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

July 27, 2016

HR5302; Big 3-C Mfr. Ads; & MHAlive!

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 6:07 am

Blog # 407 Copyright 2016 COBA7® @ 31 July 2016, community-investor.com

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 Commu9nity 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!’

INTRODUCTION. What follows here, are a couple of the salient and pithy topics scheduled for open discussion at Monday’s (1 August 2016) MHAlive! ‘Think Tank’ session in the library of the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN! Even as you read these lines, it’s not too late to participate. Just be in the library before 9AM, when we start with ‘manufactured housing’, and at 10:15AM when we switch to LLLCommunity matters until 11:30AM. No fee to attend. Just come with an open mind and willingness to ‘think inside & outside the box’ relative to industry/asset class issues and challenges! Hope to see you there. Phone (317) 346-7156 to let me know you’re coming. Thanks, GFA

I.

Why Don’t ‘Big 3-C, HUD-Code Home Manufacturers’ Advertise Large, Like the Major Automobile Brands?

Reacting to a headline in his local business press, which read: ’Home sales are at the fastest pace in years!’, a land-lease-lifestyle community owner, queried his business associates: “A question for others higher up the chain than me: Why aren’t MH sales, of our affordable housing product, matching this trend? Is it interest rates or something else beyond our control?” Hmm. Good question.

To which, one of his fellow LLLCommunity owners replied:

“Here’s my take on the matter. People don’t buy what they don’t know about! What other industry produces and sells a product whose target market amounts to 100,000,000 US consumers, but does not have a national advertising campaign? Reminds me of the definition of insanity.*1 Don’t look to either of ‘our national advocacy organizations’ to organize, promote, & execute a national (advertising) program – they are ONLY national lobbyists. A good part of what we all now pay for ‘dues’, on the new homes we buy, should start going to another organization, one that handles a national brand advertising program! The $100.00 floor fee, on each of the 70,544 new HUD-Code homes shipped during 2015, would have funded $7,054,400.00 to this end! While that amount would not buy many Super Bowl ads, it would surely generate a heck of a lot more manufactured housing product awareness than we have now!”

But is that the whole story? No it’s not; nor do I think we’ll ‘answer the leading question’ in this op/ed piece; however, some historical statistical background data might set the stage for the transfer of national brand advertising dollars away from Washington lobbyists, in toto or via each of the Big 3-C firms, to a marketing entity capable, experienced, and motivated to bring maximum product exposure to the manufactured housing industry! Here’s the data.

Remember last week’s ‘first time ever published’ stats describing HUD-Code home manufacturers 38 year consolidation, between 1977 and year end 2015?

• In 1977, the Top 25 ‘mobile home’ firms shipped 70 percent, or 186,462 new homes of the 265,651 manufactured that year! Consolidated national MH brand advertising did not occur that year, and it’s doubtful it ever will, when more than two dozen ‘players’(corporate egos) must agree with ad design and placement.

• In 2015, the ‘Big 3-C’ HUD-Code firms*2 shipped 71+/- percent, or 50,086 new homes of the 70,544 manufactured that year! Consolidated national MH brand advertising still has not occurred, but certainly makes more sense, now there’re but ‘three’ decision-makers, and not 25. However, to do so, two of the ‘players’ must overcome concerns about further consolidation; and all three, in the past, have worried (rightly or wrongly?) about smaller home manufacturers benefitting from their largesse.

As an industry, we already know we’re 16 years into a major business model paradigm shift – where LLLCommunity owners/operators are rapidly supplanting independent (street) MHRetailers as major purchasers of new HUD-Code homes, often Community Series Homes, from manufacturers. As you’ll likely recall, in 2009, when the MHIndustry hit its’ shipment nadir (lowest point ever), only 25% of new HUD-Code homes went into LLLCommunities nationwide. That percentage blossomed to 40% by year end 2015; and some say, we’ll likely hit 75% by year 2020. No wonder, pundits are calling this the NEW ERA for Manufactured Housing!

That said, the ‘Big 3-C HUD-Code home manufacturers’, in this veteran industry observer’s opinion, should want to ‘Get the word out!’, as suggested by the first LLLCommunity owner quoted at the beginning of this piece. After all, LLLCommunity owners/operators are now commonly referred to as being the ‘New Breed of MHRetailer & Lender’. ADVERTISE MORE & Get the traffic a-coming into Salescenters, off and on-site, in these properties coast to coast. This ‘NEW ERA of Manufactured Housing’ is entering a tender stage, where it will further blossom (with aid of national advertising) or stall – given the continued difficulty of accessing chattel capital. Which will it be?

