dozen and two dozen folk open and willing to suggest and discuss industry/asset class issues, trends, challenges & opportunities. I’m told, and I believe it, MHAlive! is the sole recurring public opportunity for men and women, like thee and me, to caucus, enjoy camaraderie and engage in healthy interaction. 6 August will be whatever you and others make it to be, or not. Will you be present? I sure hope so.

We’ll either meet in the upstairs board room (capacity 12) at the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN., or downstairs in the amphitheater (capacity 75). And remember, there’s a $20.00/person fee, to offset meeting and handout material expenses. Last opportunity to RSVP via (317) 346-7156 or via email: gfa7156@aol.com

Plan to be at the RV/MH Hall of Fame Induction Banquet that evening? Then order your tickets NOW via (574) 293-2344. And here’s a special hint. When you see me there, ask: “Hey, you have something special for me?” I will, & I’m sure you’ll like it!

III.

Legacy Writer’s Seminar

To date, throughout the 70 year history of manufactured housing and land lease communities, only ten pioneers and leaders have authored or co-authored personal or corporate autobiographies! Too many grand experiences and adventures of business and personal challenge and success have disappeared unrecorded, upon the demise of their protagonists. That’s sad and so unfortunate – for one’s progeny (‘descendents’), ,mentees, business successors, and friends.

This ‘every other year’ writer’s seminar at the RV/MH Hall of Fame, on Induction (banquet) day, is my way of encouraging peers (You) to begin penning memoirs (‘short stories’), with an eye maybe, to collecting and self-publishing them in autobiographies or corporate histories, some day in the future.

This year is different. How so? Took time to research the eight autobiographies, one semi-autobiographical business text, and one photoautobiography now in print (Actually, Kris Jensen’s delightful book is long ‘out of print’), to compile ‘Who Will Preserve Your Legacy…as a manufactured housing or community businessperson? Answer: You!’ Yes, an unwieldy title, but clearly ‘splains’ the purpose of this handy HOW TO booklet. It begins by identifying and describing the existing ‘life & business stories’ in print, and in the RV/MH Hall of Fame library; then, recommends five steps to Preserving One’s Personal & Corporate Legacy. Extras? Proofreader’s marks, and a short story of my own, ‘Big George!’ Come and be motivated to preserve your legacy!

The information contained in the last paragraph of Part II (above) applies here as well, as to event location, $20 fee, and need to RSVP ASAP. In this instance however, everyone present will be given a copy of the legacy booklet just described.

IV.

27th Networking Roundtable

This annual event is only a month away. As oft happens this time of year, the Networking Roundtable ‘takes on a life of its’ own’, as presenters confirm their availability at the event, sponsors donate generously to offset event expenses, and frankly, excitement builds!

You’ve likely already studied the Networking Roundtable brochure, so know about the popular ‘Art of the Deal’ program Wednesday afternoon (4-6PM) – and how all day that day, a dozen or more on-site & regional property managers will be trained and certified as Manufactured Housing Managers, joining 1,000+ MHMs already owning/operating land lease communities throughout North America!

What you don’t know is that, as often occurs, we’ve added Surprise guest speakers and topics to the program. One team will describe how their firm grew a property portfolio two dozen communities strong, by selling & seller-financing new HUD-Code homes on-site; recently selling said portfolio for a record-setting value! Now they’re taking this unique business model ‘on the road’, teaching peers (you & me) how to do likewise with our land lease communities. A don’t want to miss learning opportunity!

And Skyline Champion execs will be on hand to ‘tell their merger story’ for the first time in a public forum. A tale we all need to hear. And yes, there’s yet another surprise guest presenter and topic TBA (to be announced) at the event proper.

Beside all that, Networking Roundtable aficionados know they’ll receive a special commemorative gift when they arrive. This year? A valuable memento designed especially for this event and its’ unique audience! And those who attend the early Friday morning informal prayer meeting (For our nation & its’ leaders ever since 9/11!) know they’ll each be given a book that carries a powerful message.

So, how can you not want to be present, 5-7 September, at The Alexander Hotel in Indianapolis, IN? To register for the MHM class and or Networking Roundtable, go to GetMeRegistered.com/COBA7NRT2018 Have questions? Phone me via (317) 346-7156 or email: gfa7156@aol.com And there’s still some corporate sponsorships available!

