Blog Posting # 844; Copyright 30 May 2025. EducateMHC
Know this! HUD-Code manufactured housing (‘MH’) is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable-attainable, factory-built housing (a.k.a. one of four types of offsite construction), routinely paired with traditional stick-built housing (a.k.a. onsite construction). Plus, land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’), comprise the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH. Various types of housing finance (e.g. chattel or ‘home only’ loans and real estate mortgages) describe the post-production segment of MH.
EducateMHC is the official MH historian, trade term & trend tracker, as well as perennial MH information source. Contact EducateMHC via (317) 881-3815; email: gfa7156@aol.com, and www.educatemhc.com, to purchase Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry (This book belongs in every land lease community nationwide!), and SWAN SONG – History of land lease communities & official record of annual MH production levels since 1955.
And my autobiography, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven, describes personal combat adventures in Vietnam as a USMC lieutenant, a 45 year entrepreneur business career in MH & community ownership, as well as freelance consulting and authoring of 30 nonfiction texts.
George Allen is the sole emeritus member of the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’), a founding board member of MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division, RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, Allen Legacy columnist and editor at large for the MHInsider magazine.
Will You Be Remembered or Forgotten?
The choice is yours! During the past month, several notable individuals in the manufactured housing industry and owners of land lease communities have died. In every instance, at best, these individuals received public recognition by dint of their membership in state MH trade associations. But that was all.*1 This time next year, few will recall the anniversary of their passing – unless they penned personal memoirs (i.e. short stories) or an autobiography, beforehand, describing their personal adventures and business careers. Which will it be for you: ‘Will You Be Remembered or Forgotten’? Now is the time to decide and plan what to do – or not.
Know what? Recording one’s life adventures and Lessons Learned, for posterity, is the sad exception, rather than a rule in life these days. Some heady examples of what I mean…
HUD-Code manufactured housing manufacturing pioneers. Yes, we have autobiographies, in the RV/MH Hall of Fame library in Elkhart, IN., for two of these folk. Think the late John Crean, founder of Fleetwood Enterprises and Jim Clayton of Clayton Homes (With luck, we’ll someday read his son Kevin’s career story). We do not, however, have autobiographies authored by the late Art Decio (Skyline Homes) and Robert DeRose (DeRose Homes), nor by the father and son teams of Hussey and Shea. Even Joe Morris for that matter. The Adventure Homes story, in my opinion, is very compelling, considering how it evolved from near corporate oblivion to employee ownership and success under the leadership of Walter Comer. For that matter, to the best of my knowledge, we don’t have ‘life stories’ of the founders of the prestigious RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN – except for the first individual identified in the next paragraph.
The RV/MH Hall of Fame library archives several autobiographies by land lease community owners/operators past and present: beginning with Kristian Jensen, Sr., who authored A Danish American. Then there’sBorislav Vukovich’s photoautobiography, The Life & Times of B.M. Vukovich; also, twins Harrell and Darrell Cohron penned The Trailer Twins; Mike Conlon wrote Unconventional Wealth; Jim, Ralph & Jeff Scoular collaborated on Leap of Faith; and George O’Leary released The O’Learys of Beechwood shortly before his death. George Goldman shared The Road Less Traveled, and Alvan Schrader’s creative title: No Respect At All…A PATH TO MILLION$ sends a clear message.All these were self-published tomes. Then came the late Sam Zell’s very readable Am I Being Too Subtle?, published by Penguin Random House. And to this august list I’ll add my lifetime tale, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven.
Now with that said, who do I think ‘owes it to their peers’ to share timely and timeless Lessons Learned in business and personal life? Well there’re quite a few; will look at some of them by business category.
To date, and to the best of my knowledge, no female business entrepreneur has crafted their life story to share with younger women following in their footsteps. Three capable community-related names come to mind: Dr. Chrissy Jackson, ACM trainer; the late Maggie Stephenson, community developer; and Sharon Niccum, veteran portfolio owner/operator of Midwest land lease communities. Yes, there’re others. Paula Reeves in MH finance circles, and New England’s Theresa Desfosses, from the manufacturing side of the house (pun intended). Also Suzanne Felber, founder and promoter of Lifestylist, cutting edge interior designer for manufactured homes.
