Land Lease Community Coronavirus Update

Blog # 582 @ April 26, 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.’

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INTRODUCTION: A response to blog posting # 581 (last week): “George. A good column. I was a kid in those (Vietnam War) days, but remember them well. Healing and forgiveness is still needed.” Mike
I. Land Lease Community Coronavirus Update. Good rent collection so far, but watch…
II. Renters’ Insurance. Once a popular offering, soon to reappear at Roundtable, etc.…
III. EducateMHC’s MHShipment ‘#s&$s’ Report (+) REIT & MHStock Market Data for all…
There will be only one national MHShow this year: the 29th annual Networking Roundtable, 2-4 September, in Nashville, TN. For information and to register, visit www.educatemhc.com

I.

Land Lease Community Coronavirus Update

Here’s What I Hear & Read From Around the U.S.

First off, it’s not easy getting useful news these days about land lease community operations. We average more than 100 emails (+ spam) per day, here at EducateMHC, and the majority of these have to do with community marketing, sales and operations. Today however, still the same 100 emails per day volume, but now 75 percent have to do with various ‘takes’ on the coronavirus pandemic re health advice, economic impact, and ‘flattening the curve’. Here’re a couple gems mined this past week:

• Rental homesite rent collection during the month of April? Seems to have been better than most owners/operators expected, coming in on either side of 85% efficiency; a.k.a. 85 percent economic occupancy. Not bad at all. One REIT boasted 94 percent during March, and 91 percent during April! Now however, everyone is looking to May, and what to expect three months into the pandemic – and the operative word is not ‘optimistic’. Will keep you informed as to what evolves.

• This from one of our larger portfolio owners/operators. “Among our 20,000 rental homesites, we’ve had eight residents come down with COVID-19, only one died. And one of our managers and a maintenance man, at one of our land lease communities, have come down with the virus. At our home office, we’re working a split shift (7-Noon & 12:30-5:30PM), so we don’t have more than ten employees together at one time.”

• While Congress was crafting CARES legislation, ‘one of our own’, a community owner/operator proposed “Leveraging the Section 8 infrastructure…to accomplish our collective goal of helping renters, landlords and banks.” How so? “Section 8 could be quickly engaged to deliver payments directly to landlords on behalf of residents in need of assistance due to the economic impact of the pandemic.” While there’s more to this solution than described here, it’s now moot as Disaster Assistance and PPP loans are now in place. Thanks to Chad Graves (ID) for sharing this suggestion.

Wish I could tell you more, and maybe we will next week. How ‘bout you? Any unique experiences dealing with the coronavirus hiatus within your firm and or among your land lease communities? If so, let me know via gfa7156@aol.com

II.

Renters’ Insurance

This has long been a property management topic known more for its’ ‘fits & starts’ than substance. At one point in time, it was an insurance product line offered by American Modern Insurance. Today, Assurant Insurance is reintroducing this means of adding tenant (i.e. homeowner/site lessee or resident) liability coverage, giving them legal defense and indemnity, usually with a $50K limit – or more, on a case by case basis; should they be accused of negligence that lead to damage to other’s property or bodily injury. The policy also covers damage caused by the resident to the community’s property (e.g. rental home). And the program covers the resident’s contents and additional living expense if they have to move out of the home, i.e. $15K in contents & $50K in liability, costs approximately $10 – 20/month or $180/year.

Keys to success of this program include 1) the land lease community must have a liability requirement in their lease, and 2) the community needs to bill the insurance with the rent to ensure the coverage is not cancelled by the resident. And there’s a requirement for licensure only if community owner/operator desires to receive commissions. For more information on this Assurant program, before the Networking Roundtable – where it will be presented and discussed in detail, contact John Loucks via (248) 808-3089 or john.loucks@assurant.com

III.

EducateMHC’s MHShipment ‘#s & $s’
Report (+) REIT & MHStock Market Data!

By now, you likely realize this longstanding (first half), and recently (two months past) enlarged compendium of HUD-Code manufactured housing shipment & public market $ information – including real estate investment trust (‘REIT’) news, is now an integral part of the PRIME edition of The Allen Confidential! Business newsletter!

If you don’t realize this, there’s still time for you to subscribe – or increase the value of your subscription to PRIME status, before the May 2020 issue is distributed digitally! Just visit www.educatemhc.com to do so.

Bottom line? Only EducateMHC provides you a monthly newsletter covering land lease communities and manufactured housing. And with the PRIME editions, subscribers also receive at least one Resource Document each month (e.g. the 31st annual ALLEN REPORT this past January), and now, the MHShipment ‘#s & $s’ Report (+) REIT & MHStock Market Data compendium! That’s why HUD-Code housing manufacturers and property portfolio executives subscribe. How ‘bout you?

By the way, the ‘$ report’ I’m working on, for distribution in early May, will likely have a few, if not all, the following features – and more, included:

• Depression, Recession & Lockdown. While the U.S. has endured 47 depressions/recessions dating back to the Articles of Confederation, the three most infamous are, The Great Depression of 1929-1933; Recession of 2007 & 2008; and, The Great Lockdown (2020). Now you know.

• Have any idea the percentage drop in retail sales, manufacturing output, and single family housing starts so far during this Lockdown? Read the ‘#s & $s’ Report in May!

• And how ‘bout business closure percentages? For example: hotels @ 90 percent. What about arts/entertainment, sports/recreation, retail/wholesale; and, restaurants?

There’s much happening these days. We owe it to ourselves, our employees, to stay abreast of the economic and health-related news pursuant to the coronavirus pandemic. We’re doing our best to help to this end; so please do your part, and like the motto at the beginning of this blog posting: ‘U Support US & WE Serve U!’

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George Allen, CPM, MHM
EducateMHC