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

This blog posting is the sole national advocate, voice, official ombudsman, historian, research report & online communication media for all North American LLCommunities.

To input this blog &/or affiliate with Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance,
a.k.a. COBA7, use Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764

COBA7 Motto: ‘U Support US & WE Serve U!’ Goal of its’ print & online media =
to not only inform & opine, but to transform & improve MHBusiness performance!
____________________________________________________________________

‘Hang on to your hat!’ Once again HUD goes public about solving this nation’s affordable housing crisis, but ‘miss the answer’ when they avoid mention of the solution there within their regulatory oversight! Geesh! When will they ever get it right? HUD, you listening?

Going from NIMBY to YIMBY. Will it Ever Happen?

Gotta give HUD’s Office of Development & Research some credit though, for once again, laying the groundwork for a marked change in attitude and regulations to occur, if not now, someday in the interim or (Gasp!) distant future. However, don’t hold your breath in anticipation. Here goes…

NIMBY to YIMBY? That’s a play on the acronym, ‘Not In My Back Yard’, suggesting morphing into ‘Yes In My Back Yard’ – where hoped for amelioration of local regulatory barriers to affordable housing need be occur! You know, akin to other zoning bromides, like LULU & BANANA. Huh? New to you? Well, they’re simply deeper, negative sentiments of similar citizenry and city father negative mindsets; specifically: ‘Locally Unwanted Land Use’, & ‘Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anybody!’ Now you know…

So, what’s it going to take to move from NIMBY to YIMBY anytime soon? Public support that simply isn’t there or here right now! Clear proof of that?

Way back in 1991, President George Bush appointed an Advisory Commission on Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing, to travel nationwide, and via local ‘listening sessions’, explore all aspects of this insidious and unnecessary restraint on housing supply. I was fortunate to testify during one such session in downtown Chicago. Well, the final presidential commission report, titled ‘Not In My Backyard: Removing Barriers to Affordable Housing’, by Ashley & Kean, was released with considerable fanfare at the time, but it went nowhere – as chock full of good and practical recommendations as it was.

One part I do recall, however, saw the authors hearkening back to yet an even earlier presidential commission, circa 1981 & 1982, on the very same public issue, when similar corrective recommendations were proffered. The main achievement of that 40 year old investigation, was encouragement and dawning of state activism to combat local regulatory barriers to affordable housing. And that continues, to varying degrees, to this day.

Fast forward now to year 2018. The Spring 2018 issue of Evidence Matters, published by HUD, is dedicated entirely to exploring this topic: REGULATORY BARRIERS & AFFORDABLE HOUSING.

The first article in the magazine, begins with sobering, convicting American household statistics:

“…21 million U.S. households are cost burdened – spending more than one-third of household income on housing expenses – and that 11 million of those households are severely cost burdened – spending more than one-half of household income on housing expenses.” p.2

Then goes on to cite: “…one aspect of the problem is an inadequate supply of new affordable housing.” due to, in HUD Secretary, Dr. Ben Carson’s words, “..out of date building codes, time-consuming approval processes, restrictive or exclusionary zoning ordinances, unnecessary fees or taxes, and excessive land development standards (that) can all contribute to higher housing costs….”

Whoa! Department of Housing & Urban Development, a.k.a. HUD. Isn’t this the regulatory agency tasked with enforcing the performance-based, federally preemptive building code, in place since 1976, updated by the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000? Why, Yes it is!

Then, ‘Why No Mention’, in this affordable housing emphasis article, of ‘How HUD-Code manufactured housing, if not transcending local regulatory barriers to affordable housing just cited, oft provides means around them?’ Examples. An ‘out of date building code’, the HUD-Code is not – as it’s under constant review by the Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee (‘MHCC’). Finished products (e.g. singlesection HUD-Code housing units) are easier to usher through approval processes than factory-built, component-encumbered, site or stick-built homes. Restrictive or exclusionary zoning ordinances are another matter, but can be avoided via state laws prohibiting housing type discrimination – as in Indiana and other states. Same with unnecessary fees and taxes.

