March/April 2024 Edition

THE MAGAZINE FOR MANUFACTURED HOUSING PROFESSIONALS

EVENT PREVIEW FOR Biloxi, Vegas

A FOCUS ON COMMUNITY MANAGERS

THE VALUE OF PARTICIPATING IN STATE, NATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

Learn more about our comprehensive solutions to support the growth of your business

We’re reimagining how new homes are designed, purchased, factory-built, and experienced, delivering attainability and exceptional value for today’s market.

Each of our homes are distinctively crafted with care and inspired by our purpose — to champion our customers’ home experience every step of the way.

CONTENTS

Event Preview for Biloxi, Vegas

Roots Management Group holds itself up as an example of a “best-in-class” offering, but it is not a reputation earned without a significant amount of introspection and institutional change.

So, you can see that involvement in industry organizations has been an important part of my professional journey. Do I believe all the hours spent in meetings and on committees have been beneficial?

16

20

SENIOR

CONTRIBUTING

publisherFROM THE

An Industry with Focus, Purpose

The manufactured housing industry has been receiving a lot of love recently, and deservedly so. Readers will learn more as they turn the pages, but the praise comes from far and wide.

Suffice to say most manufactured housing professionals will take the kudos in good cheer, and with little fanfare. It’s what we do.

The industry powered through and even thrived during the challenges brought by the pandemic, and has buoyed attainable home sales in the U.S. during a time of rising interest rates and much concern about a possible recession.

Well, we won’t say sunny skies are here again, but there is a new light in the air. Consumers

are coming to terms, most pointedly, with the new cost of a loan just as inflation has begun to wane and those very rates look to stabilize and perhaps come down during ’24.

And while sales have flagged a little in the face of it all, manufactured housing professionals have missed not a step in continuing to address the needs of the homebuyer, always creating value through design, execution, delivery, and service.

From the rural setting to city infill or community living, our builders and home sellers are keeping pace and in many ways setting the tone for what the American Dream means to hard working individuals and families.

Patrick Revere is vice president of communications at MHVillage and publisher for the MHInsider magazine and blogs. His background is in print news, language, and communication.

INDUSTRY happenings

Transactions

Four Leaf Acquires Michigan Community

Four Leaf Properties purchased North Branch Meadows in North Branch Mich., a property poised to take delivery of 132 multi section homes. It includes a clubhouse and event field for community activities. “We are excited to offer brand new and pre-owned homes at North Branch Meadows,” Four Leaf Properties Managing Partner Michael Callaghan said. “Many of our new homes are Clayton eBuilt Zero Energy Ready Homes, delivering next level energy-efficiency and ‘live better’ features for a healthier and more comfortable living environment." Callaghan said the homes include drywall, kitchen islands, and walk-in closets.

Maine Community Gets Approval for Upgrades

The Waterville, Maine Planning Board in January voted to approve the first phase of an expansion of Countryside Mobile Home Park off West River Road. C37 Capital LLC aims to add 30 new homes and make other improvements during 2024.

UMH Properties Expands Partnership in Latest Venture

UMH Properties in partnership with Nuveen Real Estate will develop a new manufactured home community in Honey Brook, Pa., near Philadelphia. UMH has a 40 percent stake and will serve as the managing member, developer, and operator. Once complete, the community will have 113 homesites on more than 61 acres. The land was acquired in November of 2022, construction of the

community is underway, and should be complete in a year. UMH celebrated its 55th year in business by ringing the NYSE opening bell on Jan. 10.

Michigan Manufactured Housing Association Launches New Website

The Michigan Manufactured Housing Association has launched a new website and marketplace for factory-built homes, a comprehensive consumer platform that allows homebuyers the capability to browse, select, tour, and shop for manufactured homes and modular homes for sale statewide. “We understand that people generally start their home buying experience online,” MMHA President and CEO John Lindley said. “This unique online experience will allow Michigan consumers to focus on what they really want and need while shopping for a new home or community to fit their lifestyle and budget.” See the new site at www.michhome.org.

New Community Planned for San Antonio

A new manufactured home community is underway in one of the hottest markets in the country, San Antonio, Texas, on 100 acres on the city's south end. Empower Communities will develop more than 500 homesites and residents amenities including a pool, sports courts and fields, a gym, and other community gathering spots.

Lender Expands to Alabama, Michigan

Tammac Holdings Corporation, an industry provider of financial solutions, has received licensing approval to offer manufactured and mobile home loans in

Michigan and Alabama. “Tammac is excited to extend our footprint into Michigan and Alabama, states with vibrant and diverse housing markets. We are dedicated to providing accessible and affordable financing solutions for individuals and families seeking to achieve homeownership with manufactured housing. Tammac will continue to expand nationwide as we significantly scale,” CEO Troy Cavallaro said.

Boxabl Achieves Arizona Certification

Boxabl, a builder of residential dwellings, has been cleared to sell its casita housing modules in Arizona. “This is a major milestone for Boxabl and brings us much closer to our goal of providing affordable housing to the masses,” company co-founder Galiano Tiramani said. “This hard-won approval for the State of Arizona is expected to be the springboard for obtaining required approvals in all 50 states.”

In Memoriam

Industry Mourns North Carolina Retailer

Ted Parker, the longtime owner of Ted Parker Home Sales, in Lumberton, N.C., passed away at his home in Calabash at the age of 71. Mr. Parker created a series of television ad campaigns during the 1980s and 1990s

to reach his customers. He also co-owned Ted Parker Mansion, an estate on 115 acres. Mr. Parker’s parents were tobacco farmers. He worked very early in his career at Bonanza Homes of Lumberton before starting his own business in 1980. Colleague and friend Victor Brewington said Mr. Parker changed little during the decades despite his successes. He enjoyed the same activities — golf and fishing — with the same group of friends. “He was just a real person. Down to earth,” Brewington said. “He came from nothing and made something, so he understood what it was to not have anything. So he was never above anybody he ever spoke to.” Mr. Parker is survived by his wife Vickie and two children, Chris, and Chandra.

We provide high resolution water usage analytics to monitor consumption patterns, detect leaks and system failures, reduce water loss, and prioritize repairs contributing directly to your bottom-line.

All Credit Scores

HUD (Single, Double, & Triple Wides)

Park Models

Modulars

Used Homes

ADU (Accessory Dwelling Units)

Home Only

Land Home (Land Purchase, Land in Lieu, & Land Refinance)

Secondary Options (Vacation Homes, Investment Properties, & Buy Fors)

for community operators

Dedicated Account Managers

Online access to your account 24/7

Invoices advanced at 100%

No curtailments for 12 months

No “due in full”

Competitive interest rates

Capital: CA$H provides capital to purchase new homes to sell or lease. No payments for up to 12 months.

Consumer Financing: A ordable consumer financing is available for all credit scores on new and used homes with a minimum loan amount of $10,000.

Rental Home Financing: 21st will finance rental homes for your community, while o ering you a low down payment, competitive interest rate, and a flexible term.

Support: We provide support with point-of-sale marketing materials, online resources, and dedicated mortgage loan originators to assist customers through every step of the process.

The Manufactured Housing, Modular, Off-Site Homes

Get Lots of Love

An Industry News Review

Widely read publication “Fast Company” recently published one of the most manufactured home-specific reviews of factory-built’s potential in the U.S., characterizing the HUD code homes as the housing solution “hidden in plain sight”.

The piece, by Adele Peters, largely focused on a pair of geographic pain points in the domestic housing market — Hagerstown, Md., and Jackson, Miss. It quotes and takes opinions from many manufactured housing professionals MHInsider readers know, including Stacey Epperson, of Next Step, a nonprofit that advocates for fast and efficient manufactured homes.

ONCE A PERSON WALKS THROUGH (A NEW MANUFACTURED HOME) THEY SORT OF HAVE THAT ‘AHA’ MOMENT…

– RACHEL SIEGEL

“Homebuilders today aren’t building what used to be entry-level homes — the margin’s too small for human labor and materials and the cost of land and entitlements,” Epperson is quoted as saying. “I have to ask myself, what’s the one place left that can build a house for a price that the average American family can afford, and that’s manufactured housing.”

The Fast Company coverage also points to a recent study and report put out by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies that supports the use of manufactured housing to solve the “availability” challenge, as the industry has termed the situation in recent years. It paid particular attention to the uptick in CrossMod homes, homes with R1-features that cost more than 25 percent less than the site-built counterpart.

“It’s important to understand that manufactured housing isn’t the right solution for every place,” Washington »

Post housing reporter Rachel Siegel was quoted as saying. “We’re in D.C. Manufactured housing would not be a solution here because homes should be built more densely than that. But anywhere a single-family home can be built and would be the right type of housing for that area, a manufactured home could be used as a substitute and be much more affordable and faster to build.”

Tom Heinemann is a principal at MH Advisors, one of the partners behind a manufactured housing development in Hagerstown. He was quoted as saying “when we told the planning office that these homes are set on permanent foundations, have higher build quality, and are eligible for 30-year fixed-rate conventional mortgages, they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s good for us. It’s clearly not a mobile home, and those rules don’t apply.’”