The major stumbling blocks to national brand advertising? Apparent lack of such advertising expertise among the ‘Big 3-C firms’, and lack of a national trade body skilled at orchestrating an aggressive, collective, first ever, national ad campaign! With that said, however, beware those who’ll surely step forward, after reading this op/ed, and offer their services. The acid test = If they’re so GOOD, about what they offer to do, they’d be doing it now with a flair, for themselves, and or another company or companies.…

End Notes.

1. Definition of insanity attributed to Albert Einstein: “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”

2. Big 3-C HUD-Code home manufacturing firms: Clayton Homes, Cavco Industries, Champion Home Builders

II.

SO, What do YOU Know about HR5301, the Seller Finance Enhancement Act?

The HR5301 legislative initiative has taken MHI, MHARR, & COBA7® by surprise! As I pen these words, on 26 July, all of us are scrambling to sort out the content of this bill to ascertain:

Is it indeed the proverbial and much-needed ‘silver bullet’ for small to mid-sized LLLCommunity owners/operators (i.e. making seller finance transactions OK for ‘mobile homes’ but limited to 24 per year), or is it just another false start to come down the legislative highway during the past decade or so?

In the meantime, to learn more about it, go to www.sellerfinancecoalition.org/learn-more

And continue to rely on this weekly BEBA (Blast Email Blog Alert) and blog posting to keep you informed of matters just like this.

III.

MHAlive! ‘Think Tank’ on 1 August at RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, Indiana

This is why you’re receiving this weekly blog posting four days early; to give you one last chance to beat feet to Elkhart, IN., on Sunday 31 July, to be in place at 9AM Monday morning, in the library of the RV/MH Hall of Fame (21565 Executive Parkway), to participate in the manufactured housing industry’s inaugural MHAlive! – a ‘Think Tank’ experience for anyone in the industry or realty asset class who wants to participate and engage in open discussion of industry issues and other matters. No fee. Just phone (317) 346-7156 to let me now to expect you.

This is the ‘real deal’ and a ‘real $ deal’ for you! Up until a year or so ago, the Urban Land Institute’s Manufactured Housing Communities Council (‘MHCC’) convened in similar fashion, a couple times each year – but you had to be a member or invitee to attend, and even then, it cost one upwards of $1,000 – 2,000 to participate! MHAlive!, again, is FREE, to MHIndustry & LLLCommunity aficionados. Will you be present?

So, what’re we going to be talking about that morning? The preliminary agenda, published in this blog series a few weeks ago, remains unchanged.

MANUFACTURED HOUSING

• Status of chattel capital & Duty to Serve rulemaking – with emphasis on ‘lack of creative thought to date’ = “a conspiracy theory busman’s holiday”; status of MHI’s bill; & more on HR5301.

• Are one or more forms of hybrid chattel capital on the horizon for the MHIndustry? This seminar description from the 25th anniversary Networking Roundtable, hints: “Wise business people look at where they’re already having success, and try to do more of it! There’s one company in the LLLCommunity business, currently operating with Fannie Mae ‘home only’ loan product in some of their properties. How does it work? What are the key elements of the program? Is it a new model for ‘home only ‘loan production with the GSEs?” No details at MHAlive!, just promise of ‘what’s to come’….

• Status of DOE energy regs and when to expect ‘net zero energy use’ MHomes? (Hint: 2020 in CA). COBA7® was at recent DOE public hearings & will share some startling observations about attendees and the proceedings. Not a pretty picture.

• Finally. Able to quantify the $ impact MHProduction (alone) has on the national economy, Come and learn the secret sauce (Hasn’t been written about by anyone else yet…)

• Corporate consolidation. The topic of last week’s and beginning of this week’s blog postings…

• ‘Two Days of Plant Tours & Home Sales Seminars’. Two exciting announcements!

• Be aware & beware HUD-Code home shipments numbers being reported differently by IBTS, HUD, MHARR, COBA7®, vs. MHI. Why does this self-immolation continue?

OK, those are the manufactured housing topics. And there’re seven more, relative to the LLLCommunity asset class, but we won’t go into them here.

Decide now whether you want to swoop to Elkhart, IN., over the weekend to participate in MHAlive!

Besides phoning me, consider hanging around the rest of the day to attend the RV/MH Hall of Fame Induction Banquet that evening. To make a reservation and buy banquet tickets, phone (574) 293-2344. Hope to see you there!

***

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

July 23, 2016

Never before published MHIndustry statistics!

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 10:05 am

Blog # 406 Copyright 2016 COBA7® @ 24 July 2016; community-investor.com/blog

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!’