Here the HUD writers add ‘insult to injury’. On page # 20 in this issue, they make a case citing California experience, with Accessory Dwelling Units or ADUs. -described as being “…an innovative way to increase affordable housing supply in high amenity areas occupied primarily by single-family homes….” Continuing, ADUs are secondary dwelling units, oft referred to as ‘granny flats’ or ‘in-law suites’. They can be “…small studios or one-bedroom units in a detached, attached, or converted space.” But here’s the ‘killer’ comment: “…an ADU is cheaper ($156,000 on average) than a single unit of affordable housing in a new development, averaging $332,000 statewide….” Huh?

While these are California ‘dollars’, who doesn’t know HUD-Code manufactured housing is far more cost effective, more spacious, energy efficient, and certainly design- attractive than any ADU or Tiny House? So HUD, why the wholesale omission of manufactured housing from consideration as the absolute best choice of affordable housing in the U.S. today? Inquiring minds would like to know!

Now back to the title and thesis of this week’s blog posting: ‘Going from NIMBY to YIMBY’ – Will it ever happen?’ My answer? NO! Why? Several real but sorry reasons:

• The HUD-Code manufactured housing industry itself, does a lousy job promoting and selling itself and its product line to prospective homebuyers/site lessees: again, attractive, spacious, quality, energy efficient, truly affordable housing and a desirable lifestyle! When was the last time you saw an ad on prime time TV to either end? Not ever!

• The Department of Housing & Urban Development (‘HUD’), though responsible for enforcement of the 1976 performance-based, federally preemptive building code legislated to control this type factory-built housing, does NOTHING to promote it, and its’ companion lifestyle, the land lease community, as the ‘one-two punch answer’ to our affordable housing crisis in the U.S. today!

• And frankly, as long as we have two, three, and now four, national advocacy entities competing to represent the manufactured housing industry and land lease community real estate asset class nationwide, we will continue to be a hopelessly fragmented industry, undeserving of recognition and respect from legislators and regulators capable of positioning ‘us’ as this nation’s premier source of affordable housing!*1

Want to change this sorry, perennial counterproductive state of housing and lifestyle affairs? Become actively involved at state and national levels with existent manufactured housing and land lease community-focused organizations. Make your views and voice known, the sooner the better! *2

End Note.

1. Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform; the Manufactured Housing Institute; National Association of Manufactured Home Community Owners; &, the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, a division of GFA Management, Inc., dba PMN Publishing.

2.. In the very short term, to make your views known, be present at the MHAlive! ‘think tank’, from 9AM-Noon on 6 August, at the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN. RSVP a MUST, on or before 31 July, via gfa7156@aol.com. Cost? Only $20.00 ‘at the door’, to defray meeting-related costs.

Next? 27th annual International Networking Roundtable, 5-7 September, at The Alexander Hotel in Indianapolis, IN. 46247. Go to www.getmeregistered.com/COBA7NRT2018

***

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

Blog # 493; Copyright @ 15 July 2018; community-investor.com

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

This blog posting is the sole national advocate, voice, official ombudsman, historian, research report & online communication media for all North American LLCommunities.

To input this blog &/or affiliate with Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance,
a.k.a. COBA7, use Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764

COBA7 Motto: ‘U Support US & WE Serve U!’ Goal of its’ print & online media =
to not only inform & opine, but to transform & improve MHBusiness performance!
_____________________________________________________________________

This Week, a Different Sort of Blog Posting

‘Short & Not So Sweet’

Of the 500 blogs I’ve penned and posted throughout the past decade, none identify more troubling business harbingers than this one! How so?

Since starting in manufactured housing and land lease community management in 1978, I’ve lived and worked with many of you reading these lines – through good and bad times. NOW however, as we recover from our industry’s nadir year 2009, many of us are seeing, with increasing clarity, just how

Tunnel vision consequences (i.e. lack of institutional recognition & collegial respect by federal legislators & regulators) due to continued industry disunity and backbiting among national advocacy entities,.

Perennial corporate consolidation and power plays among far too few elite producers of HUD-Code manufactured homes, along with far too few purveyors of chattel capital,

(&) Heavy-handed land lording practices by some property portfolio owners/operators,

whose actions, taken together, risk derailing manufactured housing and land lease community lifestyle as this nation’s sole best answer to its’ burgeoning affordable housing crisis!

