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

August 27, 2021

COST-BURDENED RENTERS

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 11:52 am

Blog Posting # 653 @ 27 August 2021: EducateMHC

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

EducateMHC is the online national advocate, asset class historian, data researcher, education resource & communication media for all land lease communities throughout North America!

To input this blog and or affiliate with EducateMHC, telephone Official MHIndustry HOTLINES: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764. Also email: gfa7156@aaol.com & visit www.educatemhc.com

Motto: ‘U Support US & WE Serve U! Goal: to promote HUD-Code manufactured housing & land lease communities as U.S. # 1 source of affordable attainable housing! Attend MHM class!

INTRODUCTION: This week’s blog is truly a potpourri of real estate, government, REITs, property management, and resource topics. I hope you enjoy and learn from them!

I.

COST-BURDENED RENTERS

This from latest Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies (‘JCHS’) report: “Housing affordability has been a challenge for the lo9west-income renters since pre-pandemic. According to the report, more than 80 percent of renters earning less than $25,000 were cost burdened – spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs – in 2019; and the majority spent over half their income on housing.” Affordable Housing Finance magazine.

II.

BET YOU DIDN’T KNOW THIS…
“The U.S. government is about to wage war against a new, booming class of cryptocurrency called STABLECOINS.” These are what governments fear and will fiercely fight.

“…stablecoins are tethered to real assets, such as the dollar or gold…meaning they can easily be used for everyday commercial transactions as well as long-term contracts.”*1

“…stablecoins cut out the middlemen. For instance, credit card transactions typically cost merchants 2 percent to 3 percent in fees. With stablecoins, those fees will go out the window.”

“Regulators are waking up to the fact that stablecoins threaten not only existing payment systems but also, and more fundamentally, the very monopoly that governments have on issuing currency. Governments want no challenges to that monopoly.”

End Note. #1. All quotes from ‘Why Washington Detests This Cryptocurrency’ column in August/September issue of FORBES magazine, page #15.

III.

LLCOMMUNITY REITS #3 OUT OF 13!

According to HOYA Capital’s ‘REIT Same-Store NOI Growth by Property Sector, the misnomered Manufactured Housing REIT ranks # 3 (out of 13 sectors) in performance at 18 percent; only behind Shopping Centers (not malls) & Self-Storage sectors.*1

If interested in following our real estate asset class REIT performance, month to month, do so via The Allen Confidential newsletter, which contains the Official MH Shipment & Stock Market Reports (i.e. five REITs & four publicly-traded HUD-Code housing manufacturers). Visit www.educatemhc.com

End Note. #1. Misnomer because ‘manufactured housing’ describes the producers of this type factory-built housing; whereas land lease community REIT – or alternatively, manufactured housing REITs, are appropriate monikers for the unique, income-producing property type.

IV.

CONTROL YOUR DESTINY AS A PM!

Are you an on-site property manager (‘PM’) or regional property manager of one or more land lease communities? Are you trained and certified as a PM? If you just answered ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ to those two questions, here’s an opportunity for you to control your destiny as a professional property manager!

How so? Best way is to identify friends planning to attend the LouisvilleMHShow, 19-21 January 2022; or even a group of PMs from your property portfolio, then reach out to the instructors of the Manufactured Housing Manager (‘MHM’) program via email: educatemhc@gmail.com – expressing your interest in participating in the one day ‘no test’ program.

Nearly 1,500 land lease community owners/operators and property managers are already MHMs in the U.S. and throughout Canada. It is by far, the most popular training and certification program for this real estate asset class. Now is the time to act! Start the ball rolling today.

V.

HERE’S HOW TO ORDER MY BOOK!

If you attended the final Networking Roundtable & Retirement Celebration on 12 August in Nashville, TN., you received, among other special gifts, a copy of FROM SMITTYALPHA6 TO MHMAVEN, the 200 pages autobiography I authored during last year’s pandemic.

This tome describes my Adventures of a Lifetime, from childhood thru college to the jungles of Vietnam. And how, along the way, Carolyn and I met, raised a family, and started GFA Management, Inc., dba PMN Publishing, to serve manufactured housing & land lease community owners/operators from 1980 thru this year. Plenty of photographs too.

To order, visit www.educatemhc.com and insert the book title into the SEARCH block. You’ll be glad you did. The initial print run was 250 copies, and already 2/3rds are in the hands of readers.

***
George Allen, CPM, MHM
EducateMHC

August 19, 2021

NO ONE ELSE WILL ASK YOU THIS…

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 6:53 am

Blog Posting # 652 @ 20 August 2021: EducateMHC

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

EducateMHC is the online national advocate, asset class historian, data researcher, education resource & communication media for all land lease communities throughout North America!

