Did YOU know?

Blog Posting # 607 @ 9 Oct 2020; Copyright 2020: Educatemhc.com

Perspective. ‘Land lease communities, previously manufactured home communities, and earlier, ‘mobile home parks’, comprise the real estate component of manufactured housing!’

EducateMHC is the online national advocate, asset class historian, data researcher, education resource, & communication media for all land lease communities throughout North America!

To input this blog and/or affiliate with EducateMHC, telephone Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764. Also email: gfa7156@aol.com, & visit www.educatemhc.com

Motto: ‘U Support US & WE Serve U!’ Goal: to promote HUD-Code manufactured housing & land lease communities as U.S. # 1 source of affordable attainable housing! Attend MHM class!

INTRODUCTION: Hang onto your seat! This is the first time, in a long while, that we’ve had five major parts to a blog posting – but every one of them is newsworthy and likely of value to you!

I.

FLASH ANNOUNCEMENT

RV/MH Hall of Fame Induction Banquet has, once again, been postponed; this time from 3 December to 13 May 2021.

For more information and to purchase tickets, phone (574) 293-2344

II.

Did YOU Know?

(Quoting from MHARR’s recent epistle titled: ‘Wasted Opportunities Mount as the Clock Ticks Down’, dated October 2020.)

“Fannie Mae seeks approval to back away from any further 2020 loan purchases under its’ ‘enhanced manufactured housing loan product for quality manufactured housing and purchase loans, “ and instead, “replace loan purchases with expanded outreach and education activity.” Sure! And Freddie Mac, in its’ proposed 2020 Plan modification and 2021 extension proposal, totally eliminates its’ previously proposed ‘chattel pilot’ program for 2019-2020, and its’ previously proposed purchase of 800-2,000 manufactured home chattel loans over the same period. Not content with that, though it also would cancel its’ alleged ‘outreach’ and education programs related to chattel lending over the same period.

Do you understand what’s being penned here? Read the paragraph again, before proceeding to the next ‘kill manufactured housing’ bombshell.

“And lest anyone be confused over Federal Housing Finance Agency (‘HFA’) intent to seriously consider Duty to Serve (‘DTS’) stakeholder input (Hey, that’s YOU and ME!) on these ‘proposed’ revisions at a scheduled October 16, 2020, ‘listening session’, or in written comments (due October 23, 2020), FHFA, in its’ Request for Input (‘RFI’) regarding the proposed modifications (Previous Paragraph in this blog!), helpfully notes it ‘expects to issue Non-Objections to the Enterprises proposed modifications…after considering…public input,…by January 11, 2021.” So, it sounds like ‘public input’ will get about as much ‘consideration’ from Fannie, Freddie and FHFA as it has in the past, which is zero to none.”

I’ve already signed-up to ‘public input’ at the Listening Session hosted by the FHFA on 16 October 2020. But now it seems, given accuracy of MHARR’s quoted commentary above, that effort will be akin to ‘pissing up a rope’ in terms of policy change efficacy. Good thing the session is ‘virtual’, or I’d really be upset about spending money to travel to Washington, DC, to speak in behalf of manufactured housing and land lease communities nationwide.

Want your own copy of MHARR’s epistle just quoted? Inquire of Mark Weiss via (202) 783-4087

And if you do wind up with a copy, be sure to turn to page # 2 and read the third (full) paragraph thereon, beginning with this sentence: “But what about the missed opportunities of the past four years – such as those at HUD under Secretary Carson?” Would have quoted it here but for space limitation.

III.

SECO20 in the eyes of its founder…

What follows here is quoted directly from a feature, describing this year’s SECO Conference, penned by one of the event founders, Spencer Roane, MHM. To enjoy and learn from the entire HOW TO article, read it the November issue of The Allen Confidential! business newsletter. To subscribe, read heading to this blog.

“When COVID-19 forced the SECO20 Planning Group to cancel plans for the 10th annual conference, the 16 member group, primarily headquartered in Atlanta, began looking into a virtual meeting instead.”

“MHVillage narrowed the list of capable platforms down to a half dozen.” Then, “MHVillage ….began programming the Sococo platform – and selling sponsor and exhibit space.”

:”Co-founder (David) Roden suggested two important additions to SECO20: Manager Monday and Founders Friday.” Maria Horton, MHM, of Newport Pacific wound up handling most of the scheduling details for the first event.

“In the end, SECO20 proved to be a resounding success. This was the first large scale (almost 500 registrants from 35 states – with twice as many from CA than from GA) event in the manufactured housing industry!”

IV.

MHI Holds Annual Meeting Virtually

Monday through Thursday of this week, featured morning and afternoon sessions for MHI members. This observer listened in on Monday, as Dr. Leslie Gooch and Mark Bowersox announced 2020 board officers would ‘repeat’ during year 2021. Then introduced a new purpose statement ‘elevating housing innovation & expanding attainable housing ownership’ – or words to that effect. (And how does this purpose statement address land lease communities?) Also presentation of various awards to members. Learned, when attorney Marc Lifset was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award that he either has retired or is in the process of doing so. Wonder if he’ll ‘disappear into the woodwork’, so to speak, like former MHI chairmen Barry McCabe and Gary McDaniel, or continue to influence the industry from afar, like Ross Kinzler and Tim Dewitt? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Now, there’s more I’d share with you from these meetings; but ‘years ago’, MHI instituted a gag restriction on news reporters and journalists of all stripes – for good reason at the time. Remember ‘YKW’? Personally, I’d like to see MHI ameliorate those restrictions on press privilege. Had that been the case now, I could – and would, have lengthened this part of the blog posting by

• pointing out an oversight relative to institute’s new Purpose Statement – besides the fact that ‘what we do’ (i.e. manufactured housing) is not even mentioned in it!
• how No Mention was made of CrossMod™ housing being a ‘no starter’ during year 2019 – and question ‘where it is’ this far into year 2020. A finance or design problem?
• some of the naïve commentary couched in the DuckerFrontier ‘Community Cost-Benefit Analysis’ as presented to the National Communities Council division during their meeting on 7 October 2020.

As it stands now, my writing, as an historian for the manufactured housing industry and land lease community realty asset class, is at a near standstill. Is that what we want or need?
V.

A Not-So-Rhetorical Question

One well-known portfolio owner/operator of land lease communities ordered two identical manufactured homes from the same factory, destined for the same location, with delivery three months apart. Second home arrived with invoice pricing nine percent (9%) higher than the first home. WHY?

According to the home’s HUD-Code manufacturer, it was due to drastic increase in lumber cost. And this might well be true. But it sure doesn’t make our unique HUD-Code housing product any more affordable, let alone attainable, by our traditional markets of the ‘newly wed & nearly dead’.

George Allen, CPM, MHM
EducateMHC

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