INTRODUCTION. Our office phone continues to ring, as callers inquire about last week’s blog’s thinly-veiled description of a shadow agenda affecting manufactured housing, specifically within the home manufacturing and chattel capital finance segments. This week? DISTRIBUTION & CONSOLIDATION trend stats never before published! And finally, the ice may be breaking around FHFA’s Duty to Serve (‘DTS’) rulemaking ice dam.

I.

MHAlive! Presages Networking Roundtable

(a.k.a. 2016 Chattel Capital Summit)

1 August & 7-9 September, are shaping up as two highly important dates during year 2016, for cerebral consideration of manufactured housing’s recent past, present, and near future Zeitgeist (‘spirit of the time’), summarized as the NEW ERA for HUD-Code manufactured housing.

MHAlive! occurs the morning of 1 August, from 9-11:30AM in the library of the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN – the same day ten RV & MH industry leaders and pioneers will be inducted into the prestigious RV/MH Hall of Fame! No charge to attend MHAlive, just phone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764 to let us know you plan to attend. For RV/MH Hall of Fame banquet tickets, phone (574) 293-2344. Location for both events? 21565 Executive Parkway, Elkhart, IN. 46514.

25th anniversary Networking Roundtable. Occurs 7-9 September, at the Gaylord Opryland Resort Hotel & Conference Center in Nashville, TN. Event brochure attached to BEBA (Blast Email Blog Alert) announcing this blog posting. Or phone the MHIndustry HOTINE & request a hard copy be mailed to you ASAP.

So, what’s the Big Deal about ‘manufactured housing’s recent past, present, and near future Zeitgeist’, a.k.a. NEW ERA for HUD-Code manufactured housing?

In retrospect (‘contemplation of the past’) it’s SIMPLE; however, looking forward, it’s also COMPLICATED and unpredictable….

DISTRIBUTION.

First example. Manufactured housing’s now 16 year paradigm shift, relative to DISTRIBUTION of its’ shelter products; and WHY?

Well known today, is the disappearance of 10,000+/- ‘independent (street) MHRetailers’ (By the way, do you know freelance consultant Bill Carr is the one who coined that descriptive term?), but not ‘company stores’, from the distribution system for HUD-Code manufactured homes. And how, today, they’ve been replaced in large part – but certainly not completely, by land-lease-lifestyle community (‘LLLCommunity’) ‘owners/operators’ (A term originated by David Helfand, formerly with ELS, Inc. & ARC portfolios) selling and oft seller-financing new homes on-site! You know ‘the numbers’: 25% of shipments into LLLCommunities during 2009; 40+% in 2015; and, an estimated 75% by year 2020.

What precipitated the paradigm shift? Suicidal loss of easy access to chattel capital at the turn of the 21st Century.*1 A sorry matter that continues unresolved; despite professed openness, on the part of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (‘FHFA’), and GSEs (Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac), to consider creative alternatives (one of which will be hinted at later in this blog posting) to get ‘home only’ $ chattel capital – or a hybrid form thereof, flowing to the manufactured housing industry.

CONSOLIDATION.

Then there’s CONSOLIDATION. Everyone, in the MHIndustry, ‘knows about it’, but few ‘talk about it’ much, at least not openly.

First, the REALTY segment. Between 1988 (When first ALLEN REPORT was researched; published in early 1989) and year 2016. In 1987, the TOP 25 (then) ‘mobile home park’ portfolios (owned/operated 181,705 rental homesites), then grew, through consolidation, to 500+/- portfolios throughout the U.S. & Canada – with the 120 LLLCommunity portfolios identified in the 27th ALLEN REPORT, owning/operating 841,796 rental homesites! Just imagine how many all 500+/- ‘players’ own/operate these days….

Consequences? A half dozen real estate investment trusts (‘REIT’s), but with only three in business today; multibillion dollar portfolio transactions occurring during 2016; a precipitous decline in property owner memberships within most state MHAssociations nationwide; and, formation of two national advocacy entities: MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division in early 1996, and the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance® or COBA7® in early 2014.

Then there’s the ongoing consolidation of the MANUFACTURING segment of the MHIndustry. During 1977, the TOP 25 ‘mobile home manufacturers’ (A list headed by Skyline, Fleetwood, Champion, Guerdon & Wick) shipped 186,462 new mobile homes, exactly 70 percent of national market share (265,641 total shipments during 1977)! Today, the TOP 25 firms of 1977, have been consolidated (except for Skyline) into mainly, the ‘Big 3-C’ HUD-Code home manufacturers: Clayton Homes, Inc., Cavco Industries, Inc., & Champion Home Builders, Inc. National market share for the ‘Big 3-C’ firms together? 71+/- % of 70,544 new manufactured homes shipped during 2015, with 40+/-% alone shipped by Clayton Homes, Inc.

