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

Blog Posting # 720. Copyright 23 December 2022. 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; & my autobiography: From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven.

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

Seasons Greetings to All!

Here’s wishing you & yours a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, & Prosperous New Year!

Don’t know ‘bout you, but here in the Midwest we’re bracing for a winter storm with subzero temperatures this weekend. Today I’ll be stocking kindling and firewood for our fireplace, and ensuring water pipes are protected from freezing, e.g. unhook summertime water hoses.

In any event, know I miss and frequently think of my many friends in the manufactured housing industry even though I’ve been retired for 1 ½ years. Hope to see many of you during the Louisville MHShow, 18-20 January 2023, in Louisville, KY. Was hopeful there’d be serious movement toward launch of a national manufactured housing advertising program during this year’s show. Now I’m not so sure that will happen. If truly interested in such a needed movement, talk to me while at the show or share your thoughts via gfa7156@aol.com

Our inventory of my autobiography, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven is dwindling. If you haven’t read it yet, but are interested, order your copy from EducateMHC.com Some tell me they were surprised to learn I’d been trained as an ADM (atomic demolitions technician) while in Vietnam – ready to fly by helo into N. Vietnam if the NVA came across the DMZ (demilitarized zone). Also that, as a Marine lieutenant, I led a fully armed (with live ammunition) squad into a flooded U.S. city in 1973, to restore law and order during the middle of the night. And more….

And for that matter, if you own and operate one or more land lease communities in the U.S. and Canada, you need a copy of Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry in every property. This is the 8th edition of Mobile Home Park Management I first authored way back in 1988. Even contains dozens of copy machine-ready property management forms. Also order from EducateMHC.com

ZOOM did not go BOOM

OK, why do I doubt there’ll be “serious movement toward launch of a national manufactured housing advertising program during this year’s Louisville MHShow?’

Well, I participated in a second Zoom meeting on the 15th of December. While 22 individuals are identified as being members of the committee working to this end, only a dozen showed up, and the majority of them were manufactured housing association executives, and only one or two HUD-Code manufacturer representatives.

What was accomplished? In my opinion, not very much – just a lot of sharing local housing market (statewide) ‘war stories’ about programs, testimonials, and campaigns that worked in those locales. Yes, ‘helpful to know’ information, but only if worked into a national strategy designed to promote manufactured housing product awareness and sales. Personally, for such a major program to succeed, there’ll need to be a charismatic heavy-hitter leading the way, supported by the ‘Big Three C’ HUD-Code housing manufacturers and both national trade advocates in Washington, DC. To date, that’s not what I’m seeing. Kevin Clayton, Mark Yost, and Bill Boor, where are you?

Looking ahead. A final Zoom call is scheduled for 12 January 2023, with invitations to participate sent out during the week of 19 December 2022. Seriously interested in becoming involved? Reach out to consultant Ken Corbin. Then, on 17 January 2023, there’s a pre-show luncheon planned for 2PM at the Crowne Plaza hotel. And on the 19th of January 2023, at the Louisville MHShow, there’ll be a panel presentation manned by moderator Ken Corbin, assisted by Dr. Leslie Gooch of MHI, and two state MHAssociation executives.


GOOD NEWS?

During the 40 years I owned and operated GFA Management dba PMN Publishing, I divided my time fee managing land lease communities (and ones we owned), freelance consulting for other owners (e.g. Mystery Shopping & covert assignments), and communicating with peers (via Allen Letter and the Allen Confidential newsletter). So I was pretty much ‘in the know’, though with little time to dig deeper or broader in support of my writing.

Now however, in retirement, I’m far less ‘in the know’, but I have time to dig deeper and broader before writing, What follows is an example of how industry news comes to me these days.

In recent conversations with long time owners/operators of land lease community portfolios I kept picking up on a thread of information indicating new HUD-Code manufactured homes, in some if not many local housing markets, were costing less (wholesale) than during previous months. So I asked around and here’s what I learned:

‘There have been new home price fluctuations. The price of most new homes purchased nearly doubled during the pandemic, and lead times to get homes delivered grew from four to six weeks out to six months, oft due to supply chain problems and persistent staffing issues. However, around the middle of this year, new home prices began to drop – not to pre-pandemic levels, but a good 20+/- percentage decrease. Also, new home deliveries moved back toward pre-pandemic levels. Why? Resolution of some if not most, supply chain problems and staffing issues. But that’s not likely the whole story. In general, Independent (street) MHRetailers, returning to the market, refused to carry the heavy product inventories they did in the past – cutting back on factory orders. And of late there have been increases in interest rates.’

And the beat goes on. A good barometer of where the manufactured housing industry, and land lease communities, are today and where they might be headed, should be apparent during the upcoming Louisville MHShow. So, good reason to be present. Make your voice known about the need for, and way to plan, a national brand awareness advertising program – and get the lowdown on information to help you enter into 2023 well informed toward profitability. See you there! GFA