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

June 7, 2014

Follow the $ & Keep $core!

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 12:40 pm

COBA7® via community-investor.com Blog # 301 @ 8 June 2014 Copyright 2014

Perspective. Land-lease-lifestyle communities, a.k.a. manufactured home communities and ‘mobile home parks’, comprise the real estate component of manufactured housing.’

This blog posting ‘is a national advocacy voice, ombudsman press*, statistical research reporter, & online communications resource for all LLLCommunities in North America!

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.

*ombudsman press. ‘Manufactured housing’s ronin; fielding inquiries, complaints, etc..

Introduction to this weeks’ COBA7® blog posting at community-investor.com

‘Follow the Money’ is title to Part I. There’s no clearer picture of what’s going on…

‘Write Your RV/MH Story!’ = one of those ‘once in a lifetime learning opportunities’.

‘Keep Score!’ Surely hope you do! We need more action and less benign neglect at NCC

‘COBA7® Affiliates Receive National Public Forum Worksheets’ You can too!

Together, U & COBA7® = ‘U support US & We serve U!’

I.

Follow the Money

Why RV Industry Want$ Exemption From the HUD-Code

1. Various types and sizes of RVs fit nicely onto vacant rental homesites, functionally obsolete and otherwise, in land-lease-lifestyle communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities), VERSUS some (manufactured) home owners/site lessees view an RV moving next door as a threat to home value – unless of course, it’s a tricked-out $100,000.00 RV ‘parked’ next to their $30,000.00 home.

2. RVs excluded from the HUD-Code likely qualify for chattel financing as vehicles, so might not be subject to the S.A.F.E. Act & Consumer Protection Finance Bureau’s regulatory oversight, VERSUS anticipated reduction in chattel financing of manufactured home (transactions) encumbered by state and federal finance regulations

3. Exempted RVs possibly become a new class of unregulated ‘shelters cum residences’ sited in LLLCommunities*, VERSUS reduction in number of new HUD-Code manufactured homes shipped, that are otherwise encumbered by state and local building codes

So, how do you feel about this contentious matter? More interested in filling some of the estimated 250,000 vacant rental homesites in 50,000+/- LLLCommunities nationwide, with various sizes and types of recreational vehicles (‘RVs’); OR, protecting HUD-Code manufactured housing market share, ensuring most or all structures sited in LLLCommunities are indeed bona fide ‘homes cum residences’?

There’re contrasting views on this complicated matter. Some believe the RV legislative initiative, for the third or fourth time, is ‘going nowhere’; while others opine, this is the only way to return ‘truly affordable shelter’ to modest rent rate LLLCommunities – at further reduction in size of HUD-Code market share – already at an historic nadir for the past five years..

To express your opinion(s), use input instructions at the beginning of this blog posting…

Important End Note.

* Watch for a ‘primary residence rule’ to possibly play a deciding role here, e.g. ‘RV not exempted if owner lives in it for more than two months at a time.’ That gimcrack smacks of Big Brother closing the farmyard gate long after the cows have left the barn. Good Luck finding and rounding ‘em up.

II.

‘Write Your RV/MH Story!’

Newest Manufactured Housing Author to Make Guest Appearance

You likely already know the basics. The morning of 4 August 2014, YES, the same day as the annual RV/MH Hall of Fame Induction Banquet, will find would be and experienced writers alike, gathered at the RV/MH museum and library in Elkhart, IN., for a 2 ½ hour writing seminar.

Subtitled, ‘How to Write & Publish Your Memoir(s), Autobiography, &/or Corporate History or Story!’, the program will be co-hosted and led by Al Hesselbart, RV/MH Hall of Fame RV historian, and George Allen, publisher of the Allen Letter professional journal, and author, co-author of all books in print today – but one, relative to the manufactured housing industry and LLLCommunity realty asset class.

The program begins promptly at 9:30AM, with check-in, handout of class materials, and introductions of co-hosts and participants, until10:00AM. From 10 – 11AM we’ll concentrate on memoir & autobiography research, writing and style. And from 11 – Noon, we’ll cover corporate history and stories, along with an introduction to self-publishing alternatives.

We expect Bob Vahsholtz, author of DUELING CURVES – the newest book about ‘manufactured housing in the 21st Century’, to join us during the seminar, even have copies of the book to sell and autograph. At the end of the program, we’ll likely enjoy a networking lunch together, where we’ll ask Bob questions about his latest tome. If you’d like to order a copy beforehand, phone (805) 481-2574. The price is right! And if you’d like to read a lengthy review of same, phone MHIndustry HOTLINE and request a FREE copy of the June issue of the aforementioned Allen Letter.

For a brochure containing details about the ‘Write Your RV/MH Story!’, and to register for the seminar, phone the MHIndustry HOTINE or (317) 346-7156. Space is limited, so don’t delay deciding to participate. AND, the $49.95 per person cost is reduced to $29.95 if/when you register to attend the Class of 2014 RV/MH Hall of Fame Banquet that same evening! If you’ve ever thought YOU – or your company, have a story to tell, now is the time to learn how to go about the process. Hope to see you there!