To input this blog and or affiliate with EducateMHC, telephone Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764. Also email: gfa7156@aol.com & visit www.educatemhc.com

Motto: ‘U Support US & WE Serve U! Goal: to promote HUD-Code manufactured housing & land lease communities as U.S. @ 1 source of affordable attainable housing! Attend MHM class!

INTRODUCTION:

I.

NO ONE ELSE WILL ASK YOU THIS…

Did you attend the RV/MH Hall of Fame Banquet, on 16 August, honoring the combined classes of 2020 and 2021 inductees? If so, you were part of an attendance record-setting event (More than 640 guests), first time honoring of military veterans in the audience, and several heart-stirring acceptance speeches by inductees or family members. And the food was great as well.

But that wasn’t all you missed. Most event guests made it a point to take a walking tour of the huge, recently-completed manufactured housing exhibit hall; something many of us have awaited for decades! A few even made it upstairs to the reorganized, spruced-up library, where the industry and asset class library of George Allen, and his writings, are now on public display.

But a lesser known event occurred Monday afternoon, when second generation Hall of Fame member Jim Scoular met with several other industry/asset class executives. Purpose of the meeting? To share ideas on how to best organize displays and furnish the exhibit hall with examples of mobile and manufactured housing, and land lease community memorabilia. I’d like to share some of the ideas expressed, but it’d be premature to do so. But it does bring us to THE QUESTION: ‘How do you think the museum hall should be configured to demonstrate history and progress of our type factory-built housing and varieties of community lifestyle? Address your remarks to me via gfa7156@aol.com I’ll collect them to pass onto the committee chairman and members.

I can tell you this much though; all segments of the manufactured housing industry will, in some fashion, be represented. Some examples:

Manufactured housing exhibits will likely include a covered wagon, 9, 10, 12, & 14’ wide singlesection units, a new singlesection 16X80, and mulitsection 28X48. Also, outdoors, a modular home – maybe equipped as a Smart House. Also interactive displays, perhaps showing HUD-Code houses being fabricated in plants and transported to building sites.

Land lease communities? What type lifestyle to display? Smaller ‘starter’ homes characteristic of young families, or larger multisection homes often found in all-adult or retirement communities in and out of Sunbelt regions? One idea would be to showcase a new community, highlighting its’ new development and completed phases with a video, photos, and layout.

Suppliers, lenders, transporters, insurers, installers, and other segments of the industry will be included in the displays.

One aspect of the planning meeting ‘conversation’ had to do with trade terminology; i.e. ‘What to use when describing industry segments in the new exhibit hall?

Manufactured housing and homes has been in place since 1976, and likely will not change here, though the terms intermediate & affordable housing pop up from time to time. Your opinion?

Trailer & mobile home parks; manufactured housing & home communities; land lease & lifestyle communities. What term should be used in this new museum setting?

And then there’re the folk who market and sell manufactured housing? You comfortable with ‘dealer’, or prefer to use the contemporary term, ‘independent (street) MHRetailer’?

So, there you have it. Some thoughts in play relative to the new manufactured housing exhibit hall at the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN. Make your thoughts known via gfa7156@aol.com
No guarantee though, that your suggestions will prevail.

II.

THANKS TO ALL!

Last week’s blog posting featured my ‘good-bye talk’ presented at the final Networking Roundtable & Retirement Celebration, on 12 August, in Nashville, TN. Well, that gala event (i.e. First national manufactured housing-related public event in 1 ½ years!) went off without a hitch. Close to 150 registered, but 20 or so fewer attended, mainly due to testing positive for covid, flight cancelations, etc..

A dozen vendors of products and services germane to land lease community operations featured wares and abilities during the first half the day. Then Scott Roberts of Roberts Communities kept the audience on the edge of their seats with his audio-visual supported description of land lease communities he’s been developing and enlarging during the past few years.

Following a group photograph of everyone present, and a cocktail party sponsored by Skyline-Champion, everyone enjoyed (especially me) a retirement celebration dinner. The highlight there was the presentation of a large shadow box crafted by Travis McCarty, my grandson, for the occasion. It featured the corporate logos of all the sponsoring firms, along with a dozen or so individuals who contributed to the legacy occasion.