Bottom line? 25 manufacturers shipped 70 percent of all new ‘mobile homes’ in 1977; and, three manufacturers shipped 71+/- percent of new manufactured homes during 2015. Consequences? Some good; others not so much…

These are but two of the NEW ERA Zeitgeist matters open for discussion at MHAlive! and the 25th anniversary Networking Roundtable. Will YOU be present for either or both venues?

End Note.

1. Given the opportunity, read a reprint of the Manufactured Home Merchandiser magazine classic, circa year 2000, ‘Upside Down in a Mobilehome Park’. FREE copy ‘for the asking’ when you phone (317) 346-7156 or request it via email.

II.

FHFA: Wants Duty to Serve (‘DTS’) Ideas for Serving Underserved (‘MH’) Markets!

This from a 21 July Press Release from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, titled: ‘Update on FHFA’s Proposed Rule on Duty to Serve Underserved markets’:

‘The…goal of Duty to Serve proposed rule is to increase the availability of mortgage financing in a safe and sound manner for very low, low, and moderate-income families across the country. FHFA, as regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will oversee the development of the Enterprises’ plans to meet their Duty to Serve Requirements.”

And this, a Networking Roundtable presenter’s description of the topic he address on 8 September in Nashville, TN:

“Wise business people look at where they’re already having success and try to do more of it! There’s one company in the LLLCommunity business that’s currently operating with Fannie Mae ‘home only’ loan product in some of their communities. How does it work? What are the key elements of the program? Is it possibly a model for a ‘home only’ loan program with both GSEs?”

You’ll have to be present for this session to learn the details from a CEO who’s creatively answering the FHFA’s Duty to Serve challenge! Perhaps more will follow his lead after the roundtable event ends…

Phone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764 for a brochure describing the agenda for this 25th anniversary Networking Roundtable, 7-9 September, in Nashville, TN.

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

July 15, 2016

COBA7 Goes to Washington; New Top Ten List; &, MHAlive!

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 4:41 am

Blog # 405 Copyright 2016 COBA7® @ 17 July 2016; community-investor.com/blog

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 HOTINE: (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!’

INTRODUCTION.

COBA7® ‘Goes to Washington’; Creates New ‘Top Ten List’ of HUD-Code Home Shippers; and, Refines ‘MHAlive! Think Tank Agenda’ for 1 August morning session at RV/MH Hall of Fame library, in Elkhart, IN.

I.

COBA7® Goes to Washington!

‘No one in Washington, DC., knows what a land-lease lifestyle community is, let alone a manufactured home community – only a ‘mobile home park’!’

Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance® traveled to our nation’s capitol twice during the past few months to participate in public meetings hosted by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (‘FHFA’), and the Department of Energy (‘DOE’). In the first instance, proposed Duty to Serve (‘DTS’) rulemaking, relative to chattel capital and LLLCommunity finance were the foci. This past week at DOE, the focus was on ‘energy conservation standards proposed rulemaking for manufactured housing’.

Here are my ‘takeaways’ from both meetings; in the first instance (#1) ‘seasoned’ by the passage of time (a few weeks) and confidential conversations; and this week, (#2) the stark realization no one is aggressively representing the business interests of our unique income-producing realty asset class!

(#1) Try this on for size. Federal regulatory agencies and GSEs are appear frustrated at the manufactured housing industry’s reluctance & reticence to suggest new or even past, creative or mundane, means & ways, to start or increase, the flow of chattel capital from new or renewed sources (e.g. local lenders of various types) to fund loans on new home sales occurring within land-lease-lifestyle communities nationwide! It appears the chattel capital status quo, presently enriching a couple large, well-positioned & politically savvy firms, will not be challenged, let alone supplanted, by national advocates claiming to represent the manufactured housing industry at large.

The sole ‘breath of creatively fresh $ air’ occurred when Freddie Mac recently guaranteed a $3,600,000.00 mortgage on an ROC (resident-owned community) in CA

Point? This is a first time, one-off finance happenstance (‘fortuitous happening’) that could likely be replicated in the ‘home only finance’ arena with some creative thought!.

If you’d like to dig deeper into this alleged marginalization of DTS rulemaking, be present at the MHAlive! Think Tank session, 1 August at the RV/MH Hall of Fame library in Elkhart, IN.; and or the ‘2016 Chattel Capital Summit’ as part of the 25th anniversary Networking Roundtable at the Gaylord Opryland Resort Hotel & Conference Center in Nashville, TN., on 7-9 September 2016. For info on both, phone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764.

