’20 Year Itch’ Responses; MHDichotomy, etc.

Blog # 246 Copyright 2013 19 May 2013

Perspective. ‘Land lease lifestyle communities, a.k.a. manufactured home communities
& earlier, ‘mobile home parks’, are the real estate component of manufactured housing.’

I.

Meetings Mish Mash This Fall; or, ‘Nothing Else to Do’?

II.

Responses to Last Week’s Blog: ‘The 20 Year Itch!’

III.

Encouraging & Disturbing Words from Assn. Executives

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I.

Meetings Mish Mash This Fall; or, ‘Nothing Else to Do’?

Spring and Fall are the most popular business meeting seasons. But it appears the HUD – Code manufactured housing industry, and its’ land lease lifestyle community (a.k.a. manufactured home community) counterpart, are going overboard this year (2013). Either there’s a super abundance of good information and industry news to share, or there’s a lot of folk with more time on their hands than work to do. The following paragraphs list the regional and national venues announced to date, so we’ll give you some tips as to where your time and energy might be best spent. For a more detailed breakout of said meeting information, read the June 2013 issue of the Allen Letter professional journal – for pricing, contact information, etc.. To subscribe, simply phone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764.

August 5, 2013. Annual RV/MH Heritage Foundation Hall of Fame Induction Banquet at the museum and library facility in Elkhart, IN. (574) 293-2344 & (800) 378-8694. If you respect our RV/MH history and legacy, you’ll be present with me at this event! Several LLLCommunity owners/operators are in this year’s Class of Hall of Fame Inductees. Are you a faithful financial supporter of the foundation? We are! Become one!

September 18 – 20, 2013. 22nd annual International Networking Roundtable for land lease lifestyle community owners/operators returns to the Hilton/Chicago Indian Lakes Resort in Bloomingdale, IL. This is the only national trade show focused on the educational (20+ seminars & panels), networking, and realty deal – making interests and needs of LLLCommunity businessmen and women! There’ll likely be new Community Series Homes or CSH Models on display. Visit community-investor.com for a brochure!

September 29 – October 1, 2013. MHI’s annual meeting in San Diego, CA., includes a meeting of the National Communities Council division.

October 8 – 10, 2013. 3rd annual SECO Symposium in Forsyth, GA. (Just south of the Atlanta airport).Unique feature here is that Southeast LLLCommunity Owners are the ones who plan and host this annual event, ensuring all the topics are of lively and current interest to the land lease lifestyle community owners/operators who attend from throughout the Southeast USA. I certainly plan to participate – again.

October 15 – 17, 2013. WMA’s annual Convention & Expo in Reno, NV. While technically a California MHAssociation event, many of the participants come from states throughout the West, hence making it a de facto regional venue.

October 16 – 18, 2013. MHI’s National Communities Council Leadership Forum in downtown Chicago, IL. (Two meetings necessary in one month?)

November 5 & 6, 2013. London Computer’s annual Rent Manager conference in Florida. This is a private, by invitation event, but one patronized by a couple hundred users of this firm’s LLLCommunity accounting software.

November 5 – 8, 2013. Urban Land Institute’s Fall Meeting in Chicago, IL. This will also be when the Manufactured Housing Communities Council convenes.

WHEW! Tired of Fall meetings yet? And I’m confident No One will be present at all these venues – especially the last four listed, since they were scheduled atop one another. And this list doesn’t include state MHAssociation meetings planned for the same time frame, e.g. New York & Florida, for starters.

Here’s something else to ‘watch for’ during the months ahead: Where Else Will We See These Regional & National Meetings Listed? Probably nowhere! Why? One or more of the sponsoring trade groups, as a matter of policy (so they say) don’t mention, let alone promote, anyone else’s meetings but their own! Let’s watch and see if I’m Right or Wrong, about this, during the weeks and months ahead. But one thing for sure: Read this Blog Posting every week and YOU get all the MHIndustry & LLLCommunity information you need; supplemented by print publications, like the Allen Letter professional journal, & the Allen CONFIDENTIAL! Business newsletters.

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II.

Responses to Last Week’s Blog: ‘The 20 Year Itch!’

Hopefully you read it. If not, maybe ‘stop here’, and scroll down through the blog archive that follows this posting at community-investor.com and read it. The following responses will make much more sense to you if you do….

“Glad to read you’re feeling well enough to reinvigorate your business – and ours. It is more important than ever, the statistics and research you publish, continue to be available. We cannot advance the (land lease lifestyle community) asset class, and move forward on initiatives discussed at the recent 2nd National MHRetailers Summit, without them! Continue to count me in your corner for any help you think I might provide.” JR

“Insightful as always and inspirational. Thank you for sharing it (blog posting) with me. I am very happy to hear you are feeling better, and this blog comes off with the energy I have come to know you for. I am looking forward to the upcoming Roundtable, and seeing you soon.” DL