Everyone present at the event received a copy of FROM SMITTYALPHA6 TO MHMAVEN, the autobiography I authored during the pandemic. It was ‘hot off the press’ just before the Networking Roundtable began. Copies will be mailed to individuals registered to attend, but unable to do so. Additional copies are available for $39.95 plus shipping & handling, via www.educatemhc.com or phone me via (317) 881-3815

So, many Thanks to everyone who made this rare event possible, especially my business partners, Susan McCarty, MHM, and Erin Smith, MHM, of EducateMHC. Carolyn and I especially enjoyed the less stressful time for us, planning and hosting this 30th and final Networking Roundtable!

George Allen, CPM, MHM

August 13, 2021

WHAT YOU MISSED!

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 5:16 am

Blog Posting # 651 @ 13 August 2021: EducateMHC

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

EducateMHC is the online national advocate, asset class historian, data researcher, education resource & communication media for all land lease communities throughout North America!

To input this blog and or affiliate with EducateMHC, telephone Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764. Also email: gfa7156@aol.com & visit www.educatemhc.com

Motto: ‘U Support US & WE Serve U!’ Goal: to promote HUD-Code manufactured housing & land lease communities as U.S. # 1 source of affordable attainable housing! Attend MHM class!

INTRODUCTION: ‘What You Missed’ at the final Networking Roundtable & Retirement Celebration; ‘What to Expect In Days Ahead’; and, White Supremacy – a description, are three informative and thought-provoking topics for you in this week’s blog posting. Enjoy!

I.

WHAT YOU MISSED!

Well, I can’t tell you everything you missed, because I’m penning this week’s blog before the final Networking Roundtable & Retirement Celebration begins. But there are two things I know for sure (assuming we all make it to Nashville, TN. Intact on the 12th of August. Ha!):

The first is that everyone in attendance received a copy of my autobiography, released just this week! It’s titled ‘From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven’. The two hundred page book shares My Adventure of a Lifetime, from childhood, through romance with Carolyn, to a 13 month combat tour in Vietnam, into and through a 50 year business career. Chock full, too, of interesting photographs, of family, locations, and in two instances – examples of the destructive capability of the soccer ball-sized Atomic Demolitions Munition (‘ADM’) I was trained to carry into North Vietnam.

The other certainty is the ‘kinda farewell’ talk I shared during the evening banquet, where more than a half dozen RV/MH Hall of Fame members wore their bright green blazers. Titled, ‘Its’ Been A Very Good Run…’ it follows here:

IT’S BEEN A VERY GOOD RUN…

Last time I gave an impromptu ‘Good-bye talk’ was to my lumberyard outdoor truck loading crew at Ridge Homes in Conshohocken, PA., more than 50 years ago.

20 or so guys escorted me into our tool shed, where a case of beer and soul food waited. Soul food that had been heating all day while sitting atop fork lift engine blocks.

My remarks were brief as I was uncomfortable, as boss, having a case of beer on company property at quitting time. But boy was that soul food ever good!

Central to my remarks was the observation that, as their leader, I’d never had to severely discipline, or even get into an overt verbal or physical altercation with anyone on my crew.

Everyone laughed. I was perplexed and asked, why? The shop steward responded: “Hell Allen, given your rep and the blade you carry, no one’s gonna mess with you!”

Well, we all carried large jack knives in holsters on our belts, to cut the many ropes we used to secure truck loads. But this ‘rep’ (‘reputation’) thing made no sense to me.

So I asked, “What rep?” to which the steward said, “Frankie told us how he saw you ‘off’ (‘kill’) a gook with a bayonet in Vietnam, so no one’s gonna mess with you! You’re blooded!”

Well, the story wasn’t true, but Frankie had created it to bolster his rep, by association, so I didn’t say anything. Read the whole story, ‘Got Rep?’ in ‘From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven’.

What’s unique about tonight’s Good-bye’? Well, 150 friends, business associates and family members are here, and I have something to say to each one!

Let’s begin with me telling you how it’s been a ‘very good run in manufactured housing and land lease communities’ these past 40+ years!

Most of you don’t know I started off, in 1970, in factory-bu8ilt housing fabrication, as a wall panel and roof truss plants, and mill shop supervisor in Southport, IN.

And my first taste of property management didn’t come until 1978, when I oversaw six garden style apartment communities located throughout Indiana.

My boss, at year end, reassigned me from the apartment portfolio to four large and ailing ‘trailer parks’, three in Indianapolis and one outside Louisville, KY.

I was not at all pleased and thought about quitting! But gave myself 30 days to do a major attitude change or look for a new job. It only took a week for me to realize:

If I could learn the ‘mobile home’ business as well as I did apartments (there were no books or training back then), maybe there’d be a career opportunity – to create those resources!

Two years later, after turning those four communities around, they were sold. I briefly went with the new firm. Read ‘An Adventure to Die For’ in aforementioned book and in SWAN SONG.