And there’s a raft of individuals who’ve created unique paths in manufactured housing and communities. George Porter, installations consultant come quickly to mind. Then there’s indefatigable Gub Mix, who managed several state MH associations simultaneously for years. And who wouldn’t want to read a life story by the late Grayson Schwepfinger, ‘trainer’ elite! And my guess is, Ken Corbin has also crafted a similar training regimen for his community clients. Also think of Don Westphal, landscape architect, who’s still with us – what a tale he has to tell. And who wouldn’t want to read Randy Rowe’s career story? Starting out with ELS, Inc. (the REIT), then founding Hometown America, and today leading Green Courte Partners. Two more potential storytellers come to mind: Tim Williams of 21st Mortgage, and Steve Adler, founder of Murex Properties.
Before moving away from individual ‘rock stars’, so to speak, the founder and now retired leader of the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (‘MHARR’) needs, IMHO, to tell us his story, from beginning in 1985 at the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’).
Portfolio owners/operators of land lease communities would be a particularly interesting group of firms to read about in published biographical sketches. Think Zeman Homes in Chicago; founded by the late Bud Zeman (Who even had a poem penned in his honor), today led by one of his sons, Ed. Then there’s YES! Communities. In this instance, going all the way back to the days of pre-REIT ROC Properties (i.e. River Oaks Communities), would be an exciting ‘read’, especially if Gary McDaniel is the author. Speaking of the ROC acronym, how ‘bout ROC USA? Watching that firm grow during the past two decades has been an adventure in itself. Hopefully, in the near future, we’ll read Paul Bradley’s complete history of ‘resident owned communities’ in the U.S… And finally, in this category, the oldest REIT, UMH Properties in New Jersey, founded by Eugene Landy and today jointly operated with his son Sam; so many adventures in this firm. Know what? There’s yet another father/son combination with a compelling story to tell. It’s Spencer Partrich’s Lautrec, Ltd., and son Ross’ Partrich’s RHP Properties. The latter is the largest private owner of land lease communities in the U.S., and by extension, the world!
Then there’re professional property managers (‘PM’) scattered across the country. In California we find Mike Sullivan, CPM, and Mike Cirillo, CPM, as well as the former PM team of Dick Bessire & Keith Casenhiser. On the east coast we find the 100% fee management evangelical firm of Newby Management, in Ellenton, FL. Founder Martin is now retired but the firm remains in family hands.
Finally, there’s a group of individual businessmen and women who also have fascinating stories to tell. Thinking here of Spencer Roane, MHM, of Pentagon Properties in Atlanta, GA. Spencer co-founded the highly popular annual SECO Conference a dozen years ago – mainly to serve the educational needs of small to mid-sized land lease community owners/operators. And then there’s the late Burt Dickman of Auburn, IN. Burt served as mayor of Auburn and developed communities there. And in Iowa there’s the Hames family. The late Curt Hames founded the firm today operated by his son Troy and daughter Barbara. When will that story be told?
Sure, I’ve missed describing as many individuals and firms as listed so far, but you ‘get the idea’. It’s the business community version of academia’s ‘publish or perish’ mantra. Bottom line? Our industry and realty asset class has been around for more than 75 years now (some say 100), and to date we have but a dozen autobiographies archived in the RV/MH Hall of Fame library. Not much of a history to draw on, by young practitioners desirous of learning from their predecessors in manufactured housing. Will you do your part to improve on that sad scenario?
If you know of memoirs and or autobiographies not mentioned in this blog posting, please let me know via gfa7156@aol.com Thank You.
Also. If seriously interested, I sometimes host a half day class on ‘writing one’s memoirs and autobiography’, usually the day of the RV/MH Hall of Fame Induction Banquet. This year (2025), the banquet is scheduled for 18 August. For banquet information visit the RV/MH Hall of Fame website or phone (574) 293-2344. And if a minimum of five individuals are willing to spend the morning of that day, roughly from 9AM till Noon with me, I’ll provide the training resources and examples for you to peruse. Cost? Just enough to cover seminar training aid expenses. Let me know of your interest via gfa7156@aol.com
George Allen
End Note.
- Bud Parkhill started building his large land lease community in Mahomet, IL. when he was just 22 years of age. And Don Gedert, of Greencastle, IN. His renown is having developed the largest, now oldest, subdivision of manufactured homes in Indiana and likely the entire U.S.
- 36 of the individuals identified in this blog posting (#844) are RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinees!