The Most Important Blog Posting Ever, from George Allen, CPM & MHM

Blog # 461; Copyright 27 August 2017; at community-investor.com/blog

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

This blog posting is the sole national advocate, voice, official ombudsman, historian, research report, & online communication media for all North American LLCommunities.

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

COBA7 Motto: ‘U Support US & WE Serve U! Goal of its’ print & online media =
to not only inform & opine, but to transform & improve MHBusiness performance!

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INTRODUCTION. Some will say I saved the Best for Last. You decide…

Part I should be important to YOU! Act NOW if you desire to continue receiving this weekly BEBA (Blast Email Blog Alert) & its’ imbedded website blog posting.

Part II announces distribution of the COBA7 letter & questionnaire used to research, compile and pen the annual (29th year!) ALLEN REPORT in early 2018.

Part III is a summary of progress re COBA7s’ Four Part Legacy during 2017!

Part IV, a Networking Roundtable update re Challenge Coins, SWAN SONG text, & most important, National MHIndustry Input Day – the third of four opportunities during 2017!

Part V. The ‘word is now out’! Two national manufactured housing advocacy entities face an ACID TEST of their respective effectiveness, representing & lobbying in behalf of the beleaguered manufactured housing industry & its’ land lease community realty asset class! What is this ACID TEST? Read, find out, & encourage them to perform now!

I.

Winnowing BEBA at Community-Investor.com

We’re scouring the ‘Blast Email Blog Alert’ list of 1,000+/-, removing casual & occasional readers, to better serve businessmen, women & association executives with ‘skin in the games’ of manufactured housing, land lease community ownership/operations, & state/national advocacy leadership!

Unlike another website blog, self-obsessed with boasts of unconfirmed mega-audience claims, community-investor.com is redoubling efforts to focus on high quality posted material & a serious readership – not salacious (‘impure’) news & exaggerated bragging of influence penned vaingloriously. So, how will this winnowing (‘weeding out’) of the BEBA list occur?

Present recipients of this BEBA (again, ‘Blast Email Blog Alert’) and its’ imbedded link to weekly blog postings at community-investor.com, must email their Request to Continue Receipt of same beyond 10 September 2017. Use gfa7156@aol.com Following the initial call for such confirmation, in blog posting # 460, dozens of manufactured housing, land lease community folk, and trade advocacy leaders have already requested to remain on the BEBA list! Are YOU interested likewise, and have you expressed your desire to stay informed? Don’t Delay; Do So Today!

II.

It’s That Time of Year Again!

Watch your USPS (United States Postal Service) mail during September! Why? Because the annual letter & questionnaire used to research, compile, pen, print & distribute – in this case – the 29th annual ALLEN REPORT, will soon be coming your way, if you’re one of 500+/- land lease community portfolio owners/operators domiciled throughout North America!

This is, by far, the most difficult (i.e. Chasing & documenting benchmark statistics), yet rewarding research project COBA7 engages in year after year after year. The often 12 page ALLEN REPORT is purchased (via Option II affiliation @ $544.95/year with COBA7), read, and publicly referenced by hundreds, if not thousands, of investors and property managers, in the U.S. & Canada, engaged in land lease community ownership and or operations. Key parts of the report include: COBA7 national advocacy update, Year to Date Retrospective, Statistical Primer, LLCommunity portfolio data (e.g. occupancy, OER%s, # rental & contract sale units, & national site rent survey), list of all participating property portfolios, REIT growth chart from 1994 to present day by site counts; # of LLCommunities per state); and major $ sponsors – with contact information – of most recent Networking Roundtable. Where else and from whom can you, if owning/operating one or more land lease communities, can you obtain such valuable information? Nowhere! To order your copy of the 29th ALLEN REPORT, a.k.a. ‘Who’s Who Among Land Lease Community Portfolio Owners/operators’, phone the Official MHIndustry HOTLINE: (877) MFD-HSNG or 633-4764.

ANNOUNCEMENT. It’s already general, common knowledge I’m looking to at least semi-retire in the near future, to concentrate on authoring books long awaiting my attention (e.g. Letters Home from Vietnam, 1968 & 69; also, a new edition of Chapbook of Business & Management Wisdom – used copies are presently sold on Amazon.com for $85.00. We used to charge $24.95 postpaid.) Anyway, if you’re research & writer capable, industry & asset class experienced, and highly motivated to serve your peers in the manufactured housing industry and this unique income-producing property type; and would like to discuss partnering on this major annual project, reach me via gfa7156@aol.com or (317) 346-7156. Better yet, make your desire known to me, 6-8 September, in Indianapolis, IN., at the 26th annual International Networking Roundtable. Details in the BEBA introducing this blog posting.

III.

COBA7’s Four Part Legacy During Year 2017

Earlier in the year, this blog described COBA7’s Four Part Legacy, as being

• Design, minting, & distribution of the first ever COBA7 Challenge Coin! This has been accomplished, and COBA7 affiliates are encouraged to bring theirs to the Networking Roundtable for an opportunity to select free copies of George Allen’s books and other surprises. Like a secret handshake, the COBA7 Challenge Coin has become a tangible symbol of solidarity & motivation among land lease community owners/operators, small to large in size. Have yours? If not; affiliate!

