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

August 18, 2017

Manufactured Housing Conspiracy revisited; Networkng Roundtable; &, PROSPERITY NOW

Filed under: Uncategorized — George Allen @ 6:40 am

Blog # 460; Copyright 20 August 2017; at community-investor.com/blog

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 all North American LLCommunities.

To input this blog &/or affiliate with Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance, a.k.a. COBNA\7, 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 to transform & improve MHBusiness performance!
______________________________________________________________________

INTRODUCTION: Reader response to last week’s blog posting re ‘manufactured housing conspiracy’ has been nearly overwhelming and supportive. Enough so, we’ll dig a little deeper in paragraphs to follow. Are YOU registered to attend the 26th annual Networking Roundtable yet? (317) 346-7156 or via gfa7156@aol.com. And ‘Prosperity Now’, is the new name a misnomer or sending a subtle intentional message? You decide….

I.

Revisiting the ‘Manufactured Housing Conspiracy’

Have you thought any further on this heady, hapless (‘unfortunate’) matter? If not, you should. Why? Because, frankly, the immediate & distant future(s) of HUD-Code manufactured housing ‘hangs in the balance’, depending on the answer to this question:

‘WHO is going to pay for often unnecessary rental homesite foundation retrofits in land lease communities, by dint of HUD’s dictating new HUD-Code home installation standards, supposedly better than Installation Manual guidance prepared by manufacturers who engineer, fabricate and ship every new manufactured home?’

The choice among answers, as I see them, include:

1. Manufacturers of new HUD-Code homes?

2. Land lease community owners/operators?

3. ‘No one’, if HUD’s overreach is stopped in its’ tracks & SOON.

Why is this a critical, and necessary exercise in judgment and decision making?

1. In the first instance, often unnecessary but ‘required by regulation’ foundation retrofits cost at least $5,000.00 per rental homesite, an anti-affordable housing expense likely to be added to the price of every new, otherwise ‘affordable’ HUD-Code manufactured home going into a land lease community!

2. And, in the second instance, as installation consultant George Porter, and the Frost Free Foundation (‘FFF’) engineers who researched and described, in already published, and initially approved by HUD, effective methodology, ‘below the frost line’ foundations are not necessary in instances of properly drained rental homesites under manufactured homes fully and properly skirted!

Back to the pivotal question. If HUD is not ‘stopped in its’ tracks’ SOON, WHO will be paying for foundation retrofits going forward? Here’re three sobering (conspirational?) thoughts to ponder:

1. We have two national advocacy entities (Read ‘lobbyists’) in Washington, DC., both of which are primarily, if not wholly, funded by HUD-Code housing manufacturers. Their primary interest and focus is obvious.

2. At the same time, there is no Washington, DC – based national advocacy (Again, read ‘lobbyist’) entity exclusively fighting legislative and regulatory battles in behalf of land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities) nationwide! So, no primary champion, in my opinion, in Washington, DC., despite protestations to the contrary, and the occasional initiative (Thinking here of MHI & MHARR letters to HUD this past week) in our behalf.

3. There isn’t even, among all three national advocacy entities (i.e. MHI, MHARR & COBA7) one who has an executive working fulltime (e.g. lobbying) in behalf of land lease communities nationwide! How can 50,000 land lease communities nationwide be anything but a fulltime job?

So, with those present day realities in mind; again, WHO will wind up paying for foundation retrofits? It’s high time for fulltime land lease community representation, relative to political and regulatory matters, in Washington, DC.! The likely alternatives?

1) MHI’s continued reliance on part time staffing of its’ National Communities Council division, i.e. No change to the status quo! In my opinion, this is marginal representation at best. And representation will continue unchanging and unchangeable until proxy voting is permitted during NCC (election) meetings!

2) MHARR’s suggestion a new national trade entity be founded, funded by and working exclusively for, post-production segments of the manufactured housing industry in general, land lease communities in particular. A controversial idea for sure, but maybe the only way to ratchet up all post-production representation.