In Jackson, the piece notes, it took about two years of meeting and talking through a manufactured housing development in the city, where there is plenty of infill room on a site-by-site basis where homes are needed. This is a project that Jennifer Hall and her team at the Mississippi Manufactured Housing Association has been heavily involved in. The concept seems to have taken hold.

“Once a person walks through (a new manufactured home) they sort of have that ‘aha’ moment,” Siegel, the Post reporter, said. She said she feels that once places like Hagerstown and Jackson have complete projects “people see the homes and see how much more affordable they are, I expect that that’s going to help other localities start to say yes and to change their zoning laws to make them more accessible.”

National Public Radio’s Emma Klein, Christopher Intagliata, Mary Louise Kelly provided a five-minute listen that summarized the Fast Company piece on manufactured housing, and opined “it’s not the lowest income buyer who are flocking to them.”

A publication called “The Cool Down” provided what one observer called “Lego meets Ikea” as a homebuilding approach.

The Belgium company, Gabklock, creates snap-together structural blocks made from “compressed, recyclable wood chips and strands, and a natural resin.”Writer

Rick Kazmer estimates a new home in the U.S. provided by the company would cost $329,000, without the land. While new-look, and new-approach homes are a welcomed conversation, this one seems like a very small, niche approach.

“New Architect’ Newspaper” published a co-authored piece from modular builders Jordan Rogove and Wayne Norbeck entitled “Advocating for code change to increase access to modular/emergency housing” in the “Supply and Demand” section.

It points to the domestic housing shortage and the severe lack of affordable housing. The writers estimate the shortage at 6.8 million units. It pegs modular units at 15 to 20 percent less expensive than on-site construction of a similar floor plan, as well as being 50 percent faster to market, on average, and makes the bold ask that modular builders be guided by a singular code, as HUD has done for manufactured homes, to dispense with disparate local codes and further speed up the process.

“It would translate to efficiencies in material cost and construction times, further lowering the cost to buyers and increasing availability,” the authors assert. “This exception, however, includes a major drawback. HUD mandates that homes must be manufactured on a chassis, or trailer — a remnant of the trailer industry’s approach to building in the 1970s when this exception was codified. While the chassis was included as part of a push for safety in transportation, it also provided a more universal solution for a foundation. But that was five decades ago. Today, this requirement disqualifies other types of modular home systems from overarching federal approval, dampening the potential for further innovation and newer technologies.”

The manufactured housing industry has been making similar requests for the chassis language to be removed from the HUD code, as a matter of reducing weight, waste, and providing greater flexibility for homes to be made multiple stories or in other less traditional configurations. MHV

Inside the Mind of Barry Cole

Life Stories from a Manufactured Housing Professional (with Varied Interests)

By Patrick Revere

Anyone who’s taken the time to sit and chat with manufactured housing industry veteran Barry Cole knows… well, anything is possible. And you should prepare to be surprised.

Perhaps he’s lived two lifetimes or more. But when Cole starts his professional story, and begins to tell of his childhood, it seems fantastical — like something from a feature film.

In fact it is, but from the mind of someone who didn’t really experience the story. The story is fiction. Cole lived it.

One word of note, from the source; typically the kid who lives at hotels and gets dropped at school by the bell hop gets beat up for a bit, has a 15 year old body guard in the fifth grade and has to make some plans to normalize his relationships.

“It’s an odd life, and you have to get creative,” Cole said.

Charles W. “Curly” Cole, Cole’s father, was a protege of the legendary hotelier Conrad Hilton. Cole said his father once ran The New Yorker Hotel, an art deco masterpiece that remains in business today. He was the president of the hotel association and seemed to know everybody. He was best pals with Yankees slugger Mickey Mantle, was close to many celebrities, and had been “honorary mayor” of Hell’s Kitchen, alongside theater and screen icon Sydney Poitier.

The hotel was famous worldwide. It had an indoor ice rink, direct access to the subway, and was the first hotel to have a TV in each room.

His mother, Lola (Cogan) Cole, was a dancer, and worked with Carmen Miranda, Esther Williams, and Betty Davis. She is in the Three Stooges Hall of Fame Museum

and was crowned “Queen of the Stardust Ballroom” in Hollywood and is in the California Swing Dance Hall of Fame. She met Curly Cole while singing in big bands and they married in 1945.

Cole lived in The Senator Hotel in Sacramento before the move to the New Yorker, and the family returned to California by the time he was out of grade school. During that time the family had interests far and wide, including in Albuquerque where the Cole Hilton was and remains the only co-branded hotel in Hilton history. They owned The Deshler in Columbus, Ohio, which was included in best selling book "Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure." Flamboyant Curly had ladies on swings in the lobby and horses in elevators going to the top floor.

It was with all that he saw in front of him and from those early “hotel offices” that Cole began to have thoughts about his own future, business ideas, and how to capture the imagination of customers.

High School Ideals

By the time he was back in Southern California in his high school years, Cole was the first president of West Coast Surfers.

“I was a terrible surfer and they felt sorry for me but I had a garage in Hermosa Beach storing boards,” he said.

He also started Cole Racing Enterprises, because he and many young people of that day thought Corvettes were beyond cool.

“I went to the drag strip and sold T-shirts with the logo,” Cole said. “We sewed in first and last names,

Barry Cole and Ted Fischer; Courtesy of Lisa Stewart

too, or whatever they wanted. They were really great and people loved them.

“Then I got the cease and desist letter. Corvette got mad at me,” he said.

Live and learn.

He was a member of the Screen Extras Guild, and appeared in TV shows including "Hogan's Heroes," "The Time Tunnel," "Please Don’t Eat the Daisies," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," "Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre" and "The Felony Squad."

Six Years of Service

During the Vietnam War, Cole enlisted in the Navy. He was active for two years at Port Hueneme, during which he worked in a records office and as a yeoman at builders school, then had two years of meetings, and two years of inactive service, he said.

“At some point I was asked how it was I hadn’t been assigned to a Sea Bee Construction battalion, which is how you ended up seeing combat,” Cole said. “I said ‘I don’t know, probably coincidental bad records.’”

It was in those years that Cole’s desire to start his own operation re-emerged. In 1986, he started Red Label Housing, a retailer in Orange, Calif., which evolved into Community Mobile Home Sales in 1992, a top dealer for eight years.

In 1999 he launched Manufactured Housing Insurance Services, the entity under which he continues to do business in 38 states. He and his team provide only manufactured home insurance, an anomaly in today’s market.

Insurance in California

Manufactured housing insurance premium rates are regulated by the state. Fire risk, regulations, and fraud have caused much of the pain and carriers have been unable to raise their rates to maintain profitability, Cole said.

AFTER DECADES OF WORK, COLE’S TIRELESS ENERGY AND OPTIMISM FOR ALL THINGS GOOD BROUGHT HIM BACK INTO HOSPITALITY, BUT NOT HOTELS. COLE, ALONG WITH BEING A MANUFACTURED HOUSING PROFESSIONAL, IS A NOTED RESTAURATEUR.

Cole admitted that returning from the military he expected to be a famous actor. Instead, he got married to his first wife in St. Louis, moved back to California, and got a job selling beer.

“All I did was drink beer, play darts, and shoot pool all day while buying patrons drinks,” he said. “I got up to a 40-inch waist.

“Then I started selling mobile homes in 1972,” Cole said. Cole gained his footing in retail sales in Compton, and also spent much time with the builders, in operations with Lancer Homes, Levitt Homes, and Westway Homes.

“In mid-1976 I was speaking with the paper easel and stick pointing to all the stuff HUD is doing and that we wanted everyone to start calling them manufactured homes… and 50 years later people are still calling asking about mobile home insurance and mobile homes.”

It also has caused many providers to discontinue writing new policies, he said, in a state where they are losing billions.

“Aegis, Century National, Foremost, Cabrillo Coastal, Pacific Specialty, they and others have all left. American Modern and American Bankers are still here but will only do newer homes, homes built within the last 30 years and will only do business in designated areas. That leaves out most of the homes in the state,” Cole said. “When there is a catastrophe the unfortunate homeowner loses everything – memorabilia, cherished possessions, valued property, and lives.

“It’s a tough deal, it’s tough to get insurance. We get 300 calls a week and unfortunately many times respond and say ‘Sorry, wish you the best’ to most of them,” Cole added. "All of this will be supported soon, because within a year all the renewals come, most of those customers will go with the California FAIR Plan.”

The plan is an initiative to help state residents get fire insurance, though it only covers the home. A second plan is required to cover contents. »

“It’s a lot more cumbersome than our regular manufactured home insurance,” Cole said.

Cole has felt the pain himself, having his commercial coverage pulled after being with the same group for 24 years.

Manufactured Housing Insurance Services had 300 sub-producers at one point. He’s paring that back. Several years ago he sold off part of his insurance interest of 10 offices in Southern California to concentrate solely on manufactured housing clients.

It is a business he loves.

In addition to providing insurance for the industry’s customers, he also is a partner in 32 communities in California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, North Carolina, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.

Cole is a founding member of the California Manufactured Housing Institute, has served multiple terms as chairman, and continues as a CMHI officer to give resources toward state and regional efforts within the industry. Nationally, he has served on the Board of Governors for the Manufactured Housing Institute, has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors, and in 2014 was elected into the RV/MH Hall of Fame. He is Chairman Emeritus in Elkhart, Ind., an organization he has supported steadfastly throughout his career. Cole has been on the board of non-profit Affordable Community Living Corporations for 22 years. ACLC has placed over 300 veterans in Manufactured Homes.

Dipping Back Into Hospitality

After decades of work, Cole’s tireless energy and optimism for all things good brought him back into hospitality,

but not hotels. Cole, along with being a manufactured housing professional, is a noted restaurateur.

“We have two restaurants in the desert, RD RNNR (‘roadrunner’) and the DSRT CLUB,” Cole said. “They get really great ratings, most days and nights there are lines to get in. RD RNNR is top rated in the area as a bar and restaurant, and the beautiful DSRT CLUB is new, it’s only been open a few months.

“It was fun when so many of my friends and colleagues, about 140 people, were in town last fall for an MHI meeting and dined at the RD RNNR. It was a great night, I felt like the maitre d in a classic old place, going to each table and saying hi, asking how things are.”

Cole said RD RNNR is a lively place frequented by the younger crowd, including many celebrities and the famous golfers who come to the Palm Springs area for the famous golf courses.

“DSRT CLUB opened for fine dining, a place that some of the older crowd likes to duck into because it’s a little quieter,” Cole said.

Unsurprisingly, Cole says he has no plans to retire. He continues to live and work primarily from Orange, Calif.

“My old friend, boxer Jerry Quarry, who fought Muhamad Ali, was living with me and convinced a young lady named Donna working at American Mobile Homes to go out with me,” Cole said. “We did go out, and she never left, so Jerry had to move out.”

He and Donna have been happily married for 38 years.

“I have two girls, two grandsons, and four great-grandchildren,” he said.

When he’s not running his businesses or doting on his dog Sammi, he’s engaged in his favorite hobby, restaurant and bar hopping. MHV

Ron

Events trade shows&

MHI CONGRESS & EXPO

Wednesday, April 3 — Thursday, April 4, 2024

Las Vegas | MGM Grand

The national trade show where manufactured housing professionals can obtain the knowledge and resources necessary to excel in today’s housing marketplace. Choose from attending top-quality educational programs with powerful speakers, the industry’s most successful professionals, and visiting the exhibit floor to see the latest products and technologies.

IMN MANUFACTURED HOUSING FORUM

Tuesday, May 7 — Wednesday, May 8, 2024

Scottsdale, Ariz. | Doubletree Paradise Valley Resort

Manufactured Housing Forum from Information Management Network will provide exclusive educational content and industry insights, but also presents a unique opportunity for senior-level attendees to network with owners, investors, developers, lenders, and builders. The program will feature discussions on all aspects of the industry including modular, pre-fab, and community operations. Use Discount Code MHInsider for a 15 percent discount.

If you have an event or gathering you would like to have listed with MHInsider, please contact us at:

www.mhvillage.com/pro/manufacturedhousing-industry-trade-shows/

MHI ON THE HILL/INNOVATIVE HOUSING SHOWCASE

June 5-9

Washington, D.C. | National Mall

Held annually in conjunction with National Homeownership Month and HUD’s Innovative Housing Showcase, MHI invites members to join colleagues at the Capitol to convey industry priorities to Congress, staff, policymakers, and housing professionals from other segments, as well as guests, and the general public.

TENNESSEE HOUSING ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING

Sunday, June 9 — Tuesday, June 11, 2024

Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

Dollywood’s Heartsong Lodge and Resort

Tennessee Housing Association for its 2024 Annual Meeting carries the theme “Make EVERY Connection Matter”. The event takes places at Dollywood’s newest lodge, and will include a reception dinner, general meeting, golf outing, and educational sessions. Sponsorship opportunities remain available. To register and for other information go to www.thaannualmeeting.com.

2024 MHCA ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND GOLF TOURNAMENT

Wednesday, June 19 — Friday, June 21, 2024

Hilton Phoenix Tapatio Cliffs Resort | Phoenix, Ariz.

MHCA offers a prime locale to meet, exhibit, and shop for the latest industry developments and trends. With awe-inspiring views and a day of great golfing, Manufactured Housing Communities of Arizona invites manufactured housing professionals for a productive three-day outing in the desert. Exhibit and sponsorship opportunities are available!

The Biloxi Show Hits Stride

in Third Year

The Biloxi Manufactured Housing Show and Expo returns to the Gulf Coast for the third year with about 90 exhibitors and dozens of homes on display from 11 builders.

“We have 49 homes, up from 35 homes the previous year,” Mississippi Manufactured Housing Association Executive Director Jennifer Hall said. “We are maxed out with that number. We do have some new manufacturers, too, and we’re excited about that.”

Hall said Dr. Lesli Gooch and Mark Bowersox from the Manufactured Housing Institute will provide an industry update from a national perspective, including an update on pending U.S. Department of Energy mandates for manufactured housing.

There also will be a lenders panel, and a presentation on tech and marketing trends from MHVillage Co-President and Chief Business Development Officer Darren Krolewski.

MMHA works with the Alabama Manufactured Housing Association each year to host the event at the IP Casino Resort in Biloxi, a carry-over from the former Tunica Show.

The Biloxi Show in 2024 is Monday, March 18 through Wednesday, March 20.

“Everyone is excited about coming back to Biloxi for the show. They love coming down for show, for the casino, and for the area’s amazing restaurants,” Hall said.

In addition to the many attendees and exhibitors at the show, the two associations will host myriad public officials from surrounding counties.

“We will have public officials come tour the homes on Wednesday,” Hall said. “We have everything set up and looking so nice, it’s a great time to get people through these homes to see what they’re missing and help them gain perspective on the opportunity to provide more affordable housing in their cities. MHV

Biloxi Show Schedule 2024

Monday, March 18

8 a.m.–11 a.m.

Exhibitors and manufacturers only pick up registration packets/name badges

11 a.m.–6 p.m.

Registration open for attendees, foyer Studio B

8 a.m.–5 p.m.

Exhibitors set up in the Exhibit Hall, Studio B second level

1 p.m.–5 p.m.

Home in the outdoor village open to attendees

4 p.m.–5 p.m.

Education session – Lending panel in Studio A

6 p.m.–7:30 p.m.

Welcome Reception

Tuesday, March 19

8 a.m.–5 p.m.

Registration, foyer Studio B

8 a.m.–9 a.m.

Breakfast in Exhibit Hall Studio B

8 a.m.–5 p.m

Exhibit Hall open in Studio B

9 a.m.–5 p.m.

Display homes open in outdoor village

9:15 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.

Education Session – State of the Industry/National issues from Lesli Gooch and Mark Bowersox, MHI Executives, in Studio A

10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Education Session – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac discuss manufactured housing programs in Studio A

11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Lunch in Ballroom on the third level

2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Education Session – Darren Krolewski from MHVillage covers emerging tech and marketing trends in Studio A

Wednesday, March 20

8 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

Breakfast in Exhibit Hall Studio B

8 a.m. – Noon

Exhibit Hall open in Studio B

9 a.m. – Noon

Display homes open in the outdoor village

9 a.m. – Noon

Local officials to tour the display homes

2024 CONGRESS AND EXPO

to feature enhanced education, career advancement opportunities

MHI is excited to host the highly anticipated 2024 Congress & Expo April 3 – 4, 2024 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. This year’s event offers an enhanced schedule, featuring two dynamic general sessions, tailored industry education workshops,and extended expo hall hours.

Join us for two engaging main stage sessions where manufactured housing professionals will gain insights from a leading economist and receive a comprehensive industry update from MH manufacturers. Delve into a selection of 12 educational workshops covering essential hot industry topics, newcomer information, and updates on legal and regulatory matters.

MHI is excited to bring back the National Communities Council Spring Forum on April 3, sponsored by MHVillage/ Datacomp, offering condensed yet insightful discussions

on trends and practices within the manufactured home community sector.

The Developers Seminar has been expanded to provide attendees with a day and a half of invaluable content tailored for individuals interested in entering the builder or developer space.

Lastly, our expo hall returns with expanded hours and more than 100 exhibiting companies,. a pair of lounges and two receptions that will make evident why attendees say Congress & Expo is the best industry event of the year.

Secure an event registration online at CongresAndExpo. com today to take advantage of the discounted rates before March 27. Don’t miss this once-a-year opportunity to stay informed, to see industry peers, and to elevate your professional development. MHV

2024 Sponsoring and Exhibiting Companies

21st Mortgage Corporation

ABT Water Management

AccessParks

Ace Tire & Axle

Advantage Homes

Adventure Homes

Albano Dale Dunn & Lewis Insurance

AmRent

Atwell, LLC

B.A.C.H. Land Development, LLC

Backyard Products

Berkadia

Big Rig Media LLC

Blevins, Inc.

Boom

Brine Development

Brown & Brown

California Southwestern

Insurance Agency

Capital One

Cascade Financial Services

Cavco Industries, Inc.

CBRE Manufactured

Housing Group - West

Clayton Home Building Group

Colliers

Communications

Consulting Group

Conservice, LLC

Cooper Cardinal

CoverTree

Credit Human

Eastdil Secured LLC

Efidol

Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc.

Family Homes

Gama Sonic Solar Lighting

Home Depot Pro

Renovation & Remodel

ILT innovation

Legacy Housing Corporation

Lument

Lyons Industries, Inc.

ManageAmerica

ManufacturedHomes.com

Marcus & Millichap

Metron Sustainable Services

MFI Commercial

MHC Funding

MHP Brokerage

MHVillage / Datacomp

MHWC

Minute Man Anchors

Mobile Insurance

NextCentury

NMHC Group

Northpoint Commercial Finance

Oliver Technologies, Inc.

Onyx Capital

Other Street Advisors

Partner Valuation Advisors

Phase3 Photovoltaics, Inc.

Princeton Capital Group

QMC Metering Solutions

Quality Home Transport

Rent Manager

RHP Properties, Inc.

ROC USA

Rose Paving

Sands Investment Group

Skyline Champion Homes

Speedread Technologies, LLC

Style Crest Inc

Sun Communities, Inc.

Sunstone Real Estate Advisors

Tammac

Tie Down Engineering Inc.

Timberline Construction Group

Triad Financial Services, Inc.

UMH Properties, Inc.

Universal Utilities

Vanderbilt Mortgage & Finance, Inc.

Wells Fargo

Wild Energy

Witten Vent Company

Yale Realty & Capital Advisors

Yardi

YES Communities

Zego (Powered by PayLease)

Zippy, Inc.

*Exhibitor list as of Feb. 19, 2024. Companies listed in bold are event sponsors.

A FOCUS ON COMMUNITY MANAGERS

How Roots Management Attains A More Personal Experience for Managers and Residents

By Sean Vichinsky

Tom Stapley, president of Roots Management, addresses community managers during a recent company-wide summit.

Roots Management Group holds itself up as an example of a “best-in-class” offering, but it is not a reputation earned without a significant amount of introspection and institutional change.

“Community managers are the cornerstone of our vision,” Roots Management Group President Tom Stapley said. “We believe that a people-first ethos is a proven path that can help pave the way for a revitalized industry.”

In 2006, the predecessor to Roots, Treehouse Group, was established by Tom Stapley, Marcus Ridgway, and Dallas Tanner.

The business plan was to acquire older manufactured home communities in key locations, initially settling in on 20 properties in the Phoenix area. It was a time of enormous change, transformation, and opportunity across the industry, and throughout housing.

By 2008, Stapley and Ridgway had expanded into the single-family rental business, founding Invitation Homes.

But Stapley maintained his passion for manufactured housing at Treehouse, and the business continued to grow. In 2020, as the company continued to expand, Stapley recognized that community managers were becoming overwhelmed, many of whom were responsible for nearly every aspect of the business in the field.

“We really wanted to see what it was like in the field from a fresh perspective. I started managing punch list items from when the company had just started, from when we had just a handful of properties. Still, we wanted to know what the landscape currently looked like from a community manager’s point of view,” Roots Management Group Chief Operating Officer Tauvaga Iii said.

Boots on the Ground

Treehouse sent a new operations intern, McKay Lyman, a grad school student just dipping his toe in the industry, to Brookhaven Estates in Apache Junction, Ariz., where there had been a significant amount of staff turnover.

“I had a lot of work to do, I knew I had to gain the resident’s trust,” Lyman said.

Stapley asked that he go out several times a day on a golf cart to clean up some litter and to “break the ice” with community residents.

“The idea resonated with me, and before long, I felt like I had gained a great deal of trust and appreciation from the residents, and it also allowed me to meet several of them much quicker,” Lyman said. “I encouraged residents to speak freely with me and let me know what was on their minds. Soon I started receiving a lot of baked goods as gifts, and the residents invited me to their community potlucks.”

Most importantly, Lyman said, the experience helped him and senior management understand what needed to be done in the community, and it ultimately provided great leadership insight that could translate across the company’s portfolio.

“When we looked at McKay’s time logs and noticed that he was being bombarded by corporate requests and getting the same routine questions asked by the residents »

about where to pay rent and how much they owed, we knew something needed to be done,” Iii said.

Introspective Change, Staff Enablement

The company implemented electronic communications for residents and taught residents how to check balances and make payments. All corporate staff members were asked to prioritize a community manager’s time, to first seek answers from other sources, for instance, to keep time in the field free for managers to work with residents, contractors, and other staff members.

In 2021, the company decided to enhance its portfolio by bringing in additional properties owned and operated by Vineyards Management Group. Two years later, Treehouse Communities and Vineyards Management Group rebranded to Roots Management Group. With the additional staff and merging the two companies, Roots launched a learning and development department that created what is now called Roots University. The team provides educational content for the community managers, and develops the curriculum for Roots University, which is a 30-hour manager certification course covering Roots procedures, financial handling, reporting, and community-focused materials.

Stapley said the company also revamped its shared services department to further help relieve managers of non-resident-centric work. Shared services now has more than 30 people handling the home ordering, logistics and installation, marketing, and listing of homes for sale or rent.

He said the department has a full-time community success manager.

“Our shared services teams and every employee at Roots Management Group is here to support our front lines, our community managers,” Iii said.

The commitment translates into satisfaction for the community managers. Brooke McAlister is the community manager at Countryside Estates in Hays, Kansas.

“I really value the education and the trust put in us to run the communities as if we are the owners,” McAlister said.

McAlister also participated in a company-wide manager summit, a three-day immersive experience for managers and support staff.

“The Community Manager Summit really helped me learn to take the ownership role, feel secure taking the reins, learn how to maximize the impact of the online tools available to me and participate in peer-topeer mentor groups,” McAlister said.

The company not only took tasks away from community managers to give them more time to focus on the residents, but they provided the opportunity to rate the staff members who are tasked with supporting community managers.

“We have each manager fill out a Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey each month that rates our company using a score based on how well we are responding to their needs and supporting them as a central services team,” Iii said. “We’ve come a long way since the first round of scoring, which had the corporate team rated by community managers at a negative-14. Today, they are reporting at 66, which is considered ‘Great’, according to the NPS rating system.”

Lyman says although he is no longer working at Brookhaven, he enjoys supporting all the Roots Management Group properties and the community managers.

“My time spent as a community manager was certainly a favorite for me in this company and is foundational to my appreciation for manufactured housing,” he said.

“The industry is still growing and evolving, while Roots continues to push forward and transform the industry as a people-first company.” MHV

Sean Vichinsky is an editor of MHInsider and a marketing copywriter for MHVillage.

NEW ARIZONA RETIREMENT COMMUNITY

a Stepping Off Point for Experiencing Nature

Mike Middleton and his partners had worked together in the multi-family sector and more recently developed an RV park in the Tonto Basin when they ran across a property titled for manufactured housing that had been shelved for years.

What has become Desert Pines was to be phase four of a previous development, The Villages, and Middleton and his team envisioned a small, nicely appointed community in an area that receives a lot of attention for its natural beauty.

“This seemed like the perfect fit,” Middleton said of the community near Prescott, Ariz. “It came together very well. It was conforming to the property types around, and we started in March of ’22 with construction and we have all of our amenities built out.

“Our main goal after doing a lot of research and talking with other park owners was to get the amenities done first. Then we put in eight models and three more are in the works,” he said.

The community sits on 26 acres.

“We’re close to the Prescott National Forest, we are 15 minutes from downtown Prescott, an hour to Sedona and a bit more than that to Phoenix,” Middleton said. “ We have a touch of every season, too. It’s not blazing hot like other areas of the state. There are several lakes nearby

that are popular for kayaking, and fishing. And, it’s central Arizona, there are trails and hiking everywhere.”

Desert Pines has 179 homesites, a large clubhouse with a pool and a custom, in-pool hot tub. There are four pickleball courts and a dog park. Desert Pines backs up to a public golf course, and there are two other courses in the immediate vicinity.

“We’re launching a marketing campaign right now,” Middleton said. “ We are working with a broker to get the homes on the MLS, and I think we will be the first to do that in this area.

“The homes are all block-ground set. It’s a wonderful product, each of our homes comes with an 8-by-12’ shed, full length awnings, concrete driveways, and paved streets with curbs,” Middleton said. Homes will come in three phases during a five-year period, he said. MHV

Manufactured Home Community Financing

Wells Fargo Commercial Real Estate understands that making business decisions in the current environment is more challenging than ever. Our experienced bankers can provide the financial guidance you need to help navigate your company’s most pressing issues. With our industry knowledge, products, and services, we’re confident we can help keep your business moving forward.

Learn more at wellsfargo.com/mhc

Tony Petosa

760-505-9001

tpetosa@wellsfargo.com

Nick Bertino

858-336-0782

nick.bertino@wellsfargo.com

Matthew Herskowitz

760-840-3608

matthew.herskowitz@wellsfargo.com

THE VALUE OF PARTICIPATION IN STATE, NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

By Don Westphal

My first contact with the manufactured housing industry occurred in the spring of 1964 when I took a trip on the Illinois Central from Urbana to 20 North Wacker Drive in Chicago to do some research for a term paper for a graduate school class. I lived in a 36-by 8-foot mobile home in a small trailer park, at the time, and thought that a landscape architect’s input might make some of those old parks more attractive. Even in the ’60s, the Mobile Home Manufacturers Association was concerned about image, and their land development division had a site planning service that helped developers with sketch plans for better looking new communities.

I was hired as a consultant to MHMA during that visit and the rest, as they say, “is history”.

Some of the Early Days in Michigan

For the next few years as a consultant, I prepared many plans for new communities across the country and spoke at land development seminars MHMA held, as well. Those early experiences showed me what a difference an organization can make in moving an industry forward. When I moved back to Michigan in the late ’60s, one of my first contacts with the industry was with the Michigan Mobile Home Association. That connection brought me into the industry in Michigan and acquainted me with some of the early pioneers of modern communities in that state.

It wasn’t long before I was active in association affairs, and I served on associations and boards for many years

thereafter. In that 40-year period of time, our associations have been through cycles of feast and famine, as has the industry, and through it all have continued to effectively protect and advance manufactured housing for the benefit of our members and in most cases, our residents, too.

In the same vein, I have actively contributed as a supplier and community owner member to MHI. Through the site development committee, we were able to advance the industry by way of programs like the Urban Demonstration Project, and later at the Congress and Expo in Las Vegas. In recent years, organizations such as the Urban Land Institute and MHI’s National Communities Council have given me ample opportunities to learn, contribute, and grow in my profession.

So, you can see that involvement in industry organizations has been an important part of my professional journey.

Do I believe all the hours spent in meetings and on committees have been beneficial?

It most certainly has.

Not only has it kept me abreast of the changes in the business, and capable of producing a timely product for my clients, but it also has enriched my life through contact with some remarkable individuals, both movers and shakers and individual entrepreneurs who share a passion for the business. »

These group activities have allowed many of our members to survive and some to forge ahead in new and exciting directions.

Representation Across Industry Segments

Some among us claim that these state and our national organization are just for the “Big Guys”. Not true!

All of us benefit from the important work done by our state and national associations.

Some of the little guys use the “big guy” excuse for not being involved. Associations everywhere are stronger if they have longtime board members, but organizers, volunteers, and board members can’t be the only ones who participate. Associations are all about the members. For all members, regardless of how they want to give their time and experience.

Our industry needs the participation of all segments of the industry, big and small. The good we get out of associations is directly proportional to the effort we put into it.

I’ll close with a short story about a minister who took his son with him to a small rural church where he was to be a summer substitute. On the way into the church, he passed a box labeled “for the poor”, and wanting to teach his son a lesson on giving, he deposited a dollar in the box. After delivering a rousing sermon, he and his son greeted all the parishioners as they left. The last one to greet them was the head deacon who said that they pay their visiting pastors from the money in the poor box. He opened the box and presented the contents to the pastor…one dollar! To that the son stated, “If you would have put more into it, dad, you would have gotten more out of it!” MHV Don Westphal retired after more than 50 years since the mid 1960s when he designed his first manufactured home community and RV resort as a Landscape Architect student. He is a consultant to the Nadi Group and still enjoys sharing his experiences and the association with long-time clients and industry friends.

CRAWLSPACE

ADVANCING PROPERTY WATER MANAGEMENT

Traditionally, many communities have relied on the Ratio Utility Billing System (RUBS) to deter mine residents’ utility bills based on various factors, including square footage and number of occupants in each home.

BACKGROUND

Over the past year, Roots has been on a transfor mative jour ney, evaluating how to enhance utilities and service categories. Their commitment to using the best-in-class technology is unwavering, bringing them water usage and the need to conserve and reduce costs for their residents.

However, Roots decided to shift gears and embrace submetering, an innovative approach that involves monitoring each home to track and manage water usage effectively

“

Leaks are inevitable, but having this level of visibility has been an absolute game changer.

Tyler Brady

Director of Revenue, Roots

THE RESULTS

Teaming up with Metron Sustainable Services has yielded impressive results for Roots Management Group properties and residents. Tyler Brady, Director of Revenue at Roots had this to say about Metron:

“Just yesterday, we received a high-usage alert happening in real-time within one of our communities.

under neath a vacant home. Otherwise, undetectable. Thanks to this technology, our on-site management team

of gallons of water. Leaks are inevitable, but having this level of visibility has been an absolute game changer.”

“The meters provide 1 min data increments that allow for state-of-the-art leak detection, with real-time alerts. They are also utility-grade meters. W ith our sub-meters and monitoring devices, monitor the leaks, the ROI is incredible,” says Luke Kosorok, VP of Real Estate at Metron Sustainable Services.

Metron Sustainable Services offers a state-of-the-art solution for monitoring water usage. The system can detect anomalies down to the drop using cellular technology, immediately alerting community managers when unusual patter ns are detected. This has proven invaluable in addressing issues like broken pipes and running toilets while saving water and money

liberating maintenance teams. Tyler Brady notes that the automation of meter readings has allowed his teams to focus on more critical matters, eliminating the need for

from this technology, with easy monitoring of their usage through their smartphones, PCs, or tablets.

Roots Management Group is taking a proactive step by covering the installation costs of the meters for residents and asking that the residents maintain the warranty of each unit for a small monthly fee. The long-ter m savings, ease of monitoring, and individualized billing make submetering an attractive proposition for management and residents. Tyler Brady is helping to make this possible for all Roots Management Group properties with an introductory plan.

“In communities that install our smart water meters and associated software, Metron sees an average of 30%

In Tyler’s words, “It’s a win-win for everyone. management, and individualized billing creates a sustainable and har monious living environment. As Roots Management Group continues to roll out this initiative across its communities, their aim is crystal clear – to bring down utility costs and make housing more affordable for residents facing

Roots Management Group’s commitment to water conservation and cost savings through the positive impact on the environment and residents’ wallets makes submetering an essential component of moder n community living. (credit: Christine Bachman)

KNOW YOUR NICHE

By Suzanne Felber

Nine percent. That is the magic mark that manufactured housing has contributed to housing starts each year for at least the last decade. Still, the manufactured housing industry may finally be poised to break through that ceiling.

How? By working together to build and deliver a great product.

There are some new opportunities opening up in our markets that manufacturers and retailers are starting to discover. Identifying these niche markets and learning those that are right for you can be your key to success for 2024 and beyond.

Who is Your Customer?

Doug Tollin, director of customer experience at Skyline Champion, shared some excellent points on identifying your customer.

“Understand that customers have multiple options other than manufactured housing for their housing needs,” he said. “The main competitor to a retail sales center is not the manufactured housing retail sales center down the road but the site-built alternative, apartment living, existing home sales, and living with relatives, for example.

“Each market is different. Understanding who the largest competitor of the home shoppers is will allow the retail centers to know how to develop their unique marketing strategy,” he said.

Knowing that some buyers might not visit a street retailer location, but would be interested in the same house if it was in a community is changing how some retailers sell.

Selling a Total Package

There are several channels by which manufactured homes make it to the customer. For so many years, street retailers sold homes despite the difficulty of having to help customers find land or a community, as well. Likewise, when a customer visits a community they want to know where they can buy a home to go in that vacant homesite. Many retailers sell land-home packages, especially on acreage, and we feel more will come. With site-built sales slowing down, more developers have land that needs to be developed and are having to get creative about how they bring in homes.. They are now starting to discover the factory-built advantage.

Competing With The Build-To-Rent Market

With the rise in interest rates making it harder to get financing, site builders have been turning to building new home communities that are all rentals. Single-family site built rental homes built in 2022 reached over 69,000, with many more townhome and condo communities also being built to take advantage of this demand. Tollin said he feels renters, for the most part, do not care about the method of construction used to complete their living

space. This becomes a value-added to the developer or owner of a project. Suppose a “build-to-rent community” can complete its project in 30 percent less time and with 13 percent less cost and keep the community looking as attractive as they had ever imagined. In that case, the developer can generate rent revenue more quickly, reduce costs, and mitigate many risk factors. Many BTR clients are investors, not builders. Offsite construction simplifies the process for those not interested in becoming a builder.

Cavco has also become focused on this market and has started Cavco In-Neighborhood. This new division is dedicated to providing turn-key homes established in select communities and developments. Bryan Rogers is a regional vice president for the effort, and already is causing a stir in the manufactured housing community. The “diffusions of innovation,” Rogers said, is a concept his team is following to help explain how new ideas, products, and technologies are adopted and applied in different ways. By working with developers to create a new community type where homes are sited and ready to be occupied in a goal of two weeks, Rogers shared that "We can offer an alternative to site-built housing. If we can capture the interest of those early adopters and gain 16 percent of the housing market, our world will change.”

People like Bryan and Doug will change the housing world, and being a part of that is exciting. Is this a possible dream? Of course, it is! Our industry has the resources to build, finance, insure, and sell our homes so we can genuinely offer that turnkey solution.

More on the Turn-key Process

Many consumers are concerned that we are only selling a home, and that they will have to arrange all of the partnerships needed to get the home completed. Most of us in the industry know this isn’t the case, but again, in many cases, we haven’t done a great job telling our story.

In some ways, buying a manufactured home is more straightforward than purchasing a site-built home. If a site builder were to build in the same community that these manufacturers will now be building in, it would take a minimum of 90 days to construct the home and probably 30 days to get the financing secured after the home is purchased, Cavco In-Neighborhood is using a two week sales time to buy and move in for land and homes that are set and move-in ready. This could indeed be the answer to the scarcity of attainable housing, particularly in the middle market. Some of the communities will be a land-lease purchase, and others will be where the land and home are sold together.

Another unique opportunity with these developments is that they are welcoming sales from retailers and Realtors®, which will give our homes renewed visibility they haven't enjoyed in a long time, maybe ever. Our homes also present Realtors® a path to increased commissions. With the Cavco division, each development will have an onsite sales office, and retailers can bring clients to that sales office. The Cavco representative will handle the rest of that transaction, but the retailer still gets their commission. »

If they Won't Come to Us, We Need to Go To Them

I think manufactured housing is one of the most misunderstood industries in the country. When I talk to site builders and consumers, most guess what we still build are tin roof single wides, which you only find in older parks. Fortunately, that perception is changing, and companies like Cavco and Skyline Champion are doing a great job helping to show how far we have come. Both companies had a pair of homes at the International Builder’s Show and the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show in Las Vegas in February. More than 100,000 builders, developers, manufacturers, and designers attend the show every year, and it is exciting that our industry had four complete homes for people to tour in the village setting right outside the convention center.

Cavco had a 540 square-foot small footprint home (great name!) And a 400 square-foot ADU model. The Genesis division of Skyline Champion brought a 1,493 square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath home with a primary bedroom oasis as well as a 1,587 square-foot home with three bedrooms and two baths with a split bedroom design. These homes will feature the latest technology and finishes available in the industry and give our industry a way to show off what we can do. All of these homes are consistently decorated in a way that would compete with any sitebuilt home, yet when a consumer visits some retail centers, they don't get the same experience.

Do Your Homes Offer a WOW Feature?

Even big box retailers like Walmart and Target realize that consumers now expect to be wowed, no matter what the price point of the item they are selling. If you have gone into a Walmart lately, you will see that they no longer have just racks and shelves with vast amounts of clothing; they now have beautifully designed displays that offer one of each size with back stock hidden away. Likewise, consumers no longer want to buy a home with bare walls and floors in a monochromatic color scheme where they can’t visualize their grandmother's china cabinet or other belongings; they expect model homes full of ideas like what they see every day on Pinterest or HGTV. Jennifer Jones, a general manager with Clayton Homes of Alexandria, in Louisiana, discovered that when she offered her many homes for sale, the fully furnished and decorated ones sold faster. She didn't have to worry about moving and storing furniture and accessories when they did sell, either, because the customer was buying the entire staged home. It eliminated the nicked walls and scratched floors

when furniture is moved out of a sold home. The houses started selling so quickly that she got contracts before we could finish hanging the artwork!

By knowing who your buyer is and what your retail center's strengths and weaknesses are, it is possible to tap into one of these niche markets or to find one of your own. We are excited about what the future holds for all of us! MHV

Lifestylist Suzanne Felber has been active in the housing industry for more than 30 years. Felber realized that factory-built housing was the housing of the future, and has been actively working to promote the lifestyle ever since. She started American Housing Advocates as a way to share the great news about manufactured housing. To learn more about her work, visit www.lifestylist. com and www.americanhousingadvocates.com, or read her @lifestylist social media posts .

In today’s evolving market, it is more important than ever to get your products and services in front of potential buyers to keep your sales pipeline full.

Retailer Q A

&

with Clayton Homes of McComb General Manager Darren Felder

MHInsider asked a Clayton retailer to participate in a question and answer session on how homes are selling, how higher interest rates are being managed, and what customer are asking for in a new home. Here are the responses…

How long have you been operating?

I’ve been in the industry for 26 years. Originally, I worked for an independent retailer that was bought by Fleetwood Homes in 2005.

Is the average home you sell increasing in size, getting smaller, or staying about the same?

The average home size has remained about the same for many years. For the past 20 years or so,

the average multi-section home we sell has been around 1,500 square feet and 1,200 square feet for single-section homes.

How many homes do you sell annually?

We sell 90 homes per year on average, and this has remained the same over the past several years.

What is your average time from the order of the home to set up?

We keep our best selling home models in stock. We currently have around 30 homes ready to order, and a lot of those are available at our store. For homes that we do not have available, the delivery of the home to the site varies depending on if the home building facility has received other orders ahead of the homebuyer’s order. Other factors like where the building facility is located and time of year can also affect the delivery time.

What is the most common add-on feature in your market?

One add-on feature that we tend to see is switching floor vents to ceiling vents. However, customers typically do not request any add-ons beyond site improvements.

How have you seen your business evolve over the last few years?

We’ve seen a lot more interest from customers in our affordable home options thanks to improvements in the home building process. The least expensive home is built using the same construction process as the most expensive home we offer. We also offer much more energy-efficient homes than we did years before.

Energy-efficient home packages have always been an attractive option to our customers and with eBuilt homes now being built in all Clayton home building facilities, we can help homeowners save up to 50 percent on utility costs annually.

What do you think is the greatest challenge facing the industry right now?

One challenge that hinders access to off-site built homes is zoning. Our industry is working closely with municipalities across the country to educate community leaders, zoning officials, and the public to allow offsite built homes in more locations.

We monitor the housing market very closely. In the past, our more basic home packages have moved best. Within the last few months, though, we’ve seen more customers looking for higher-end home options. Staying ahead of the curve by understanding what our customers are looking for helps us anticipate what products we need to have available.

What customer trends do you see in terms of use-of-space and/or lifestyle amenities/ materials choices?

For the past three years, many customers have been adamant that they do not want carpet in their homes.

Why do you feel it’s important to attend events like Louisville, Biloxi, Congress and Expo and others?

I attend the Biloxi Home Show every year. I believe it’s important to attend events like this to stay upto-date on new product offerings in the market (like the uptick in energy-efficient features and packages), to make connections with others in the industry and to keep a pulse on where the industry is heading.

What do you think the next year is going to be like for the industry?

We plan to sell around 90 to 100 homes in 2024. MHV

Are there specific strategies you’ve identified to keep homes moving?

Where Beauty

Meets Durability

Choose NovikStone, the leader in stone skirting, for a beautiful and durable skirting upgrade that complements any manufactured home while o ering unsurpassed beauty and the realism of traditional masonry.

• WEED-EATER RESISTANT

• INCREASES CURB APPEAL

• PERFECT FOR GROUND CONTACT

• LIMITED LIFETIME WARRANTY

EACH COMMERCIAL SOLAR PROJECT IS DESIGNED AND DEVELOPED IN-HOUSE, FROM START TO FINISH, BEGINNING WITH OUR PROPRIETARY SOLAR ENERGY ANALYSIS/AUDIT

SOLAR ENERGY AUDIT • DESIGN & ENGINEERING • INSTALLATION • MONITORING • MAINTENANCE

Our Time to Shine

Is Now

By César Mascorro, Jr

The year was 1996 when I was able to purchase my very own cellular phone. I remember how excited I was to start using it, and, in my humble opinion, the feeling of having the latest technology. I remember rushing through incoming calls because I didn’t want to be charged after the first free minute. I was just getting started as a home designer and the money was minimal. Fast forward to 2024, and now I can watch TV, surf the internet, and have things shipped to my home the same day, all from my smartphone

It's amazing to see the progress in cell phone technology in almost 30 years since I purchased my first one. The ancient Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, said it best when he said “the only constant in life is change.”

I look at this type of progress as growth. These newer products have brought us so many benefits and made life very interesting, to say the least.

Now think of the growth and progress in our industry over just the last 10 years. The evolution of our product, the power of our finance offerings, »

the methods used to install homes, each have vastly improved in the last decade alone.

One of the major successes in the manufactured housing industry is the fact that more and more people have considered purchasing a home, buyers who would not have previously considered our product.

We have so much opportunity to increase sales by tapping into the segment of the site-built market that can no longer purchase a site-built home because of pricing and financing.

For all the growth we have seen in our product, financing, construction practices, and potential homebuyers coming into our segment, there is one aspect of our business that could

benefit from some focus, and that would be the buying experience we provide our potential clients.

Having spent 14 years in retail sales of manufactured homes as a housing consultant, sales manager, or general manager, I can honestly say that I have yet to see a comprehensive and intentional initiative to improve the home buying experience provided by a sales staff.

OK, before anyone takes my words to the dartboard, let’s make one thing clear. I am a huge proponent of our industry, our product, and what we can do for homebuyers across the country. However, things seem to have been so good over the years that there hasn’t been quite the level of attention focused on sales process

improvement and sales training to bring our representatives and consultants up to a new level. We have been good with the “status quo” because that’s how we’ve done it, and it has worked.

When I say sales training, I am not referring to simply getting people to make more calls, or answer the phones, or place more ads. Making certain our sales consultants are driving traffic to the location is where everything starts. What I am referring to is introducing the same level of respect, pride, and desire to be more what we would see from a sales consultant at an exotic car dealership or high-end retail store. I know there are plenty of sales consultants, managers, and retailers »

who have shopped at these places for themselves, and know exactly what I am referring to when I say “enhanced” buying experience.

What does that buying experience look like? How would your sales consultants represent themselves, your company, and your product?

Ultimately, how would your clients respond to that type of experience? In today’s world of higher prices and higher rates, our ability to provide that type of buying experience would help offset some of the pushback we get from potential buyers, even though they know our product and appreciate that it is more affordable than other housing options.

What we are talking about here is improving our perspective on the business so that we can effect change

in the perspective of the homebuyer. We talked earlier about a new segment of the market coming into our industry and our desire to fill this need for housing. Many customers decide to rent because they were left wanting more from the experience they had on the sales lot.

In 2024, homebuyers want more out of the buying experience. And we want even more out of our sales consultants. It’s time we made clear that we are the premier choice for high-quality homes at an affordable price.

Here are a few focus areas I’ve identified that could provide a great positive gain. These also are areas we will be discussing in future editions of MHInsider magazine.

• Selling in today’s market to today’s buyer is less transactional

• Steps toward creating working relationships with clients that built on trust and empathy

• How to establish yourself as a professional sales consultant and NOT a salesperson

• Consider the leadership skills to embody no matter your title

• A successful career that revolves around solving the needs of others

It's only going to take two things. First, we must want to improve. Second, we have to care to make it happen.

The manufactured home sales is the disruptive innovation that the housing market needs.

Champion Home Builders’ Doug Tollin asserted in a LinkedIn post that we have held that place for some time, and that many people simply haven’t taken notice. I’m here to tell you that they are watching now. IT’S OUR TIME TO SHINE! MHV

César Mascorro, Jr is the president and founder of Manufactured Home Sales Mastery, LLC which is a manufactured home sales consulting and training company. César has been in the residential housing industry since 1993 and specifically manufactured housing since 2009. César has served in the capacity of housing consultant, operations manager, and general manger for both independent and corporate retail sales locations in Texas.

Kurt

THERE’S AN EASIER WAY TO FIND ACQUISITION OPPORTUNITIES

With detailed rent, occupancy and community attributes for nearly 200 markets nationwide, Datacomp has the information the manufactured housing industry relies on to locate and evaluate opportunities. Get the insights you need in today’s competitive market and continue to grow your portfolio with confidence.

TURNKEY MANUFACTURED HOME SERVICES

We are a one-stop for all your home installation and site development needs. We have a well established reputation for integrity, service, experience and the ability to complete complex projects. As a result, we’ve become the company of choice of many federal and state agencies and private clients. Regardless of the project or situation, our core focus is...

Building Relationships Providing Solutions

Exceeding Expectations

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE CORPORATE TRANSPARENCY ACT

Avoid $500 Per Day Penalties For Your LLC

By Ferd Niemann

The Corporate Transparency Act, effective from Jan. 1, 2024, introduces a transformative shift in the regulatory framework for business entities in the United States. This new legislation requires a range of businesses, including limited liability companies, corporations, limited partnerships, and their beneficial owners, to file specific information with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

A primary aim of the CTA is to combat financial crimes, such as money laundering or the financing of other crimes. It seeks to enhance transparency in business ownership. Its extensive scope includes large corporations, small businesses, and even entities established for estate planning purposes.

Exemptions and Their Implications

The CTA exempts 23 types of entities from the reporting requirements. While each exemption should be reviewed carefully, the most common exemptions are qualified charities, and business entities satisfying all three of the following criteria: »

Business owners must take practical steps to ensure compliance with the CTA. This includes conducting a thorough review of business structures to determine if they fall under the CTA’s purview, and identifying the beneficial owners who must be reported.

1. Has an operating presence at a physical office within the United States

2. Has at least 20 full-time employees

3. Has more than $5 million in gross receipts or sales the previous year from publicly traded entities or those otherwise regulated by the federal government

Note, many real estate investors purchase property via a special purpose entity, such as an LLC – many LLCs will not satisfy the above exemption requirements.

Defining Beneficial Ownership

A key aspect of the CTA is the requirement for the disclosure of beneficial ownership information. Beneficial ownership information includes certain information from individuals who either directly or indirectly exercise substantial control over a reporting entity, or directly or indirectly own/control 25 percent or more.

Further, if a trust satisfies either of the above two requirements that define beneficial ownership, the trustee or beneficiaries may be considered beneficial owners under the CTA. Whether an individual has “substantial control” over a reporting entity requires an analysis of the provisions of the CTA.

Detailed Reporting Requirements

The new rules require company information and beneficial owner information be reported.

Company information refers to a reporting entity’s basic organizational information. This consists of:

• The full legal name and any trade or d/b/a names of the company

• The street address for its principal place of business

• State, tribal, or foreign jurisdiction of formation

• Employer Identification Number or foreign tax identification number

Beneficial Owner and Company Applicant Information is the main purpose of the reporting requirements under CTA and must be reported for each beneficial owner and company applicant.

For each individual, this information should consist of:

• Their full legal name

• Their date of birth

• Their residential address (with limited exceptions)

• An image of and the unique identifying number shown on, any one of the following: A current U.S. passport, a current state-issued driver’s license, a current state, local, or tribal identification document; or if none of the foregoing are applicable to such individual, the individual’s current foreign passport.

Alternatively, reporting entities and individuals have the option to apply for a unique FinCEN identifier number that can be used in place of providing detailed personal information. It is crucial for entities and individuals to keep this information current. Therefore, similar to the necessity of updating and correcting beneficial ownership reports, any changes in the details provided in the FinCEN identifier application must be promptly reported through a revised application. This process ensures that the FinCEN database remains accurate and up to date, facilitating more efficient and effective oversight.

Reporting Timelines and Processes

The CTA sets specific deadlines for reporting. Those entities in existence as of Jan. 1, 2024, must submit BOI Reports by Jan. 1, 2025. Entities established between Jan. 1, 2024, and Jan. 1, 2025, are required to file BOI Reports within 90 days of their formation or public announcement. For entities formed on or after Jan. 1, 2025, the reporting window is 30 days from the date of formation or public announcement.

In addition to these initial reporting requirements, entities are obligated to report any significant changes. This includes updates to beneficial owners’ addresses or changes in the business address of the reporting entity. The 30-day window for reporting these changes underscores the need for ongoing vigilance and record-keeping.

Impact on Small Businesses

While the CTA primarily targets illicit financial activities, its impact on small businesses cannot be overlooked. Small business owners, often with limited resources, must navigate these new regulations, which could pose administrative challenges. Understanding the exemptions and seeking guidance when necessary can help mitigate these challenges. »

MANUFACTURED HOUSING SOFTWARE

Accounting software that adapts to you, Rent Manager was created for all of your community’s property management needs.

From asset tracking and loan management to metered utilities and billing, Rent Manager’s robust accounting features are built for you.

Compliance and Penalties

Adhering to the CTA is mandatory, and non-compliance carries severe consequences. Non-compliance, defined by either failing to report or providing fraudulent information, can lead to civil penalties of up to $500 per day until the violation is rectified. Note that this is per company/ LLC! In more severe instances, such as willful provision of false information, the penalties increase significantly, including fines up to $10,000 and imprisonment for up to two years. The severity of these penalties highlights the critical importance of understanding and complying with the CTA’s requirements.

Practical Steps for Compliance

Business owners must take practical steps to ensure compliance with the CTA. This includes conducting a thorough review of business structures to determine if they fall under the CTA’s purview, and identifying the beneficial owners who must be reported. It also involves setting up processes to collect, verify, and

update the required information. Businesses may need to invest in new systems or seek external assistance to manage these requirements. MHV

This information provided in this article does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. All information contained herein is for general informational purposes only. Readers should contact their own attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular legal matter.

Ferd Niemann is a community owner/ operator and real estate investor, financial analyst, entrepreneur, and attorney whose career has focused on myriad areas of real estate. In addition to his manufactured housing investments, Niemann has invested in storage units, apartments, restaurants, medical startups, and a handful of other ventures.

Effective Management of Repossessed Homes

By Fred Campbell

Managing repossessed manufactured homes can be a weighty task.

When working with rehabilitation, and resale of repossessed manufactured homes, industry professionals may find themselves working with and heavily relying on a full team of people.

Retailers and independent contractors are vital for a successful outcome. The primary goal when managing repossessed manufactured homes is to minimize expenses on each unit to gain the highest recovery possible for the lienholder on each home. Keep in mind the cost of transportation and rehabilitation during the process, and consider what will be done in pricing for resale of the repossessed home. What have you lost, what are you incurring, and what else needs

to be done? With all that in consideration, will you be able to price the home appropriately for the market?

Maximizing recovery on a repossessed unit will help the lienholder minimize losses and, equally as important, minimize the deficiency balance remaining on the loan from the customer who suffered the repossession.

Someone having a repossession is never a good thing for the person going through a hardship. Being able to recover those losses to help them owe less can be a positive outcome in an unpleasant situation.

Retailers and contractors play important roles in the process, with each contributing their expertise and services. Retailers are the sales teams and management at a manufactured home sales center or in-community

operation. Contractors consist of your transport company, set up people, and are also the team that bids and executes the rehab work on your repossessed home in between. Simply put, the contractors help you move and fix the houses while the retailers help you re-sell.

