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

Blog Posting # 722. Copyright 6 January 2023. EducateMHC

Perspective. Land lease communities, previously manufactured home communities, and earlier, ‘mobile home parks’ are the real estate component of manufactured housing! EducateMHC is the online national advocate, realty asset class historian, trend spotter, and education resource for land lease communities throughout North America! To input this blog and or connect with EducateMHC, telephone (317) 881-3815, email: gfa7156@aol.com, or visit EducateMHC.com to order community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry (the property management certification text); SWAN SONG, a history of land lease communities & only official record of annual MH production since 1955; and, my autobiography, from SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven.

George Allen, CPM®Emeritus, MHM®Master, RV/MH Hall of Fame, & MHI Emeritus Member


Where Will You Be on 19 January 2023?

Me? At the Louisville MHShow, 18-20 January at the Kentucky State Fair Grounds Exhibition Center. Specifically, plan to be at the ‘Manufactured Housing Awareness’ (or words to that effect) Panel Presentation. This will be your ground floor opportunity to learn more about, and maybe decide to participate in the emerging national brand promotion program for our industry and realty asset class. More to the point, ‘the question’ really is: ‘Can You afford to miss this opportunity?’

There’s plenty of historic precedent for this sort of informal, national call to action. Think back to 1993, when 19 land lease community owners/operators convened in Indianapolis, IN., to lay the groundwork for what became the National Communities Council division within MHI – the new and much-needed national advocate for community education and investment.*1

2011. The year when more than a dozen land lease community owners/operators from throughout the Southeast, met in Atlanta, GA., to lay the groundwork for what became the annual SECO Conference – the new and much-needed meeting forum for community education and networking.*2

And there were several other regional and national venues since the ill-fated turn of the century when new HUD-Code home production plummeted from 372,943 units in 1998 to only 48,789 in 2009 and beyond. All these supported transitioning new home sales from independent (street) MHRetailers and ‘company stores’ to direct in-community placement, marketing, and financing. Think ‘community series homes’, Two Days of Plant Tours & Sales Seminars, and use of lease option as a financing alternative within land lease communities.*3

See you in Louisville, KY., on 19 January 2023 at the MH Awareness panel presentation!

End Notes.

1. For more information on this subject, read The First 20 Years, authored by the late Bruce Savage. Available from Educatemhc.com

2. For more information about SECO, contact Spencer Roane, MHC., via spencer@roane.com Also source re: lease option in land lease communities.

3. ‘independent (street) MHRetailer’, trade term coined by consultant Wm. Carr. And for ‘community series homes’, read SWAN SONG, history of LLCommunities & only official record of MH production from 1955 to present day. Available from Educatemhc.com

Finally, after 16 Years…

In year 2022, it appears we will come close to, but probably not eclipse, the 117,510 new HUD-Code homes shipped during year 2006. Year to date, through November 2022, we shipped 106,486 new HUD-Code homes. And if we equal November’s total of 7,470 during December (I don’t think we will), then this 2022 YTD total could swell to 113,956, a scant 3500 homes fewer than shipped during year 2006.

Bottom line? Year 2022 production demonstrates we are on the slow roll comeback trail, once again eclipsing 100,000 units/year (for second year in a row), but probably not exceeding 200,000 units/year ever again! Do I hear an uproar of protest? I surely hope so! This has 100,000 deficit has a lot to do with why dozens of us are convening in Louisville, KY., in a couple weeks, to plan and kick off some sort of MH brand awareness program designed to sell more HUD-Code homes.

For more information, google the Louisville MHShow. For more information about the panel presentation, reach out to kcorbin@calkencorbin.com


RV/MH Hall of Fame Class of 2023

Manufactured housing industry (to be) inductees include:

• Paula Reeves from Alabama. Finance category
• Knute Chauncey from Georgia. Supplier category
• Marc Lifset from New York. Supplier/Association category
• Don Sharp from Indianan. Finance category
• Darlene Gardener from Nebraska. Retailer category

And over on the recreational vehicle side we find:

• Ron Breymier from Indiana. Association category. Note. Ron heads the IMHA/RVIC in Indiana, which serves both industries as well as campgrounds.

Plan no to attend the annual RV/MH Hall of Fame induction banquet in early August 2023. If you’ve not attended in the past, know that this is where ‘anyone who’s anyone in the MH & RV industries’ makes it a point to be present and seen among their business and social peers.

For more information, reach out to the RV/MH Hall of Fame via (