(#2) When HUD-Code housing manufacturers start adding $2,000 – $4,000 to the wholesale price of every new singlesection & multisection manufactured home – to implement new energy conservation standards, LLLCommunity owners/operators (selling said homes on-site) will surely ask: ‘When, how and why did this happen?’ Know what the answer has to be? ‘Between 2007 & 2016, at the behest of the federal government, working with energy conservation and manufactured housing advocacy groups, but with no one truly representing the business interests (i.e. MHSales efficacy & profitability) of LLLCommunity owners/operators!’

Read kinda harsh? It was meant to be. Why? Before COBA7® attended the DOE public hearing on 13 July 2016 in Washington, DC., the 20+/- bureaucrats there, from DOE, HUD, MHI, MHARR, SBRA, DOJ & others, had no idea more than 10,000 independent (street) MHRetailers (‘distribution’ arm of the MHIndustry) had gone ‘out of business’ since the turn of the 21st Century (exceptions oft being those who also owned LLLCommunities). Nor did they know how this unique, income-producing property type is fast becoming the primary wholesale purchaser of newly-built HUD-Code homes, i.e. 25% of shipments in 2009, 40+% in 2015; and an estimated 75% by year 2020! – and who will bear the brunt, along with their homebuying/site lessee customers, of new, questionable ‘energy conservation standards’ product up-costs and prices!

Seriously. This is a working group who, until 13 July 2016, was using 2014 shipment data (60,000 units shipped) in their decision-making, until COBA7® informed them the very next year, 2015, saw no fewer than 70,544 new HUD-Code homes shipped from factories – a clear indication the MHIndustry was working its’ way back to prosperity! And how this is the wrong time to add to product cost!

And there’s more, but it’ll have to wait for time to put all the pieces together for you.

If you’re an Option III affiliate of COBA7®, expect to receive a copy of the five page, single-spaced after-action report submitted by COBA7® to the DOE, making this important point among others.

II.

COBA7® Creates New ‘Top Ten’ List!

EDITORIAL NOTE. COBA7® expanded its’ statistical research & reporting scope, from the LLLCommunity arena into manufactured housing production & distribution ONLY after an MH national advocacy body, during the Spring of 2015, imitated – and continues to do so, the (then) 26 year running ALLEN REPORT. Since that time, COBA7® has exposed & explained the unfortunate difference in reporting of monthly new HUD-Code housing shipment totals supplied by the Institute of Building Technology & Safety (‘IBTS’), and parroted by HUD, MHARR, & COBA7®, but not MHI. What follows here, is the debut of a third new MHIndustry statistical reference. George Allen, CPM & MHM

The Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (‘MHARR’) routinely prepares and publishes a proprietary Top Ten List featuring new HUD-Code home shipments “…from the beginning of the industry production rebound (from) August 2011 thru May 2016, with cumulative, current year (2016) and prior year (2015) shipments….’ For example,

1. Texas 59,612 new HUD-Code homes to date (2011-2016)
2. Louisiana 20,929
3. Florida 17,647
4. N. Carolina 12,719
5. Alabama 12,700
6. Mississippi 11,538
7. California 11,091
8. Kentucky 10,920
9. Tennessee 9,046
10. Oklahoma 8,366

The latest IBTS information, for May 2016, resulted in ‘no change’ to this cumulative list

COBA7®, however, believes ‘an inquiring business public’ would like to know, from month to month, which are the Top Ten new HUD-Code home shipment states going forward, unaffected by past performance. Hence the new ‘Top Ten’ List of states shipping the most new HUD-Code homes:

1. Texas 1,096 new HUD-Code homes shipped during May 2016
2. Florida 434
3. Louisiana 403
4. Alabama 377
5. Michigan 309
6. N. Carolina 273
7. California 265
8. S. Carolina 258
9. Mississippi 252
10. Kentucky 210

The latest IBTS information, for May 2016, indicates the total number of new HUD-Code homes shipped to be 6,780; up from 6,689 new HUD-Code homes shipped during April 2016.

Bottom line? By default & design, the task of researching & compiling helpful MHIndustry & LLLCommunity statistics & data is being handled by the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance®. So, if not already affiliated with COBA7®, consider doing so today, joining hundreds of manufactured housing aficionados from throughout the U.S. and Canada. See introduction to this blog posting for details. GFA

III.

MHAlive! ‘Think Tank Agenda for 1 August 2016

We continue to refine the 14 point agenda (7 @ MHIndustry & 7 @ LLLCommunity) to be presented and parsed during MHAlive!, from 9Am – 11:30AM, at the RV/MH Hall of Fame library, 1 August 2016. Will share the detailed agenda with you next week, 24 July, in that Sunday blog posting.