3) COBA7 stepping up to this challenge via, a) in partnership with MHI & its’ NCC division = unlikely; b) as nucleus of new post-production representation in Washington; or c) continuing to grow in size and influence, primarily representing land lease communities in the Midwest and elsewhere. New leadership is already materializing in IN, IL, MI, GA, & CA….

The problem is, ‘time is of the essence’. We are fortunate to have a president who’s Making America Great Again, by reducing federal government intrusion in all walks of life and commerce, but continues to battle overt and covert resistance, even offensives, from the ‘deep state’, comprised of holdovers from the previous administration and career bureaucrats in fear of being drained from the swamp of Washington, DC. politics.

So, if we (You & Me) don’t speak up forcefully and now, we deserve what is foisted upon us ( a la MHConspiracy) in the form of new home installation regulation overreach at $5,000.00 per site, likely paid for by land lease community owners/operators like thee and me!

What to do? For starters, be present at the 26th International Networking Roundtable, for land lease community owners/operators, 6-8 September, in Indianapolis (MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764. This is the third Official Input Opportunity to make your views known relative to industry/asset class matters and issues! See you there?

If not; don’t complain when the manufactured housing conspiracy turns against you!

Your fourth and final Official Input Opportunity this year, will occur the SECO Conference, in Atlanta, GA., 11 & 12 October. Visit secoconference.com

Now, here’s a telling question for you, for all of us. Will this loosely described ‘manufactured housing conspiracy’, be specifically described and discussed, relative to shortfall(s) in land lease community representation, at MHI’s annual meeting in Orlando, FL., 18 & 19 September? Call & ask: (703) 558-0400.

II.

Speaking of the 26th Networking Roundtable, an Update…

Registrations continue to arrive strongly. However, The Alexander Hotel block of rooms for this event expires tomorrow, on Monday 21 August. So, if coming to Indianapolis, phone (855) 200-3002 and make your reservation today! Identify yourself as ’26th Anniversary International Networking Roundtable’, to get our special rack rate.

Coming to the Networking Roundtable as a COBA7 affiliate? Bring your COBA7 Challenge Coin! Maybe a pleasant surprise or two in store for you…

MOBILE HOME PARK MANAGEMENT was the first book I authored, way back in 1988, for this industry and realty asset class. SWAN SONG will likely be my last. Accordingly, I have built some new and progressive features into this ‘history of the land lease community asset class; 1970 to present day; and, first Official History of MHShipments, from 1955 to present day. Such as? A metaphorical title, as you’ll see when you’re handed your FREE copy at the beginning of the event. Of course you already know this is the ‘first history ever’ of our unique, income-producing property type. More than 100 notables named in the text. I’m working on a ‘name & page # index to ease one’s names search, so you can collect autographs and bon mots while at the Roundtable! And those never-before-published stories, that grace each of the five chapters, will make for an interesting and engaging ‘read’.

III.

Prosperity Now

You’ve already read about this recent name change, from CFED*1 (‘Corporation for Enterprise Development’) to PROSPERITY NOW, in press releases, the Allen Letter professional journal and elsewhere.

Well, from the very beginning, something bothered me about the new moniker for this financial coaching national non-profit entity. Finally identified the irritant, and here it is….
In my opinion, PROSPERTIY NOW would have been better named PROSPERTIY EARNED. Think about it. In the former instance, the new name smacks of entitlement mentality and our increasingly welfare culture. It’s a demand on society for support, not a challenge to individuals to excel and earn one’s prosperity! Another way of saying it is, wealth equity is earned, not given, nor should it be taken away and or redistributed by fiat (‘decree’).

But the die is cast, and I don’t expect to see any further changes soon. But I do think there’s a quiet, albeit hidden social message, in PROSPERITY NOW. How ’bout you?

As is oft said, ‘Forewarned is forearmed!’ when Prosperity ‘Now’, not ‘earned’, comes a-calling.

End note *1. CFED cum PROSPERITY NOW based in Washington, DC., is “…dedicated to expanding economic opportunity for low-income families.

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

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