‘FFF’ & your new MH in a LLLCommunity!
COBA7® via community-investor.com Blog # 331 Copyright @ 11 January 2015
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 primary national advocacy voice, official ombudsman, research reporter, & online communication media for all LLLCommunities in North America!
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
Introduction to this week’s COBA7® blog posting at community-investor.com website:
I.
There’s a Perfect Storm a-brewing for land-lease-lifestyle community owners/operators coast to coast, and most don’t see it coming, let alone know & understand it. Scroll back in the blog archives at this website to # 326, Part I: ‘FFF’= the ‘Silver Bullet’ of manufactured housing, before reading Part I in this blog posting # 331. So important!
II.
In texting lingo, ‘OMG!’ If COBA7® affiliates, a.k.a. ‘MHInsiders’, thought 2014 was exciting, they haven’t seen (hardly) anything yet! 200 new affiliates during past 12 months; plus 200 expected going forward. And now, not only ‘seven functions’, but official ombudsman (press), historian, & soon, ‘think tank’ to the MHIndustry!
I.
Save $5,000.00+/- per Rental Homesite!
Your Decision!
How?
Simple.
If you own/operate one or more land-lease-lifestyle communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities) and buy new HUD-Code manufactured homes, in general; and or Community Series Homes, a.k.a. CSH Models *1 in particular, purchase them ONLY from manufacturers who feature Frost Free Foundation® or ‘FFF’ protocols in Installation Manuals shipped with each HUD-Code home sent your way! AND, ensure the rental homesite foundation(s) upon which the home(s) will be installed, is(are) in full compliance with Frost Free Foundation® engineering guidelines prepared and sealed specifically for your property or properties! *2
Otherwise, install the new homes in accords with whatever other Installation Manual instructions apply to your LLLCommunity(ies) – including Model Manufactured Home Installation Standards, Final Rule 24 CFR 3285, U.S. Department of HUD, October 2007
Now, here’s WHY we use the word ONLY in the opening paragraph, and HOW using the Frost Free Foundation® potentially saves you $5,000.00+/- per rental homesite?
The aforementioned federal installation guidelines, for the most part, appear to exceed what’s presently in place within most of the 50,000+/- LLLCommunities in the U.S. So, if present concrete ribbons, piers, floating slabs, or otherwise, do NOT meet said federal standards, it’s estimated the average new (replacement) foundation cost, to be in compliance, is in the neighborhood of $5,000.00+/-. per rental homesite!
OR again, one can have a licensed engineer prepare and seal Frost Free Foundation® specifications tailored to your specific property/properties, then effect needed improvement(s), if any are needed, for likely less cost, to be in compliance.
That’s why you want to buy new HUD-Code manufactured homes from manufacturers conversant about FFF, who include said protocols, in their official Installation Manuals, right among other factory-approved means of installing manufactured homes. If FFF isn’t there, expect local and state regulators and inspectors to challenge your use of the FFF cost-saving system.
At present, most HUD-Code home manufacturers presently, are NOT featuring FFF in their Installation Manuals. Look for yourself. Why the omission? Ask them. But know they can contact the Systems Building Research Alliance, or SBRA, to arrange for authorized permission to use FFF protocols in said Installation Manuals. Phone (212) 496-0900.
Bottom line, for now. In my opinion, the key question here is, ‘Why would you, as a land-lease-lifestyle community (a.k.a. manufactured home community) owner/operator, patronize a HUD-Code home manufacturer who does not provide every legitimate option to you, in their official Installation Manual – including FFF, for the installation of their housing product?’
End Notes.
1. Community Series Homes, or CSH Models. Manufactured homes designed especially for in-LLLCommunity placement; usually singlesection homes or modest-sized multisection homes with one or more WOW! factors and a host of durability-enhancing features. If you’d like a FREE copy of CSH Model design features, and list of HUD-Code home manufacturers marketing via Business Development Managers, or BDMs, simply ask for it by phoning the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance®, or COBA7® via Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764. For that matter if you’d also like the Signature Series Resource Document, or SSRD titled: ‘Major Factory-built Housing Manufacturers, to include HUD-Code Homes, Modulars, & ‘RV Park Models’, & Major MHRetail Outlets’, affiliate with COBA7® for $544.95 and receive not only that SSRD, but the Allen Letter professional journal and 11 other SSRDs just as informative!