For now, know MHIndustry executives & LLLCommunity owners, from CA, CO, GA, and the Midwest, have already indicated their intention to participate in the two sessions. There’s no fee; just request you let us know, via (317) 346-7156, or via email, of your intention to be present at 9AM that morning.

To purchase tickets to that evening’s RV/MH Hall of Fame Induction Banquet, phone (574) 293-2344. You’ll be glad you attended – along with 400-700 of our peers. Me too!

July 9, 2016

MHAlive!, 2016 Chattel Capital Summit, & Shipment Stats…

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 4:51 am

Blog # 404 Copyright 2016 COBA7® @ 10 July 2016: community-investor.com/blog

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!’

INTRODUCTION. Parts I & II = ‘MHAlive!’ @ RV/MH Hall of Fame, & ‘2016 Chattel Capital Summit’ @ 25th anniversary International Networking Roundtable, in August & September. Two ‘Must Participate’ MHEvents in Indiana & Tennessee!

Part III. Official MHShipments @ May 2016 per IBTS, HUD, MHARR, & COBA7®

I.

‘MHAlive!’Taking Shape as 1 August Nears

“It happened in Elkhart in the RV/MH library, with the colonel using a cane-mounted steel hitchball purloined from a 1970s era DeRose singlewide mobile home.”

Opening line from a new murder mystery set in northern Indiana?

No, it’s a ‘tease’, to entice you to spend Monday morning and early afternoon, 1 August, in the library at the RV/MH Hall of Fame – with George Allen. Doing what? Publicly parsing and discussing sensitive, key MHIndustry & LLLCommunity matters, issues, legislation, regulatory concerns, and more….

There is no registration fee to participate in MHAlive! But we only have room, in the library, for a dozen or so participants. So, if you know now you plan to attend MHAlive!, email us or phone (317) 346-7156 and let us know.

Know too, there is a fee to attend the Hall of Fame induction banquet that evening – honoring 10 RV/MH industry pioneers and leaders!. To make a dinner reservation, phone (574) 293-2344. Location for both events is 21565 Executive Parkway, Elkhart, IN. Expecting more than 400 businessmen and women to attend the induction banquet.

OK, so what’s taking place at MHAlive! ? It’s simple and straightforward:

HUD-Code manufactured housing matters, issues, legislation, regulatory concerns, etc..
@ 9-10:15AM

• Status of chattel capital and Duty to Serve rulemaking

• Are one or more forms of hybrid chattel capital on the horizon for MHIndustry?

• Status of DOE energy regs & when to expect ‘net zero energy use’ MHousing?

• Finally, quantification of the $ impact of MHProduction on the national economy

• How much more corporate consolidation before federal regulators start inquiring?

• ‘Two Days of Plant Tours & Home Sales Seminars’. A new regional MHShow!

• Beware HUD-Code shipment #s at odds with IBTS, HUD, MHARR, & COBA7®

That’s the ‘working list’ now. It might change before 1 August arrives. Anything you’d like to see added, deleted, changed on that list? If so, phone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764. And again, let us know if you plan to attend.

Land-lease-lifestyle community (a.k.a. manufactured home community) matters, issues, regulatory concerns, etc.
10:15-11:30AM

• ‘Chattel Capital Summit’ occurs 8 & 9 September. Six + presentations scheduled!

• CSH Models = 25% into LLLCommunities @ 2009; 40+% @ 2015; 75% by 2020

• Beware regional site rent surveys sans all LLLCommunities in local housing mkt.

• ‘YES! Communities’ going Chinese? ‘Sun Communities’ going RV?

• Beware misleading imitation of the ALLEN REPORT ; 28th edition @ 1 January

• How to effect changes to ‘overtime regulations’ relative to property managers?

No host luncheon off-site @ 11:30 – 12:30PM.

‘Mini-Writers’ Conference’ in the RV/MH Hall of Fame library. A no fee, no reservation event, for RV/MH industry businessmen and women @ 12:30-1:30PM. Come and meet with MHIndustry historian and publisher, to learn how to get your story told via…

‘Beginning One’s Memoirs & Autobiography’, a.k.a. preserving one’s personal & corporate legacy, like Alvin Schrader did in ‘No Respect At All…’ A PATH TO MILLION$. Have you read it yet? It’s on sale at the RV/MH Hall of Fame store. Or phone (317) 346-7156 to order a copy for only $25.00 postpaid. $20.00 of the book purchase is donated by the author, to the RV/MH Hall of Fame!

MHAlive! Will end between 1:30 & 2:00PM, so RV/MH Hall of Fame members can attend the reception being given in their honor at the RV/MH museum.
.

II.