III.

‘ Keep Score!’

How Many of Ten Topics Requested, Will be on NCC’s Agenda?

As faithful blog floggers (readers) know, we shared nine topics with you several weeks ago, and #10 has been added since then. The initial nine recommended topics were sent to MHI’s NCC staff in Arlington, VA., with a request they be placed on the meeting agenda for the National Communities Council division, to be held the morning of 9 June 2014. Well, that’s tomorrow morning, if you’re reading this posting on Sunday, 8 June 2014.

It will be interesting to see how many, if any of them – besides maybe ‘Intimidation by Litigation’ gets aired among this small but august group of land-lease-lifestyle community owners/operators. The list, again:

• The ‘value proposition’ of NCC division’s $500.00/year membership fee. What specific products & services are direct, dues-paying MHI/NCC members presently receiving, in addition to lobbying efforts on our behalf?

• Revisit MHI’s October 4, 2012 board resolution opposing “…changing current restrictions for RVs & Park Trailers”, in effect discouraging permanent living in RVs. Review said opposition in light of need to fill an estimated 250,000 want rental homesites in land-lease-lifestyle communities nationwide.

• Recommend change to MHI bylaws (NCC has none) to permit properly executed absentee ballot use during annual election of division officers.

• Discuss the ‘intimidation by litigation’ environment apparently spawned by Right of First Refusal clauses within or outside some LLLCommunity leases.

• Status of MHI web page re NCC content and newsletter?

• Why discontinuation of the MHI Membership Directory in 2014? Who effected its’ demise? Why not make print subscription copies available at profit for MHI?

• NCC is formally invited to participate in the first ever National Public Forum examining the ‘Future of manufactured housing as ‘housing’ vs. its’ trailer heritage’, & ‘Future of LLLCommunities as ‘lifestyle’ & ‘investment’.

• NCC is formally invited to affiliate with the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance®, or COBA7®

• Status of Duke University (Dr. Charles Becker) research project?

• (+) Recommend MHI broaden its’ policy to allow announcement of regional and national manufactured housing and or LLLCommunity-related events!. Today, only MHI-hosted and member state association-sponsored events, including ACM classes, are posted on the website. Why not include the RV/MH Hall of Fame Induction Banquet @ 4 August 2014, same day as the multi-state (AL, LA, MS, TN) meeting begins; the 23rd annual International Networking Roundtable @ 10-12 September 2014 – hosted by longtime MHI member GFA Management, Inc.; annual SECO Symposium @ 1 & 2 October in Atlanta, GA., hosted by area LLLCommunity owners; even the ‘How Housing Matters Conference’, @ 16 October 2014, hosted by the National Building Institute in Washington, DC.

Well, there you have it. Probably too late for you to encourage your state MHAssociation exec to intervene and request these timely and pithy topics be added to the NCC agenda.

IV.

COBA7 Affiliates Receive National Public Forum Worksheets

The 23rd annual International Networking Roundtable is only three months away! Descriptive registration brochures will be mailed during June to all 500+/- LLLCommunity portfolio owners/operators in North America. And during July and August, same brochures will be enclosed as lagniappes in that month’s issue of the Allen Letter professional journal. And during August the brochure will be sent to everyone who patronized last year’s 22nd annual Roundtable, along with the favored real estate and chattel capital lenders who serve the real estate asset class.

In the meantime, preparations have already begun for this superb networking, educational and deal-making event! 20 seminar presenters and panelists are readying their ‘talk outlines’, and just this week, COBA7 affiliates were mailed National Public Forum worksheets for the two topics to be presented and parsed on 9/11/2014:

• Future of manufactured housing as ‘housing’ versus ‘trailer’ heritage

• Future of land-lease-lifestyle communities as ‘lifestyle’ & ‘investments’

Who’s interested in these two mega-topics? Evidently ‘everyone’! Already, even before aforesaid roundtable brochures are ready for distribution, we’re receiving inquiries from academics, federal agencies, housing lobbyists, HUD-Code home manufacturers, as well as businessmen and women, praising us for finally doing something ‘many’ feel should have been done ‘years ago’. Will YOU be present for these historic National Public Forums?

As it stands, the worksheets cover both topics separately, with basic concepts and present day MH-related realities displayed in outline fashion, with room for COBA7 affiliates (Who hail from every segment of the MHIndustry & LLLCommunity asset class, by the way!) to append additions, recommend deletions, and more. By the time we arrive at the DOLCE Conference Center in Peachtree City, GA., in early September, the nationally known presenters, ‘working’ these two topics, will have rich material with which to work.

SO, if you really want to ensure an ‘invite’ to this exciting annual event known for its’ superb networking, invaluable education, and unique deal-making opportunities, phone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764 and request a descriptive Networking Roundtable brochure ASAP! Also beginning to seek out sponsors for this year’s event. Interested?

***

George Allen, CPM & MHM Box # 47024, Indpls, IN. 46247 (317) 346-7156

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