The pivotal question is this: De we care enough about this disquieting present and uncertain future, to

Consolidate all national advocacy entities into one, to effectively lead and better serve every sector of the manufactured housing industry, including land lease communities;

Encourage increased competition among more HUD-Code housing manufacturers, and certainly more independent chattel capital lenders;

(&) Challenge portfolio ‘players’ to focus less on profiteering, more on improving resident relations; and, as Randy Rowe oft said in the past, ensure a fair ‘value proposition’ for homeowners/site lessees, relative to their combined PITI & rental homesite payments.

Well, do we?

***
George Allen, CPM, MHM
COBA7, a division of GFA Management, Inc., dba PMN Publishing
Box # 47034
Indianapolis, IN. 46247
(317) 346-7156

Postscript.
Two things.

First; it’d help me to know whether you agree or disagree with the harbingers (‘forerunners giving notice of the coming of another’) and recommended actions just described. Do so via email: gfa7156@aol.com or letter to above address.

Second. You owe it to yourself, your business interests, and our industry’s salaried and elected leaders, to let them know your ‘take’ on these important matters. Everywhere I go, folk complain about this tripartite status quo, but rarely do I hear solutions. Yours?

With that in mind, know there’ll be open forums, or likely opportunities, for industry issues discussion, at some or all the following events this Summer and Fall:

MHAlive! ‘think tank’ on 6 August, 9-11AM, at the RV/MH Hall of Fame. RSVP a MUST by 31 July. Only $20.00 fee, to defray meeting-related expenses. (317) 346-7156

27th Networking Roundtable, 5-7 September at The Alexander Hotel in Indianapolis, IN. www.getmeregistered.com/COBA7NRT2018 Attendance limited to 200.

MHI’s annual meeting, 23-25 September, at Huntington Beach, CA. (703) 558-0400

SECO Conference, 9-11 October, in Atlanta, GA. If you’ve not attended before, do so this year! Contact genevieve@secoconference.com

Blog # 492; Copyright @ 8 July 2018; community-investor.com

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

This blog posting is the sole national advocate, voice, official ombudsman, historian, research report & online communication media for all North American LLCommunities.

To input this blog &/or affiliate with Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, a.k.a. COBA7, use Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764.

COBA7 Motto: ‘U Support US & WE Serve U!’ Goal of its’ print & online media =
to not only inform & opine, but to transform & improve MHBusiness performance!
____________________________________________________________________

INTRODUCTION. Here’s a combo: COBA7, Fannie Me, & REALTOR University.

\Part I. COBA7-distributed American Flag Decals excite MH patriots coast to coast!

Part II. Fannie Mae ‘splains’ distinctions between chattel capital & real property lending

Part III. NAR’s REALTOR University stumbles around unfamiliar MH territory.

I.

American Flag Decals Everywhere!

Just what I hoped would happen, is happening! To date we’ve distributed several hundred of these 3″X4 1/2″ patriotic decals to COBA7 affiliates via the Allen Letter professional journal & the Allen CONFIDENTIAL! business newsletter, as well as enclosures in most correspondence leaving our office during the past couple weeks. Result? Phone and email requests ordering American Flag decals featuring the slogan: I STAND FOR THIS FLAG!

And hey, if you haven’t ordered your supply to distribute to friends, business acquaintances, and family members, it’s not too late to do so! Just phone me @ (317) 346-7156 or email: gfa7156@aol.com Use credit card to order soon.

100 American Flag decals for $150.00 (S & H included). And frankly, if you’d like just one decal for personal use, simply ask for it as well.

II.
A Few Takeaways from Fannie Mae’s

‘Key Legal Distinctions between Manufactured Home Chattel Lending & Real Property Lending’

Distributed by email on June 29, 2018

“The higher Rate Trigger (i.e. $50,000+) for smaller Chattel Loans is recognition that the fixed costs of originating and servicing those loans are the same as larger loans, but a larger proportion of the total loan amount. INDUSTRY ADVOCATES contend all of the Triggers for Chattel Loans should be even higher and apply to Chattel Loans of $75,000 or less. CONSUMER ADVOCATES contend that raising the Triggers, or the loan amount threshold, will erode important consumer protections.” (EMPHASIS added. GFA)

“In 43 states, a manufactured home remains personal property until the manufactured homeowner completes the ‘Conversion Procedure’ – a formal statutory procedure for electing to convey and encumber a manufactured home as real property. In those states, completing the Conversion Procedure legally converts the manufactured home to real property for all purposes. Thus, absent such a process, a manufactured home will not constitute a ‘fixture.'”