Each of these groups should be able to help provide insight in regard to market trends, pricing, and customer preferences. Use this information during the time you're making rehabilitation and sales decisions. While selling the house is the all-important end goal that your retailers help achieve, it is absolutely vital that your contractors help control the expenses to help you achieve success at minimizing losses on a repossession. »

The cost of transportation of a home can vary based on factors such as mileage, difficulty of the removal of the home, and any potential damage to the home that would need to be addressed prior to transportation. Also, transportation through some cities may be more expensive than others due to the cost of permits, and the escorts needed to move the home. Law enforcement assistance may be involved when the transporter is driving through heavy traffic areas with bridges, for example. Every little thing that can complicate a transport of a repossessed home can add to the expense of the move, which impacts the recovery/loss on that home for a lender.

Likewise, the cost of rehabilitation of a home can vary based on many factors as well. If you take possession of a home that is in good condition, it will cost less to rehab than a home with damage to the interior such as holes in walls, damage to flooring, electrical issues, etc. Doing a full inspection of a repossessed manufactured home with your rehab contractor while the home is still in the field does not guarantee you will know every issue needing repaired on the home.

Having your entire team view the home will hopefully eliminate any surprises and aid in decision making in regard to how to manage a particular situation. The rehab contractor’s goal is to oversee repairs, upgrades, and improvements, while controlling expenses without sacrificing the value and appeal of the home.

Focus on Regular Communication

It is essential to collaborate closely with your retailers and contractors for efficient coordination and seamless communication. Regular communication allows you to stay updated on the progress of each project, address any issues quickly, and ensure the completion of the project aligns with the market demands and buyer expectations!

Rehabilitation and resale of manufactured housing is a big task in a normal climate. From 2020 through most of 2022, we saw nothing that could resemble “normal” as we all know it. We are accustomed to trends to help us predict what is coming. We were unable to predict or guess how our industry would look at the end of Covid. Luckily, our industry remained strong, which is a testament to the industry itself and the resiliency of the people in it.

We saw backlogs affect the speed at which new home orders to the manufacturers were received by the sales centers. This created a supply problem for houses needed to serve potential home buyers at the sales center level. As a result, the demand for repossessed homes was higher than it has been in decades. While there were still repossessions in the market, meeting the demand for houses was exceedingly difficult. During the pandemic, governments implemented moratoriums on foreclosures to provide temporary relief to homeowners facing financial hardships due to job losses or reduced income. This slowed the rate

at which we saw repossessions come during this time and threw other obstacles into the mix of rehabilitating and reselling manufactured housing.

During this time, problems maintaining the contractor workforce arose. Completion times of projects were much slower than we were accustomed to before. During this time, the price of materials skyrocketed due to factors such as supply chain issues, production setbacks, and reduced transportation capabilities. At least for a brief period, it was the perfect storm where we needed to get houses rehabbed and resold but simply could not do it fast enough to meet the demands in the marketplace.

The obstacles faced by our industry in recent times have washed and we are seeing what feels “normal” again.

One thing we can always say about the manufactured housing industry, is that we adapt! Despite all the obstacles thrown our way, the manufactured housing industry has shown remarkable resilience and has continued to provide affordable and sustainable new and used manufactured housing options. MHV

Fred Campbell is a regional manager for Triad Financial Services, and has been in the manufactured housing industry since 2007. Campbell manages Louisiana, Mississippi, and Houston, Texas, with a focus on growing business and bringing excellent service to his business partners.

UMH PROPERTIES, INC.

A PIONEER IN MANUFACTURED HOUSING

• $1.9 billion in total enterprise value

As a publicly traded REIT (NYSE:UMH), we have been providing quality a ordable housing since 1968. Our portfolio provides high pro t margins, recession resistant qualities, reliable income streams and the potential for long-term value appreciation.

• 135 communities, 25,800 homesites, 2 joint venture communities containing 363 homesites, 11 states

• Housing approximately 22,000 families

• 7,600 total acres, 3,800 acres in Marcellus and Utica Shale regions

For more information, visit www.umh.reit or contact ir@umh.com

MORTGAGE

Aron Procuniar

Associate Director

949.742.1961

aron.procuniar@berkadia.com

949.283.5020

art.tuverson@berkadia.com

INVESTMENT

Kevan Enger

Senior Managing Director, Head of Manufactured HousingInvestment Sales

407.481.9920

Ian Hilpl

Senior Director

689.244.5558

ian.hilpl@berkadia.com

Andre Matta

Assistant Vice PresidentOriginations

949.622.9205

andre.matta@berkadia.com

Brian Hummell Director 614.318.5482

brian.hummell@berkadia.com

Rob Hagerty

Vice PresidentOriginations

949.622.9203

rob.hagerty@berkadia.com

Hunter LaRocca

Director

407.227.9643

hunter.larocca@berkadia.com

HOW MH HAS EVOLVED OVER 70 YEARS

By George Allen, CPM Emeritus, MHM-Master

Every decade or so, someone sits down to reminisce, document, and share how the manufactured housing product, and its realty component communities, have adapted over time. There are dozens of examples, initially cited at a national trade gathering, then in the pages of a state association publication, and elsewhere.

Altogether, these changes epitomize the truism attributed to Thomas Holcroft: “The past is a guidepost, not a hitching post”.

In 2013, at MHI’s National Communities Council meeting in Memphis, Tenn., community owners/operators produced a chart showing how

product design and community characteristics changed during the 1950s and ’60s, then through the 1970s, ’80s, ’90,s and now into the 21st century.

Nearly a decade later, during 2021, the “WMA Reporter,” California’s WMA in-house trade publication, published a chart titled “Yesterday’s Mobile Homes vs. Today’s Manufactured Homes; a Comparison.”

There are many commonalities to be found in these two widely shared change charts:

The house trailer of the 1950s became the “mobile home” of the 1960s then manufactured housing/homes during the 1970s. It’s been suggested

Simple, four-sided singlewide and doublewide homes of decades past have become more “homelike” as front porch model single-section and multi-section homes, attractive from the street and featuring long hallway floor plans.

in recent years we simply call it housing. In the more recent years yet we’ve added to the MH moniker CrossMod®.

And today?

Some use the phrase affordable, attainable housing – first coined by Joe Stegmayer, former MHI chairman, now retired CAVCO Industries executive.

The ANSI standard building code ruled through the mid 1970s, then the comprehensive, performance-based HUD code was enacted, and remained largely unchanged until the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000.

It’s difficult to date the trade terminology evolution of stalls, pads, spaces, lots, and now rental homesites, or simply sites. As manufactured homes grew larger in size, rental homesites also enlarged, reducing community density from two dozen homes per acre to a half dozen or fewer.

Industry “dealers” as a trade term was replaced in 2011 by “independent (street) MHRetailer”, coined by freelance Iowa consultant William Carr. “Company store” describes manufacturer-owned retail sales centers. The most recent addition to this mix reflects the plethora of new homes sold in land-lease communities, through on-site or in-community sales centers.

Trailer camps and courts of the 1950s and ’60s became mobile home parks, then manufactured home community in 1992, facilitating publication of “Development, Marketing & Operation of Manufactured Home Communities” by J. Wiley & Sons in 1994. Land-lease community entered common usage around 2011.

And there are many additional evolutionary developments and comparisons to be made, where the manufactured housing product is concerned; specifically, Simple, four-sided singlewide and doublewide homes of decades past have become more “homelike” as front porch model single-section and multi-section homes, attractive from the street and featuring long hallway floor plans. »

Aluminum single pane windows were supplanted by vinyl dual glazed low-energy “low-e” windows.

Metal corrugated siding largely has been replaced with vinyl siding and cement board siding, and the same can be said with skirting or foundation fascia.

Metal roofing has been replaced by architectural shingles with 30-year warranties, and today, also an attractive metal roof alternative.

Evaporative cooling, or “swamp coolers” atop homes in many markets now sometimes are an alternative to central air conditioning and overhead ducts.

Interior wood paneling has been replaced by drywall and carpeting has replaced laminate flooring. Paper-wrapped cabinets has been replaced by real wood kitchen cabinets. There also has been the introduction of island kitchens.

Asbestos insulation was replaced by fiberglass insulation, achieving greater energy efficiency. Bathtubs often are supplanted by walk-in showers, even hot tubs.

Widespread anchoring and improved foundations for manufactured homes, notwithstanding underuti-

lized implementation of frost-free foundations, a forward-thinking concept espoused and popularized by industry consultant George Porter.

And the list goes on, relative to plastic versus wood shutters, louvered windows with crank openings to egress windows for fire safety, chip board decking to tongue and groove osb decking, minimal roof pitch improved to 4:12 roof pitch, inexpensive countertops replaced by granite/ quartz countertops, larger hot water heaters, and on and on. The industry has evolved. MHV

George Allen is a nonfiction author, internet blogger, and magazine columnist with expertise in manufactured housing and land-lease communities. He also is a retired lieutenant colonel of U.S. Marines, with a combat tour in the Republic of Vietnam and service during Desert Storm. Read his autobiography, “FromSmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven” available via www.educatemhc.com, and also his “Chapbook of Prayer” and “Chapbook of Business Management & Wisdom” as well as other interesting titles. Allen can be reached at gfa7156@aol.com, (317) 881-3815 & GFA c/o Box # 47024, Indianapolis, IN. 46247.