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

June 24, 2016

COBA7 Hits Stride Big Time!

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 6:17 am

Blog # 402 Copyright 2016 COBA7® @ 26 June 2016; community-investor.com website

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 the sole national advocacy voice, official ombudsman & historian,
research reporter & online communication media for North American LLLCommunities!

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 =
‘Not only inform & opine, but transform & improve MHBusiness Model Performance!’

COBA7® Hits Stride Big Time!

While all ‘seven parts’ of the alliance’s core mission remain intact and active, refinements thereof, and a ‘new presence’, enhance COBA7®’s increasingly vital and involved role on the national manufactured housing and land-lease-lifestyle community business scene….

Yes, COBA7® continues to do and provide the following important products and services to LLLCommunity owners/operators throughout the U.S. and Canada:

• Ongoing statistical research, beginning with the seminal ALLEN REPORT (a.k.a. ‘Who’s Who Among LLLCommunity Portfolio Owners/operators Throughout North America!). And frankly, since one national MHIndustry advocate persists in misreporting monthly shipments of new HUD-Code homes (i.e. different from the total published by the Institute for Building Technology & Safety), more national agencies are coming to COBA7® foraccurate data pertaining to manufactured housing and the realty asset class.

• Updating & distribution of ‘more than a dozen’ Signature Series Resource Documents, or SSRDs, usually as lagniappes in the Allen Letter professional journal. Yet another example of where federal regulators, GSEs, and agencies, now ask COBA7® to list them in one or more of the alliance’s popular directories, as they’re updated monthly.

• COBA7®’s weekly blog posting (‘What you’re reading here’) and two monthly print business newsletters are increasingly in demand as the alliance’s affiliate base grows in number. And given the dearth of advertiser-supported trade publications serving the manufactured housing industry these days, watch for an increasing number of paid display ads within the Allen Letter professional journal during the coming months. And the Allen CONFIDENTIAL! Newsletter? More senior executives and large portfolio owners/operators now rely on its’ confidential ‘advance’ news than ever before!

• Superb interpersonal networking opportunities are still a hallmark of COBA7®. The upcoming 25th anniversary Networking Roundtable, 7-9 September, at the Gaylord Opryland resort hotel in Nashville, TN., promises to be the ‘biggest & best ever’, given the special lineup of presenters and timely, controversial, contemporary MHIndustry topics! Once again, the GSEs & FHFA will be present on a public discussion panel.

• Deal-making, of course, is part and parcel to the annual Networking Roundtable, as virtually every national real estate broker, specializing in LLLCommunities, is present for the Investors Symposium, Wednesday afternoon (7 September), thru to the end of the event.

• Professional property management certification via the popular Manufactured Housing Manager®, or MHM® program, is another of the ‘seven parts’ on the rise. Here, two MHM®s have been added to the instructor staff, as the one day class is scheduled around the U.S. No wonder there’s now 1,000+ MHM®s owning/managing LLLCommunities in the U.S. & Canada. Are you & your PMs MHM® certified yet?

• National advocacy. when need be’, includes official MH ombudsman and historian responsibilities. This is where COBA7® has seen the most growth since its’ founding, January 2014. To date, the alliance has published two history texts: Bruce Savage’s The First 20 Years! – a history of MHI’s National Communities Council division’s first two decades. And just recently, Alvin Schrader’s autobiography: ‘No Respect At All’…A PATH TO MILLION$. This latter title has been so popular, the initial print run is more than half gone! To order either or both books, along with affiliation with COBA7®, simply phone the official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764.

Finally, there’s this ‘new presence’, where COBA7®, a division of GFA Management, Inc., dba PMN Publishing, is repeatedly invited to attend agency and department meetings in Washington, DC., to represent LLLCommunity owners/operators interests nationwide. Meeting hosts’ attitude is almost always one of ‘We’ve waited a long time for you guys to be represented!’

Here’s an example of how these new working relationships have been coming together to shed new light on past and contemporary issues dealt with by the MHIndustry. By now, you’ve likely heard of the Department of Energy’s recently released rulemaking proposal. And how said mandated energy efficiencies will likely increase the price of new HUD-Code manufactured homes. Well, here’re the estimated ‘number consequences’ of the proposed DOE energy regulations for manufactured housing, courtesy of Washington-based entities now working with COBA7®

Year 2015 avg. price singlesection MH = $45,600. To this, add $2,226 estimated upcharge per DOE proposal – or $4,000 via ‘others’ estimate = $47,826 & $49,600 respectively.

Year 2015 avg. price multisection MH = $86,700. To this, add $3,109 estimated upcharge per DOE proposal – or $6,000 via ‘others’ estimate = $89,809 &$92,700 respectively.

Compare this with the Year 2015 avg. price for a stick-built home @ $360,000.

The Department of Energy will be holding a public meeting on 13 July in Washington, DC., to review said proposal. There will likely be a number of questions at that time: Why add this energy efficiency burden when HUD-Code homes are already viewed as being more energy efficient than site-built homes. And, the ‘added cost’ estimates just cited, don’t appear to include a variety of enforcement mechanisms that’ll be required to monitor implementation, e.g. testing and other regulation compliance costs.

As you can see, COBA7®, more and more, is relied upon for accurate MHIndustry statistics, informative SSRDs, reliable& newsworthy online & print news, superb networking & deal-making opportunities, professional property management training & certification, as well as a variety of national advocacy – related ombudsman & historian services, plus active participation in national matters and meetings.

Finally, if you own one or more LLLCommunities, like me, you owe it to yourself to affiliate with the only national entity (COBA7®), formed to serve the information, statistical data, networking, and communication needs of LLLCommunity ownership nationwide! No one else comes even close to supplying the array of products and services described in the previous paragraphs.

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

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