Re-Marketing a Repossessed Manufactured Home. “37 states and the District of Columbia allow the secured party to act as retailer for the sale of its’ repossessed manufactured homes without a retailer license. If the manufactured home is in a community, a retailer affiliate of the community may assist with the resale. Typically the secured party and the community will enter into a ‘Park Agreement’ whereby the secured party pays site rent, and refurbishes and maintains the manufactured home until it is sold in place. The cost of moving the home can be as high as $5,000. Thus, the secured party has incentive to enter into the Park Agreement. If the manufactured home is located on private land and the secured party does not have a lien on the land, typically the manufactured home is removed to the sales lot of the retailer that originally sold the home, and consigned for resale. In this situation, the secured party cannot avoid the cost of a move and an investor may be reluctant to purchase chattel loans secured by homes on private land. A prudent lender will get a landlord lien waiver when installing a manufactured home on private land. Finally, many secured parties list the manufactured home for resale on www.mhvillage.com” (lightly edited. GFA)

The final paragraph, in my opinion, raises a few questions:

• The definition of a ‘retailer affiliate’ working within a land lease community? Is this a casual or formal arrangement, job description? Who’s responsible party?

• Do, or must, Park Agreements always require secured parties to pay rental homesite fees or not?

• Is MHVillage the only marketing platform for repossessed manufactured homes?

Just asking…

III.

REALTOR University Looks at ‘Market for Manufactured Housing’ & Misses Key Role of Land Lease Communities!

Something that oft happens, when OUTSIDERS write like INSIDERS

In a recent issue of ‘The Journal of the Center for Real Estate Studies’, at NAR’s REALTOR University, research economist Scholastica (Gay) Cororaton, CBE, penned a 30+ page paper titled ‘The Market for Manufactured Homes.’

On the surface, reading US Census Bureau stats, along with data from the Institute for Building Technology & Safety (‘IBTS’), one expects a credible ‘run of the MH mill’ report about our industry, albeit penned by an outsider. Not.

Here’re the first two paragraphs from said ‘review & commentary’ I crafted. If you want the entire document, simply request it, providing your postal mailing address, via gfa7156@aol.com. No charge for this service. Here goes….

The good news here is, a researcher/writer describes our industry, and the unique factory-built housing we fabricate (i.e. HUD-Code manufactured homes), as a continuing (since 1960s & 70s) popular form of affordable housing in the U.S.! And she uses pre-publication content reviews by Jenny Hodge of MHI, and Marc Lifset, esquire, to try and get the story right.

The not so good news, however, is the 30+ page report is mute about the important role land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities) play in the U.S. affordable housing scenario. This is an especially troubling omission, as the industry and its’ realty sector work their way through an 18 year paradigm shift (i.e. a NEW ERA), characterized by new HUD-Code homes distributed, less by independent (street) MHRetailers, and more via direct factory purchase, siting/sale on-site, and seller-financing of said homes in land lease communities – likely approaching 40 percent by year end 2018.

The stark reality of manufactured housing statistics – well beyond, and certainly no fault of Ms. Cororaton, is U.S.Census Bureau, some other related federally-mined data is, in this industry observer’s opinion, hopelessly flawed up and down the line. How so? Lack of careful definition and clarity relative to matters like:

• Titling. Difficult to tell whether statisticians are talking of vehicle-like (personal property) titling, or realty-secured titling. Manufactured housing, depending on permanence – or not, of installation, easily goes either way. For example the permanent installation of a manufactured home on realty conveyed fee simple ‘might’ well be titled as realty-secured once it goes thru the conversion process; however, it might not. And installation of a manufactured homes on rental homesites in a land lease community is generally, but not always, subject to vehicle-like (personal property) titling. Most, if not all, federal research documents do not clearly define and differentiate among these alternatives.

• Then there’s further confusion re siting manufactured homes on a rental homesites in land lease communities, compared to similar sitings on a scattered building sites owned and leased to the homeowner by another party. Depending on permanence, or not, of installation-and other factors, is titling vehicle-like or realty-secured? Again, this can go either way.