In 1980, Carolyn and I founded GFA Management, Inc., to fee manage, as Carolyn was known to say, ‘Anything that didn’t move!’ – apartments, houses, shopping centers, MHCommunities.

In 1982 we bought our first of two land lease communities. And since then, I’ve also realized my goal of creating property management resources I didn’t have all those years ago.

Now it’s time to bow out. We sold our last community to Susan and Erin, and they now handle most of what our PMN Publishing did in the past, via EducateMHC.

Going forward, I plan to continue blogging, writing for MHInsider magazine, and occasionally traveling to Cape May, NJ, with Spencer Roane, to drink beer, feast on raw oysters, and visit my younger brother Mark.

In the meantime, Carolyn and I are proud parents of Susan and Adam – and their spouses Drew & Kim, six grandchildren, and three great grandchildren. So there’s plenty there to keep me/us busy and happy for years to come.

In closing, I like what Alan Jackson sings in his album ‘Good Time’, describing the life of a small town southern man: “He bowed his knee to Jesus and stood for Uncle Sam” & “ His greatest contribution will be the ones he leaves behind.” Now that’s the way I want to go out!

Postscript.

I have received many letters, cards, and a gift or two (e.g. large bottle of Don Perignon champagne) these past few weeks, from well-wishers throughout the U.S. Two of my local ‘friends in the MHBusiness’ have taken me out to lunch, where we talked for hours about individuals we’ve known over the decades. And now, we’re here, doing the same thing! So much to be grateful for tonight; so, a sincere Thanks to all!

II.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN DAYS AHEAD…

You’ll want to read the next several – and final, issues of The Allen Confidential business newsletter! Why?

Well, in the September issue I plan to share my reformatted State of the Manufactured Housing Industry & Land Lease Community Realty Asset Class’ – now an overview of the ‘Past, Present, & Future Statistics & Trends Among Land Lease Communities in the U.S.! Preparing this was a stiff challenge for me, as to what to include and what to omit. My hope is that some of you, hearing it on 12 August, and reading about it in September, will save the message and refer to it from time to time during the months, even years, ahead.

And I plan to share my notes – or those of Scott Roberts, relative to his keynote presentation on the ‘Development of Raw Land into Land Lease (& RV) Communities’ – and Lessons Learned in the process. That too should be a Keeper for many land lease community owners/operators!

Finally, I plan to share The 30 Year Networking Roundtable Legacy’ that was distributed during the final Networking Roundtable & Retirement Celebration, as a handout or takeaway.

So, at least three Good Reasons to be sure to read the September issue of The Allen Confidential!

And what will we do in the October issue of the newsletter? I’m working on that already. Using our industry’s dozen known Evergreen (i.e. always relevant, always present) Issues as a baseline, I plan to communicate ‘My Thoughts Regarding the Future of Manufactured Housing & Land Lease Communities!’ – pulling no punches along the way. What does that mean? It means, in so far as possible, I’ll be skewering sacred cows, exposing trade secrets, and ‘telling it like it is’, where this industry and realty asset class are concerned. Not an easy challenge for me. As you likely know, I have little respect for the yellow journalism that’s been an undercurrent staple for more than a decade. I won’t stoop to ‘calling names’, exaggerating claims, and avoiding conspiracy theorizing. It will be up to you, upon reading that issue of The Allen Confidential, to secede whether I accomplish this end – giving you a practical template for years to come.

If you’re not a subscriber to the newsletter, reach out to Erin Smith, MHM, of EducateMHC and inquire as to how to obtain copies through the end of year 2021. Erin.smith@spotlight-strategies.com

III.

WHITE SPREMACY

Talk about ‘changing gears’ in conversation; here’s a rather extreme example to ponder.

Has anyone accused you of ‘white supremacy’ of late? Well, I found myself wondering what that as all about, until I read an ebook titled CRITICAL RACE THEORY by Dr. James Lindsay.

In it, he makes these statements: “…things like ‘getting the right answer in math class is an aspect of white supremacy culture’, and ‘believing that math can be done in an individualist sense rather than as a collectivist sense is white supremacy culture.’ Furthermore, “things like loyalty, punctuality, hard work, and achievement by your merits – these are all considered aspects of shite supremacy culture, according to Critical Race theory.”

Lindsay goes on to say, “this is not just a theory, it’s not even just a movement, it is a way of thinking about the world” – in essence a worldview.