2016 Chattel Capital Summit, to date….

Attend the 25th anniversary of the International Networking Roundtable, 7-9 September, at the Gaylord Opryland Resort Hotel & Conference Center in Nashville, TN., and participate in the following Six Significant Chattel Capital Summit Events:

• Traditional chattel capital = keynote presenter, Tim Williams of 21st Mortgage

• Chattel capital & ‘Duty to Serve’ = panel comprised of reps from GSEs & FHFA

• Hybrid chattel capital = lecturer committed and will be identified at event proper

• Lease-Option = Fast growing new home methodology, Spencer Roane, MHM®

• Clayton, Cavco, Champion $ spokespersons will be present to answer questions.

• Community Series Homes into LLLCommunities = Keith Anderson, Champion

And Yes, there’s even more being planned, but this should well whet your appetite to be present, as we ‘make history’ parsing what’s happening now, and preparing for what’s about to occur in the near future, chattel capital wise, for the manufactured housing industry & LLLCommunity asset class! No conscientious MHIndustry businessman or woman will miss this seminal event!

BOTTOM LINE. We’re 16 years into the ‘turn of the 21ST Century paradigm shift’, where widespread abuse of chattel capital made it ‘go away & stay away’ (Read ‘Upside Down in a Mobile Home Park’*); 10,000+/- independent (street) MHRetailers have gone out of business (Unless they owned one or more MHCommunities); and, 500+/- portfolio owners/operators of land-lease-lifestyle communities now routinely buy, sell, seller-finance, even lease new HUD-Code, oft Community Series Homes (a.k.a. CSH Models) on-site! You simply can’t summarize the past 16 years any simpler than that! So, plan to be at the 25th International Networking Roundtable in September. Phone (317) 346-7156 to register and or request a descriptive brochure, complete with agenda and hotel information.

End Note. For a FREE copy of a reprint of that now classic Manufactured Home Merchandiser article (‘Upside Down in a Mobile Home Park!’), phone (317) 346-7156 and request it. Frankly, it should be ‘required reading’ for anyone who’s come into the MHIndustry since the year 2000!

III.

May 2016 MHShipment Total
per IBTS, HUD, MHARR, & COBA7®

Institute for Building Technology & Safety, HUD, MHARR, & COBA7® report 6,780 new HUD-Code homes shipped during May 2016, up from 6,689 shipped during April; boosting total to 32,570 YTD! Do not be misled. HUD, MHARR, COBA7® & MHI all pay for this monthly data from IBTS; only one national advocate reports it differently.

And, 2015 HUD-Code ‘manufactured housing production only’, at 70,544 units, contributed an estimated $3,045,313,936 to the national economy! Per formula introduced June 2016 by Dr. Stephen C. Cooke of the Alward Institute for Collaborative Science, i.e. base year 2013 @ $2,600,00 divided by 60,228 units = $43,169/unit.

An increasing number of businesses and government agencies rely on COBA7® for their MHIndustry & LLLCommunity information. Don’t be left out; affiliate with COBA7® via Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4763. Research begins soon on 28th annual ALLEN REPORT, a.k.a. ‘Who’s Who Among LLLCommunity Portfolio Owners/operators Throughout North America!’

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

July 2, 2016

New Overtime Regs, MHALive! & yellow journalism

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 5:22 am

Blog # 403 Copyright 2016 COBA7® @ 3 July 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!’

INTRODUCTION: 1) New Overtime Regulation, for salaried employees. News to you? Prepare to be shocked! 2) And MHAlive!? Read this, and if YOU want to participate, let me know ASAP! 3) Two WARNINGS: one protects your computer from invasion & personal data theft! The other one? Latest example of yellow press – ‘Journalism that exploits, distorts, or exaggerates the news to create sensations and attract readers.’

I.

New Overtime Regulations…

On 1 December 2016, Salary threshold Changes to $47,476/year.

This affects almost all salaried property managers of land-lease-lifestyle communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities)! How so?

Recalling, only 15 percent of 50,000+/- LLLCommunities in the U.S. have more than 100 rental homesites, know it takes – depending on site rental rate, at least 290 rental homesites to generate enough income to pay an on-site administrative property manager ‘PM’ who is not performing maintenance duties, $47,000 annual salary in accords with new regs. For example: 290 sites X $300/month rent X 12 months X 4.5 percent OER* (.045) = $46,980.

*OER = Operating Expense Ratio per Industry Standard Chart of Operating Accounts; specifically, 4.5% administrative PM per Allen Model.

Salary total can be, I’m told, a combination of salary, concessioned housing and utilities, as well as commissions, and possibly, other forms of compensation.

Some LLLCommunity owners have already converted salaried on-site managers to hourly workers. Watch here for further details. MHI’s National Communities Council division is also working on this pending change. For more information, phone (703_ 558-0666.