2. Frost Free Foundation® or FFF principles:
• There are three factors necessary for frost heave: frost susceptible soil, freezing temperatures, and soil moisture content above 80 percent saturation. Eliminating any single factor prevents frost heave!
• Due to the unique design of manufactured home foundations, the easiest frost heave factor to control is moisture content.
• The design is consistent with generally accepted engineering practices and embodies the approach commonly taken by civil engineers in preventing frost heave in other types of construction, such as roadways.
This material quoted from the conclusion to ‘A Frost Free Foundation® (FFF): an Alternative Shallow Frost Protected Foundation Design for Manufactured Homes’, by Paul W. Hayman, MS, PE, Hayman Engineering, Inc. For more information contact the Systems Building Research Alliance via (212) 496-0900.
II.
COBA7® in Year 2015
What does ‘FFF’ (Reread Part I), group purchasing $$$ savings, MHIndustry history, debut of a ‘think tank’, as well as PM training & certification all have in common? COBA7®!
That’s right. As we kick off a new year (2015) all these exciting matters, and more, fill the activity bucket of your Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance! Here’s how…
You just read again, about the Frost Free Foundation®, or FFF. Tell me; has anyone else, anywhere in the manufactured housing industry told you anything whatsoever about this legislation cum enforcement, after 10 years, of Model Manufactured Home Installation Standards, in 2015? And how your likely best home installation strategy is to buy new homes from a manufacturer(s) who’ve paid for permission to write FFF written into his Installation Manuals? Didn’t think so.
Group purchasing…This continues to be a ‘work in progress’ as we negotiate an ongoing, working relationship, with a national buyers’ group.
MHIndustry history. I’ve long ‘played historian’ for the LLLCommunity segment of the MHIndustry, but now it’s pretty much official. Why? Because NO ONE else seems interested in stepping into recently retired Al Hesselbart’s shoes, certainly not where the LLLCommunity asset class is concerned. Here’re three evidences, to date, of our firm’s documentation of our MH business legacy to date: 1) Bruce Savage’s The First 20 Years! A worthwhile ‘read’ describing the birth and growth of MHI’s National Communities Council division (PMN Publishing contracted with Bruce to author this text). 2) The 26th annual ALLEN REPORT, now available for purchase, contains ‘Chapter # 1’ describing the founding of COBA7®. And, 3) in March, you’ll read of 40+/- MHIndustry trade terms (lingo) in everyday parlance, and ‘who’ crafted them over the years! Be prepared for some surprises. And there’s more ‘history’ yet to come….
Thought we had a ‘think tank’ a few years ago, but it’s pretty much faded into minimal existence. Several blog ‘floggers’ (readers) have asked COBA7® to pick up that mantle and advance forward with it. Seems these LLLCommunity owners/operators were inspired by first the Official White Paper, then two National Public Forums on 9/11/2014 at the 23rd Networking Roundtable in Peachtree City, GA. Their general comment? ‘If MHARR & MHI are reluctant to tackle major national issues, and chart the future of our ‘double dual industry’, fine; let’s organize, meet, and do it ourselves!’ SO, expect to read more about this ‘think tank’ opportunity for you, for all of us, in the not too distant future. And let me know specifically, if YOU are interested in participating, leading, supporting this novel effort.
PM training & certification. This certainly isn’t something new, but it’s the first one day Manufactured Housing Manager® class conducted during 2015. Expecting we’ll have 20 – 25 in the class on 20 January in Louisville, KY. What a great ‘twofer’ opportunity! Attend the MHM® class and become certified; then spend the night and attend the MHShow at the Fairgrounds, the next day or two! For more info on any of this, simply phone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764.
If you’re reading this and haven’t yet affiliated with the Community Owners (7 Part) Business Alliance®, or COBA7®, consider doing so soon. The 26th annual ALLEN REPORT is ‘in the mail’ as you read this blog posting. More than 200 copies were mailed, mostly to COBA7® affiliates, a.k.a. ‘MHInsders’ and many to LLLCommunity owners/operators who completely filled-in their questionnaires early in the Fall. And in February we’ll be distributing the Official State of the MHIndustry & LLLCommunity Asst Class (outline) Signature Series Resource Document, as a lagniappe in the Allen Letter professional journal. So, don’t be left out; affiliate today! How? Use aforementioned MHIndustry HOTLINE!
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