Nostalgia or Timeless Truths?

Blog Posting # 608 @ 16 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!’

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INTRODUCTION: Two widely divergent points of view this week. First, a retrospective look at manufactured housing history stimulated by the closing of my outside office; and, what I plan to share at the FHFA Listening Session on Friday, 16 October 2020.

I.
Nostalgia or Timeless Truths?
During weeks, maybe months, ahead, I’ll be sharing a raft of information that surfaced as I closed our Franklin, Indiana office. You see, the coronavirus pandemic, and Carolyn and I being self-quarantined at home for more than 210 days so far, have eased me into semi-retirement.
So, I no longer need a remote office – but what to do with hundreds of books, along with other manufactured housing and lend lease community resources? (It’s long been said, our corporate library is the most comprehensive collection of texts and material, on those two subjects, in existence anywhere!). Well, we’ve been boxing-up this intellectual treasure (20 large boxes so far) in preparation for delivery to the RV/MH Hall of Fame library in Elkhart, IN. At one time or another, the Library of Congress and Building Institute, in Washington, DC. have expressed interest in ‘housing’ our extensive collection. But when one gets ‘right down to it’, this trove truly belongs where our industry and realty asset class’ legacies are honored and preserved.
I’ll be describing some of these intellectual treasures here in future blog postings, and in The Allen Confidential! For that matter, the November issue of TAC! will contain a fascinating description of early 1960s ‘mobile homes’ and mobile home living, penned by famous writer John Steinbeck, in his bestseller – at the time – Travels with Charlie, In Search of America. His descriptions are priceless, educational, and timeless. To subscribe to the newsletter, visit www.educatemhc.com
This time around, here in this blog, I’ll share six steps to do Before Each Sales Call:
1. What do I wish to accomplish with this call?
2. Am I calling on a qualified prospect and decision maker?
3. Am I presenting the best solution for the customer?
4. Would I buy if it were my business?
5. What really needs to be done to get the order?
6. Can I get the order today? If not, when?
And seven steps After Each Sales Call
1. Could I have closed the account today?
2. Will they really buy, or am I just doing things?
3. How do I know they will buy?
4. What have I learned from this call?
5. How would I do it again?
6. Do I know what is needed to close this account now?
7. Did I ask for a referral to another potential client?
Quoted from a Calling Card by Lynn K. Munson of Practical Business Consulting.
Yes, I know, these steps aren’t necessarily the ones we use in manufactured housing sales and rental homesite leasing, but there are indeed good suggestions contained therein. And there’s much more to come.
II.
Listening Session @ 10/16/20
What follows here is ‘a work in progress’. Simply, the following paragraph and bullet points describe my view of what’s been going on – or better said, ‘not going on’ at federal bureaucracies Federal Housing Finance Agency (‘FHFA’) and two Government Sponsored Enterprises (‘GSEs’), Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, relative to their Duty to Serve (‘DTS’) plans/programs these past few years:
‘Ongoing recalcitrance pursuant to specific Congressional fiat, on the part of the FHFA and GSE’s Fannie Me & Freddie Mac, to secure realistic, appropriate, and ongoing access to chattel capital for (manufactured) home-only loans is, in my opinion, profound benign neglect”, being “…an attitude or policy of ignoring an often delicate or undesirable situation one is held to be responsible for dealing with….’
What are remedies for this pattern – now culture, of federal profound benign neglect?
• Once and for all ‘get over’ the chattel capital lending debacle of 1998-2003. Begin a new and helpful chapter via GSE’s tangible support of manufactured housing and land lease community lending!
• Reverse 12 years of minimal activity, relative to GSE’s Duty to Serve plans and programs – to date appearing to be languishing and ineffective.
• During year 2021, buy many seasoned chattel manufactured housing mortgages, to stimulate a much-needed secondary market for selling these specialty loans.
And yes, there’s more that could be said – specifically; but why waste time elucidati9ng measures likely to be, once again, ignored?
***
George Allen, CPM™Emeritus; MHM™Master; & Emeritus member, MHI
Senior consultant & lead author of EducateMHC
Gfa7156@aolc.om