• Design, print, and distribute the manufactured housing industry’s first ever Pocket Glossary & Lexicon of MHIndustry & LLCommunity trade terms! This too has been accomplished. Do you have a copy? If not; affiliate with COBA7 soon.

• Author, print and bind the land lease community property type’s first ever Official history (1970 to present day) of the realty asset class! That too will be accomplished when FREE copies of Swan Song are distributed to attendees at the aforementioned Networking Roundtable. No fewer than 112 past and present pioneers and leaders in manufactured housing and land lease community ownership and management are identified in this text – along with an Autograph page on which to collect same, from those present at the annual networking event.

• 29th ALLEN REPORT, a.k.a. The ‘Who’s Who Among Land Lease Community Portfolio Owners/operators Throughout North America!’ will soon be in the research stage, compiled during November, and distributed during January 2018. Again; available to Option II & III affiliates of COBA7. Have you ever asked yourself? Where would we be today, as land lease community owners/operators, without this annual compendium of realty asset class valuable knowledge? And who will continue this important service into the future? No other national manufactured housing advocacy body has shown any interest in serving land lease community businessmen and women in this fashion. Think about it. Suggestions?

While that’s been a full plate for COBA7 during 2017, plans are already afoot for next year. No new Challenge Coin, no more Pocket Glossary & Lexicon; and no more new books, for the time being. However, there is one project, first debuted during the Spring of 2016, that will likely recur during the Spring of 2018, hopefully under the joint leadership and planning of IMHA/RVIC (Indiana) and COBA7. This is the popular ‘Two Days of Plant Tours & Home Sales/Financing Seminars’, likely held again at the RV/MH Hall of Fame museum & library in Elkhart, IN. If you’d like to help with this project, or simply put your name on an ‘advance notice list’, contact Ron Breymier via (317) 247-6258.

IV.

Networking Roundtable Update

So much to tell you to get ready for, if attending, it’s impossible to describe it all here; so just a couple highlights to keep in mind:

• If a COBA7 affiliate, bring your COBA7 Challenge Coin! Doing so, will reward you with an opportunity to ‘pick a prize’, and there are many of them!

• Be prepared for in interesting, educational, albeit fun ‘read’ as you work your way through Swan Song. You’ll recognize much of what is described; but then again, there are tales shared that have become classics in the manufactured housing industry, and stories which have never before been published, e.g. Saddlebrook Farms, Florida Communities, and more! Also 112+ individuals named.

• 3rd national Manufactured Housing Input Day! This will be the third of four regional opportunities to make your views, on issues & matters, known! First it was in Chicago, then in Elkhart, now in Indianapolis, and finally, in mid-October, in Atlanta, GA. So, come prepared to vent, and know your input will go into a White Paper to be prepared later this year, for submission to all three national advocates for manufactured housing and land lease communities

• A new unique feature! The Networking Roundtable is long famous for 1) its’ 45 minute ‘stand & introduce yourself’ networking jump start at the beginning of every annual event; 2) everyone standing & pledging allegiance to the American flag; 3) an informal prayer meeting Friday morning ever since infamous 9/11 (2001); and, 4) ongoing, tangible support of the RV/MH Hall of Fame, and MHGives! – the manufactured housing industry’s official charity! Well, this year we’re adding this feature: RV/MH Hall of Fame inductees, present at the roundtable, are encouraged to wear their distinctive green blazer, &/or gold RV/MH ring, to the Thursday evening reception. to highlight that land lease communities have ‘come into their own’ as regular Hall of Fame inductees!

NO, it’s not too late to register for the Networking Roundtable! Simply review the attachment to the BEBA introducing this blog, then left click on the imbedded registration information contained within said BEBA. Or, phone us via (317) 346-7156. And remember, attendance is capped at 200, and we’re close to that number!

V.

Saving the Best – or Worst, for Last.

The ‘word is out’ all over the manufactured housing industry! The ACID TEST, of whether manufactured housing ‘survives & thrives’ OR ‘shrivels & dies’, lies with ‘Who’s administering HUD’s manufactured housing program’! There’s no other way to describe this timely matter clearly and succinctly.

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There’s more, much more! A long standing, but only recently emerging public corollary (‘a proposition proved incidentally in proving another’), has to do with whether ‘big business’ (i.e. certain housing manufacturers & third party chattel capital finance firms) by dint of their dominance of national advocacy policy & efforts, precipitates the latter course (‘shrivels & dies’) OR former one (survives & thrives’) to occur, given their pervasive institutional and political clout; and how or whether, they deliver for the ‘prosperity of their few’ OR the ‘good of the many’ – meaning me & YOU!. One pundit (‘learned man’) suggests one national advocate is inclined to effect the former via regulatory reform; while another is inclined to the latter, to increase their national market shares.

Enough said for now. But ‘stay tuned’ here, to learn how Word & Action, pursuant to this ACID TEST, unfolds during the days, weeks, & months ahead. Another good reason YOU need to take steps NOW to continue receiving BEBAs like this in the future!

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George Allen, CPM & MHM
Box # 47024
Indianapolis, IN. 46247
(317) 346-7156.