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

May 6, 2017

‘Net Zero Energy Usage’ & Responses to last week’s FINAL WARNING!

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 6:14 am

Blog # 445; Copyright @ 7 May 2017; 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 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 transform & improve MHBusiness model performance!
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INTRODUCTION: At the same time, the manufactured housing industry & land lease community asset class forges ahead with ‘net zero energy usage’ HUD-Code homes in communities; it falters badly, as ‘lack of chattel $, onerous federal regs, & consolidations / power grabs’ diminish the autonomy of manufacturers and LLCommunity owners alike.

Remembering Curt Hames & Mac McClanahan….friends recently departed…

1.

They’re Coming; They’re Coming!
What?
‘Net Zero Energy Usage’ New Homes!

This from a Press Release, distributed by the Modular Home Builders Association, headquartered in Charlottesville, VA. MHBA is one of four regional/national trade entities ‘claiming to represent’ modular type factory-built housing:

‘Massachusetts Governor Announces ‘Zero Energy Modular Affordable Housing Initiative’ designed to provide “low and moderate income Massachusetts residents access to cost-saving, clean and efficient energy technologies.” Furthermore, recommendations include the Zero-Energy Modular Affordable Housing Initiative (include) “the energy performance of manufactured housing in the Commonwealth through the replacement of existing manufactured homes, with new modular zero energy housing.”

Frankly, this should come as little to no surprise to alert and informed manufactured housing professionals, and land lease community owners/operators, who seeking to improve housing product performance and the community lifestyle of homeowners/site lessees from coast-to-coast.

FYI. Steven Lefler of Modular Lifestyles, a division of the Newport Pacific Capital companies, in Irvine, California, has led this transition to ‘net zero energy usage’ in manufactured housing for the past decade; and the parent firm routinely replaces worn out ‘;mobile homes’ homes in the LLCommunities they fee-manage, with just this sort of contemporary affordable housing manufactured housing. Reach Steve Lefler via steve@modularlifestyles.com

II.

Responses to Last Week’s ‘Final Warning!’

Our previous blog posting (#444) warned how ‘Land Lease Community Owners (are) Losing Autonomy (i.e. ‘self-government, independence’) as Businessmen & women’, due to:
1. lack of reasonable access to chattel capital to seller-finance on-site manufactured housing transactions

2. increase in onerous financial regulations at state and federal levels

3. unnecessary replacement of perfectly good concrete runners and piers with new, expensive ‘below the frost line’ concrete foundations for new HUD-Code housing installations in LLCommunities

4. (added after the fact) continued consolidation of LLCommunities into one or another of 500+/- property portfolios in the U.S. today; &, the unfortunate ongoing power grab by a few mega-firms, at highest level of national advocacy.

Well, we sure did receive replies; 100% in support of the above tripartite (now four part) case demonstrating declining autonomy for LLCommunity owners – and by extension, smaller regional manufacturers of HUD-Code manufactured homes.

Here’re two examples of replies received to date:

“Once again our industry is ‘asleep at the switch’. The Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 was supposed to impose more strict installation standards AND provide chattel financing. Now, with HUD-s enforcement of those standards and minimal support of the manufactured housing, we’re getting all the bad with none of the good.” (‘Asleep at the switch’ refers to a national advocate entity missing the emergence of the S.A.F.E. Act a few years ago)

&

“________________(you fill in the blank; hint = a national MH advocacy entity) provides little more than lip service to representation of small and mid-sized community owners, despite being funded by floor dues paid on most manufactured homes purchased by those communities. The organization is a reflection of bloat created in our industry, in years past, far exceeding the functions of a lobbyist, with its’ educational programs, shipment data manipulation, expensive meetings, and levels of bureaucracy. Yet _____________ (another national MH advocacy entity) operates much more efficiently and effectively, but unfortunately, only directly represents the interests of smaller MH manufacturers. COBA7 representation of small and mid-sized communities, at the national level, can’t come soon enough!”

Not too late for YOU to weigh in with your views on this ‘losing autonomy’ topic.

And remember, an MHAlive ‘think tank’ session is being planned for the morning of 7 August 2017, at the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN., where these types of industry killing, asset class tribulations, and national advocacy shenanigans, can be brought out into the open and discussed among one’s Free Enterprise peers! To get onto the ‘invite’ list, phone the MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764 or grfa7156@aol.com

III.

MHIndustry & LLCommunities Lose a Pioneer!

Curt Hames, land lease communities owner/operator and independent (street) MHRetailer, for decades in Iowa, and Class of 2001 RV/MH Hall of Fame Inductee , died this past week.

I’m, unfortunately, short on details, as I was out of commission all week. As I learn more, I’ll let you know.

But we’ll certainly be adding his name to the In Memoriam column in the June issue of the Allen Letter professional journal; just as we did Mac McClanahan in the May issue. In two weeks our industry/asset class, in the Midwest, has lost two of its’ most honorable and beloved businessmen.

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