For a FREE copy of above-referenced COBA7® Industry Standard Chart of Operating Accounts, containing OERs for LLLCommunities, phone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764 and request it.

II.

MHAlive!

We’ve been talking about this, off and on, during the past couple months – beginning during the inaugural Two Days of Plant Tours & Home Sales Seminars at the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN. Well, many of us (maybe 600) are about to gather there again on 1 August 2016, for the annual RV/MH Hall of Fame Induction Banquet. If you haven’t yet bought your ticket, phone (574) 293-2344 ASAP!

Originally I planned to spend the morning of 1 August, leading group discussions about MHIndustry issues and LLLCommunity matters. Then head off to a no host luncheon together. And in the early afternoon, spend an hour or so, leading a (free) mini-writing seminar, focused on preserving personal and corporate legacies. Think Al Schrader’s recent autobiography: ‘No Respect At All…A PATH TO MILLION$’ By the way, Al’s book is on sale at the RV/MH Hall of Fame store.

Well, though we’ve received some inquiries about the morning MHAlive! agenda, the consensus has become, ‘Let’s wait until we all get to the 25th anniversary International Networking Roundtable, at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN., 7-9 September 2016’. Why?

A ‘near perfectly (good) storm’ appears to be a –brewing, as the top chattel capital firms, FHFA, both GSEs, and 200 practitioners (i.e. LLLCommunity owners/operators) make their way to this annual event. Hybrid finance alternatives is even on the schedule this year! So, use brochure attached to the BEBA (Blast Email Blog Alert) announcing this week’s blog, to register. Seating is indeed limited this year….

Bottom line? I will be in the RV/MH Hall of Fame library by 10AM on 1 August – earlier if folk want to meet and ‘talk shop’ (Phone 317/346-7156 or email me via gfa7156@aol.com). Would like to ‘do lunch’, around 11:30AM, with several businessmen and women. And then, after lunch, until 1:30PM or so, host the mini-writer’s conference. Why stop at 1:30PM? There’ll be a private reception then, for all past and new RV/MH Hall of Fame inductees and board members.

How can you not want to be in Elkhart, IN., on 1 August? Just about ‘anyone who’s anybody’ in the MHIndustry & LLLCommunity asset class will be present!

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III.

Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning!

Beware ‘FREE download’ offer of How to Find, Buy, Manage, & Sell a Manufactured Home Community!

As author of that 500 page copyrighted text, I assure you there is No Free Download – it’s a ploy to gain access to, and steal information from your computer.

For that matter, the book, published in 1996 by J. Wiley & Sons, New York, is out of print! Long touted as the bible of manufactured home community investment, with thousands of copies sold – the material is now two decades old. However, most of the investment and management principles remain valid, guiding one’s experience with the unique, income-producing property type. If you’d like a FREE copy of the four page syllabus I used to teach that heady subject, over the years, simply phone the above-referenced COBA7® number and ask for it. Used copies of this book are often available online at amazon.com

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Be aware & beware a rogue reporter representing the (‘self-proclaimed’) ‘industry’s leading professional trade publication’. The faux journalist, in a yellow press release, criticizes, without documented specifics, manufactured housing’s largest national advocacy entity – for not performing in the manner he expects; and allegedly desired by (unnamed) members of said body. Commentator goes on to suggest the ‘launch (of) a new trade organization to promote the industry’s interests.’

Well, The Journal, the Allen Letter professional journal, & the Allen CONFIDENTIAL! remain the only three ‘leading’ print professional trade publications serving the manufactured housing industry and land-lease-lifestyle community (a.k.a. manufactured home community) realty asset class. Why leading? Because all three have been published and supported by the MHIndustry & LLLCommunities, for a minimum of two decades apiece, three decades in the case of The Journal None of these is the publication alluded to in the previous paragraph.

There are two national advocacy bodies representing manufactured housing today: the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’) & the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (‘MHARR’). The Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance® or COBA7®, focuses on the statistical, information, communication, networking, deal-making, PM training/certification, & national advocacy needs of LLLCommunities nationwide and in Canada! The rogue reporter is likely not a member of MHARR (It accepts only HUD-Code housing manufacturers), nor an affiliate of COBA7®. And given MHI held a national meeting in Indianapolis, IN., this past week, with 100+/- members in attendance, was this reporter present, to gather information for this yellow press release, and or to make his views known? Probably not.

As far as launching a new national manufactured housing trade association is concerned, memory recalls this individual being highly vocal against similar plans a few years ago. Causes one to ponder the motivation behind this new suggestion. Perhaps “Follow the money!” a catchphrase popularized in the 1976 movie, All the President’s Men, applies.

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