• Community. And there’s ongoing confusion, using 2016 annual data as a baseline, as to whether all manufactured housing placements cited as being ‘in community'(e.g. 34%), relate to land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities) alone, versus ‘on private land’ (66%). Would be nice if it did. However, are all homes ‘in community’, subject to vehicle-like titling, or is there a difference within condominium communities, and of late,, resident-owned communities operated by cooperatives? Similar confusion reigns when it’s recognized – again using 2016 annual stats, that 77% of all new manufactured homes are titled as personal property, and only 17% as real estate secured. What’s the titling status of the other 6%?

And the confusion continues, whether outsiders or insiders attempt to sort thru and make sense of the data on hand.

Is there a solution to all this? Sure. But in my opinion, it’d take a massive rethink on this matter, over time, by an elite task force comprised of knowledgeable individuals from the U.S. Census Bureau, HUD, FHFA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, a few NGOs (non-governmental organizations such as manufactured housing advocates), and seasoned executives and freelance consultants with ‘skin in the game’ as entrepreneur businessmen and women. We’d have to literally, ‘start from scratch’ to make this happen.*1

End Note.
1. A year ago, at Fannie Mae headquarters in Washington, DC., I experienced a rare and insightful look into this sort of project. GSE staff agreed with me about the ongoing data confusion, caused by lack of definition and clarity. We openly talked about solutions. Nothing, however, was accomplished as we all soon realized the massive scope of unraveling this confusion of the past, to create a working template for the future..

Blog # 491; Copyright @ 1 July 2018; community-investor.com

Perspective. ‘Land Lease communities, previously manufactured home communities, & ‘mobile home parks’, comprise the real estate component of manufactured housing.’

This blog posting is the sole national advocate, voice, official ombudsman, historian, research report & online communication media for all North American LLCommunities.

To input this blog &/or affiliate with Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance,
a.k.a. COBA7, use Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764

COBA7 Motto: ‘U Support US & WE Serve U!’ Goal of its’ print & online media =
to not only inform & opine, but to transform & improve MHBusiness performance!
_____________________________________________________________________

INTRODUCTION/ ‘That question’ again, two unique opportunities; and, a contretemps?

“What have you done to MAKE MANUFACTURED HOUSING GREAT AGAIN!?” This is a timely, key question every conscientious businessman and woman, involved in our industry or with land lease communities, should be asking oneself daily! Are you???

Part I. Order American Flag car window decals, for friends & employees, here and now!

Part II. ‘HELP WANTED’ for preparation of the 30th anniversary ALLEN REPORT.

Part III. MHARR throws down the gauntlet, encourages NAMHCO, & imitates….

I.

“Hey, I Like It! Where Can I Get One?”
What?
An American Flag Decal with the Slogan
‘I STAND FOR THIS FLAG!’

Recently mounted one of these 3’X4 1/2″ patriotic decals on the left rear passenger window of my car, right above a VIETNAM VETERAN sticker already there.

After the third person accosted me, while stopped at traffic lights, asking where they could get the same American Flag decal (I gave one to each individual), I decided to share this sourcing with you and others….

Best deal is to order 100 American Flag decals for $150.00 via gfa7156@aol.com Should be easy to distribute patriotic American Flag decals to one’s friends, family members, business associates, and employees! That’s what I’ve done. We’re enclosing an American Flag decal, as a lagniappe, in the July issue of the Allen Letter professional journal. And it’s not just me who’s doing this.

Last week I visited a ‘friend in the MHBusiness’ who’s recovering from an injury, at a local rehab center. When I gave him one of the American Flag decals he immediately asked ordered 200 – to distribute to his friends, family members, business associates, and employees! So, how ’bout you? Got a hankering to encourage fellow American citizens to STAND FOR THIS FLAG! ? Sure hope so…

And there’s historic precedent for this distribution. I vaguely recall, in the 1950s, seeing American Flag decals on just about every automobile on the road. Seems those American Flag decals were distributed by Readers’ Digest back then, though I could be wrong. So, let’s together start a 2018 American Flag decal display movement, first throughout the manufactured housing industry, then among land lease communities, and as widespread as it goes. This is also happening on Facebook!

Order your American Flag decals today! I’ve just repeated my initial order. Want a FREE sample American Flag decal? Simply email your postal mailing address to me via gfa7156@aol.com, and request it.

II.