***

George Allen, CPM, MHM
EducateMHC

August 6, 2021

WHAT YOU’RE ABOUT TO MISS…

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 3:57 pm

Blog Posting # 650 @ 6 August 2021: EducateMHC

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

EducateMHC is the online national advocate, asset class historian, data researcher, education resource & communication media for all land lease communities throughout North America!

To input this blog and or affiliate with EducateMHC, telephone Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764. Also email gfa7156@aol.com & visit www.educatemhc.com

Motto: ‘U Support US & WWE Serve U! Goal: to promote HUD-Code manufactured housing & land lease communities as U.S. #1 source of affordable attainable housing! Attend MHM class!

INTRODUCTIOND: When will the manufactured housing industry FINALLY get together and meet face-to-face? Weill the very first such opportunity occurs 12 August 2021. Read about…

WHAT YOU’RE ABOUT TO MISS…

If not present at the final Networking Roundtable & Retirement Celebration on 12 August 2021 at the downtown Hilton Hotel in Nashville, TN.

From 10AM until 1PM, there’ll be a dozen or more vendors of products and services of interest to land lease community owners/operators, displaying their wares and explaining their unique offerings. When was the last time you got to do that? At the Louisville MHShow during January of 2020, more than 1 ½ years ago! This opportunity is well worth the trip to Nashville!

When the Networking Roundtable begins at 1PM, I’ll be Welcoming everyone to the 30th anniversary of this manufactured housing and communities event! Part of the Welcome is the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag. Why? Several reasons, but mainly it’s been a tradition, started when the 9/11 Roundtable was postponed in 2001, and has become our industry’s way of showing patriotic support of our great nation! Then, everyone in the main seminar room gets an opportunity to introduce themselves to the large audience – what a great way to begin one’s interpersonal networking at this event! And, in the Directory you receive while checking-in, mark the names of individuals you want to meet as they introduce themselves.

During the next hour I’ll be sharing what’s widely known as my take on the ‘State of the Manufactured Housing Industry & Land Lease Community Real Estate Asset Class’. Two things: this is a unique presentation, as it covers both major segments of our industry, home manufacturing statistics and trends, as well as community statistics and trends. No one else does this today! Second; this year’s presentation will be unlike any other I’ve delivered to date. How? What I decided to do was identify and expound on eight highly significant improvements, trends, and happenstances (‘fortuitous circumstances’) that have occurred during the past 50 years. And these are? Well, you need to be in the roundtable audience to learn them firsthand!

The keynote address will be Scott Roberts sharing his experiences and Lessons Learned while developing raw land into land lease (&RV) communities throughout the U.S.. Unlike others who ‘talk about land development’ on podcasts, etc., these days, Scott is hands-on and actually putting pipes in the ground and filling vacant rental homesites with new manufactured homes! If land development is in your future as a business venture, then you need to be present to hear this knowledge firsthand.

It’s no big secret, the International Networking Roundtable phenomenon Carolyn and I launched way back in the early 1990s, is – with this event in Nashville, TN. – coming to an end. So, I’ve written a ’30 Year Networking Roundtable Legacy’ history that’ll be distributed to all attendees when they arrive on the 12th. Plus, there’s an additional surprise gift for everyone in attendance. Care to guess what it is?

Next on the agenda is a Fireside Chat type audience participation conversation and discussion of any topic(s) desired. During recent networking roundtables this time of open expression has proven to be very popular and productive. No topic is off limits. Everyone knows our industry and asset class has at least a dozen Evergreen (i.e. ‘always present’) issues ready for debate and brainstorming. This ‘hour or so’ is your opportunity to so engage!

When we clear the seminar room at 5PM (to ready it for the evening banquet), we’ll attempt the usual annual photograph of everyone present. Then enjoy an hour or so of cocktails together. At the banquet that evening, it’s been requested all RV/MH Hall of Fame members present (know of at least six registered so far), wear their bright green RV/MH Hall of Fame blazers – to show support of the sole entity entrusted with the perpetuation of our industry and asset class legacies! Sometime during the evening I’ll share some parting thoughts on my pending retirement; titled, ‘It’s Been A Very Good Run’.

Friday morning(8/13) at 8AM, another roundtable tradition (also started post 9/11), an informal prayer meeting will be held in a private meeting room. Usually, a dozen or more folk participate in this opportunity to pray for the leaders of our nation and our military at home and abroad. Everyone is welcome to attend and participate.

So, that’s ‘What You’re About to Miss’ if not at the final Networking Roundtable & Retirement Celebration on 12 August at the downtown Hilton Hotel in Nashville, TN. Still not too late to register; visit www.educatemhc.com or phone Erin Smith, MHM via (317) 738-3434.

George Allen, CPM, MHM
EducateMHC

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