“I am excited to see the Networking Roundtable date ‘later in the month’ in September and returning to Chicago. I plan on being there. And yes, I do recall the prayer times for our nation and its’ leaders (a tradition begun after the 9/11/2001 national tragedy). They’ve been a great addition to the event.” TN (And debut of a new LLLCommunity tradition is planned for this year’s 22nd annual Roundtable event. GFA)

“You have always been, and I am sure will continue, to be a great asset for our industry. Whatever direction you take, I and many others will be glad to follow.” JZ

“Good post George. I suspect ‘they’ will read between the lines! Let’s grab that brass ring!” SR

“I think it’s a good tact to keep things rolling status quo, since you are up for it. Maybe as wounds heal and new people are elected, there can be a better meeting of the minds.” JD

“I think you’ve raised the challenge here – the question I have, from a negotiating standpoint is, ‘What could _____ do to avoid a splinter group?’ You say new leadership; I say, ‘Then what?’ You’ve noted they consistently ‘steal pages from your book’ – not entirely surprising, when a savvy individual is out in front of a group, in terms of their (lesser) ability to move. The way I see it, you have a very good platform of research, publications and training; and what _____ could do, is take each one further, based on their resources, staffing, etc. That’s why I thought your offer to sell made sense. Now, with you still in the business, what’s their ‘best alternative to a negotiated agreement’?” PB

“Good post. Decision made. Go for it!” NB

Postscript.

As you can see and read, the discussion continues. Frankly, I was humbled, but not terribly surprised, that more than a dozen of my ‘friends in the MHBusiness’, ALL land lease lifestyle community ‘owners’, took the time to reach out and communicate their thoughts and ideas, regarding the subject matter of last week’s blog posting. I Thank them for that. Now? Frankly, my efforts are focused on planning and hosting the Best Networking Roundtable Ever, when we gather in Bloomingdale, IL., 18 – 20 September. Don’t wait to send in your registration! Last year we had some challenges accommodating everyone who wanted to attend; hopefully that won’t be a repeated situation this year. But YOU can ensure your ‘boat space’, as we say in the Marines, by registering NOW, for the Networking Roundtable and hotel accommodations. GFA

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III.

Encouraging & Disturbing Words from Assn. Executives

FIRST, THE ENCOURAGING WORDS.

Relative to the Uniform Manufactured Housing Act – intended to supplant vehicle titles presently used as ‘proof of ownership’ for manufactured homes sited on leased land, as in a land lease lifestyle community:

“Don’t worry (George). The state MHAssociation execs have a solid handle on the Uniform Manufactured Housing Act. We killed it, so far, in (three states) already. The Uniform Law Commission, and others, thought they could pass it over our objections. Nope. These bills are DOA (dead on arrival) at state capitols around the country. Thanks to the good work of Marc Lifset, esquire, and others, keeping us up to date on progress.” A Midwest MHAssociation executive. (lightly edited)

SECOND, THE DISTURBING WORDS.

Relative to ‘Resisting elimination of the Federal HUD Program.’ Title of a recent op/ed piece, by Danny Ghorbani, in The Journal (May 2013)

“The total elimination of the federal manufactured housing program has been a longtime goal of an unusual convergence of industry competitors, special interests and certain regulators. Their reasons and motivations may vary, but the objective is the same – ending the federal superintendence of the industry that began in 1974. Without the federal program, though, the uniform, performance – based regulation, federal preemption and uniform federal enforcement, which together ensures the unique affordability of manufactured housing, particularly for lower and moderate – income American families, would vanish.”

In this article, Mr. Ghorbani cites attempts by this ‘unusual convergence of industry competitors, special interests, and regulators’, to which I’d add: at least on covert, in – house (excusing the pun) influencer, who’ve recently effected “…an attempted diversion of a Government Accountability Office (‘GAO’) investigation of the HUD program mandated by Congress.” How so? Danny, again, cites:

• A 15 year old study by (Get this!) the National Association of Homebuilders NAHB Research Center, in behalf of HUD’s Office of Policy Research & Development (‘PD&R’), to posit whether ‘changes at the state and local level (Read ‘building codes’) have changed the need for (federal) preemption today”, compared to 1974? Talk about a Red Herring diversion.

• Reports of ‘interviewers’ traveling the U.S. asking specially – selected manufactured housing producers, and others, ‘What would be the likely effect on your niche in the manufactured housing business, if HUD was/is relieved from regulatory oversight?” How would YOU like to be asked that question with no advance warning?

All this simply scratches the surface of what is going on now in our nation’s capitol, relative to the HUD – Code manufactured housing industry, and by extension – don’t forget, the land lease lifestyle community real estate asset class!

Again, to stay abreast of these ‘encouraging’ & ‘discouraging’ political and regulatory developments, read this blog posting faithfully every Sunday; and for ‘the rest of the story’, read the Allen Letter professional journal. Also request to be put on the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform’s online, email distribution list via (202) 783-4087.

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George Allen, CPM®Emeritus, MHM®Master
Consultant to the Factory – built Housing Industry,
The Land Lease Lifestyle Community Asset Class &
Affordable Housing Purists & Enthusiasts Nationwide
Box # 47024, Indianapolis, IN. 46247
(317) 346-7156

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