HELP WANTED

30th anniversary ALLEN REPORT research begins in August;
#s compilation in November; & publication in January 2019

Yes, it takes six months to survey more than 500 land lease community portfolio owners/operators domiciled throughout North America. Not an easy job. The ‘good news’ is, the ALLEN REPORT, once published, faithfully reflects the annual data response from 25 percent of 500+/- portfolio owners/operators of these unique, income-producing properties! For 29 years, the ALLEN REPORT has been esteemed as the asset class’ longest-running, most comprehensive accurate, and widely-circulated compendium of land lease community benchmark statistics available from anyone, anywhere, anytime!

This 30th year, however, we’re approaching a point where HELP will be needed going forward, by Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, a.k.a. COBA7, as it prepares for a future when ‘someone else’ will be responsible for research, compilation, and publication of the ALLEN REPORT. Said transition will not be an easy or casual process; in large part, because the time and effort to prepare said report is neither easy or casual. One must have a genuine passion for, and knowledge of, land lease community investment and operations, as well as a bona fide desire to serve one’s peers with timely and accurate property-related information, as well as trend identification and analysis.

Passion (as in attitude & motivation) alone, however, is not enough! One too must have the ability to clearly communicate basic, as well as nuanced data to fellow community owners/operators; and that, in most cases, (again) only comes from firsthand successful experience owning and or operating the property type over time.

So, with all that said, where do we go from here? Fortunately, I’m not pressed by time, or by circumstances, to make a hurried decision on this important matter. But I am open to inquiries and suggestions from friends and associates throughout the realty asset class, who’d like to ‘know more’ about the matter and make their thoughts known..

With that said, here’s how I prefer to proceed. If you’re truly interested in learning more about this opportunity, so you can ascertain how you might fit into the situation, you need to write, via email or formal correspondence – your choice; expressing personal interest, asking questions, via: gfa7156@aol.com or GFA c/o Box # 47024, Indpls, IN. 46247.

What’s this job pay? Directly, at this point, it doesn’t. Option II & III paid affiliations with COBA7, underwrite expenses involved, from salaries to printing to distribution of the ALLEN REPORT. And it is realized, this is one of those hurdles that’ll have to be resolved during the months and year ahead. Suggestions?

POSTSCRIPT

Know what causes me to lie awake some nights, worrying?

What will happen to the broad array of useful products & services created for, and distributed to, land lease community owners/operators during the past 30 years (Beginning with self-publishing of Mobile Home Park Management text in 1988; now Land Lease Community Management)?

And that’s just the tip of the formidable resource iceberg. The ALLEN REPORT, along with two monthly business newsletters of two decade longevity (i.e. Allen Letter and the Allen CONFIDENTIAL!); nearly 500 internet blog postings; and, more than a dozen Signature Series Resource Documents or SSRDs (i.e. Think ”National Registry of ALL Lenders!’ & ‘Who Ya Gonna Call?’ directory of freelance consultants, and many more). And don’t forget the Manufactured Housing Manager professional property management training and certification program! Today, more than 1,000 MHMs own and manage land lease communities throughout the U.S. & Canada.

Again; will there be a future researcher, preparer, and purveyor of all this? Or will we regress back to the ‘resource dark days’ of the late 1970s and early 1980s, when there were no such reports, newsletters, blog postings, SSRDs, and professional property management training and certification, let alone networking roundtables for education and deal-making purposes.

That’s why we’ve started looking now, towards how all this will be handled in the future. To date, only the MHM program has been, in part, handed-off to capable, experienced, passionate instructors. And it’s my hope the annual Networking Roundtable isn’t far behind, and, in time, maybe the ALLEN REPORT. But what about the other resources?

No national advocacy entity for manufactured housing or land lease communities, today, comes anywhere near close to researching and purveying what’s described in the previous paragraphs. They’re focused, perhaps as they should be, solely on federal legislation and regulatory matters – not on serving the day to day operational needs of community owners/operators nationwide.

All this is a conundrum (‘a hard question’) of the first degree, for land lease community owners/operators nationwide and throughout Canada..

III.

MHARR REPORT & ANALYSIS, 6/25/2018

Did you see and or read MHARR’s nine page, single-spaced review of seven general topics of interest to manufactured housing aficionados? Well, I did, and what follows here is, 1) a key question it ignored addressing, then 2) abbreviated paraphrases containing particularly pithy, thought-provoking commentary you should read or reread.

First the question: ‘Why no mention of the search for, or naming of, a permanent hire to replace Pam Danner as director of HUD’s manufactured housing program?’ This continues to be a lively political (‘power’) issue, right? Or not?

Now, seriously ponder this. “…untold thousands of consumers are eliminated from the (housing) market due to unnecessarily high interest rates on manufactured homes, and particularly manufactured home chattel loans (due to ongoing refusal by Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, to provide market-significant securitization and secondary market support for such loans). To make matters worse…the refusal of local communities to permit development of new (land lease) communities, or otherwise permit placement of manufactured homes in vast areas of the U.S., needlessly drives potential homebuyers away from the HUD Code market.” (lightly edited. GFA). OK, that’s 2/3rds of the industry challenge at hand.

There’s yet another aspect of this, some say sordid, tale and it’s explored on a later page in MHARR’s Report & Analysis:

“…industry experts are beginning to question whether the (manufactured housing) industry’s largest lenders and producers are serious about full and robust implementation of the ‘Duty to Serve Underserved Markets’ (‘DTS’). Specifically, what conceivable incentive do those industry dominant(ing) lenders, in particular, have, to demand market-significant securitization support by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Federal Housing Finance Agency (‘FHFA’), for manufactured home chattel loans – which would likely erode already high interest rates and simultaneously draw additional competing lenders into the HUD Code market – when those current dominant(ing) lenders can still seek statutory Dodd-Frank relief from Congress, to continue making high-cost loans (or charge even higher rates) with no additional liability risk?” (lightly edited. GFA). Perhaps you should read that paragraph again, to fully absorb the writer’s views….

Do you understand what’s being said and implied here? If not, you’re not paying close enough attention, and need to start doing so…In the meantime, and moving on…

MHARR next weighs in on the recent founding of the National Association of Manufactured Housing Community Owners, Inc. (‘NAMHCO’). Now, MHARR postures itself as impetus for this debut, by dint of its’ 2017 Study & Analysis, calling for the “…formation of a new, independent postproduction manufactured housing association”. Be that as it may – or may not be, I’ve long and well-know the founders of NAMHCO. Their immediate concern, focus and scope are not as broad and all-encompassing (i.e. all post production segments of the industry) as MHARR seems to suggest. Frankly, NAMHCO appears to be concerned about the immediate political, regulatory, legislative, lobbying needs of land lease community owners/operators out West, and in time, nationwide.

This industry observer’s view on this timely subject? Leave NAMHCO alone, for the time being, as it ‘gets up & running’! If you want to encourage their leaders, meet and talk with them on 6 August at the RV/MH Hall of Fame, at one of the meetings scheduled that day. And then again, at the 27th International Networking Roundtable, 5-7 September, in Indianapolis, IN.

MHARR opining, at times, ‘goes off the deep end’ with its’, in my opinion, pontificating (‘assuming an air of infallibility, speak pompously’), risking loss of its’ industry ‘cred’. Here’s one such paragraph, lacking clarity and specificity, therefore lacking usefulness.

“This matter (i.e. post-production representation)…complicated by involvement of self-promoting individuals and/or entities not only hav(ing) difficulty grasping the magnitude of the ongoing failures of the post-production sector – and damage inflicted on the industry and consumers – but also continue to press and advance ostensible remedies (publications, conferences, meetings, etc.) that are overly simplistic, unduly parochial, and simply inadequate to address the much larger and significantly more complex problems underlying this crucial issue.” (lightly edited. GFA).

While the MHARR paragraph says much, it contains little substance, and is of minimal practical value. What or who is being described? And what ostensible (‘appearing outwardly’) remedies, simplistic and otherwise, has MHARR put forth “…to address the much larger and significantly more complex problems underlying this crucial issue”? Answer? Beyond its’ smaller, regional HUD-Code manufacturer membership base, little to NO remedies per se, its’ 2017 Study & Analysis report notwithstanding.

How’s the ditty go? If you’re not part of the solution to a challenge, you’re likely part of the problem!’ Point? Stop ‘talking about everyone else’ MHARR, and open your membership to other sectors of the manufactured housing industry – if you truly believe you can perform and lead better!

***

George Allen, CPM, MHM
COBA7, a division of GFA Management, Inc., dba PMN Publishing
Box # 47024
Indianapolis, IN. 46247
(317) 346-7156