At a manufactured home community in Fostoria, Ohio, industry veteran Brandon Schilling beholds something he thinks of as “the school bus test”.
The company he leads as president and CEO, BrightStar Communities, had acquired the community in Northeast Ohio, and the group had largely completed its initial plan to revitalize the asset.
“When the kids who live in the community are getting off, we look to see how many of the kids who are staying on the bus are pointing out the window, saying ‘I want to play there!’” Schilling said.
With that endorsement from an excited child, Schilling and his team have a strong notion that they’ve landed once again on what they call “The brightSTAR Way”.
New entry signs, upgraded utilities, new playgrounds, repaved roads, new homes with high-quality skirting, and restored clubhouses are all part of the plan for every community they own or buy.
“This is a set of non-negotiables. We just won’t compromise,” Schilling said of the company standard.
In managing its properties and in the acquisition of new communities for the BrightStar portfolio, the BrightStar team holds that every resident deserves a safe and pleasing environment in which to live, where they hold a sense of pride.
BrightStar has operated for more than 50 years and owns more than 20 communities across Ohio and Indiana, and, increasingly, in the Southeast.
For much of the company’s history, its practice in the manufactured housing industry had been in third-party management. In recent years, BrightStar began acquiring communities. Foxhole Equity bought an interest in the company in 2019.
“That’s been a huge success for us going forward,” BrightStar Director of Acquisitions Carter Moses said of the strategy.
In Fostoria, the acquisition was typical of what BrightStar buys: a community that needs attention and residents who are committed to each other and the neighborhood.
“A lot of it is the curb appeal, adding where needed,” Moses said.
Schilling said the former clubhouse in Fostoria had become a maintenance building.
“We fully re-did the clubhouse,” Schilling said. “It was a value-add buy, as most of the acquisitions are. There had been no upgrades, no changes in years. There was a need for repair and new homes to replace the older ones.”
The ‘Paradigm Shift’
Repaved roads and upgraded clubhouses increase curb appeal, but what makes a community — a neighborhood — is the people who live there and their interaction with each other.
“We know all of the residents by name, and their kids’ names, too,” Moses said. “We get out and connect with them and encourage that type of interaction.”
The community manager and staff, for instance, organized a cookies and letter-writing night during Christmas.
Schilling said when the staff wanted to show of the improvements in Fostoria, it was decided they should have an event.
“We called the mayor,” Schilling said. “We held a community event. We toured homes with the residents.
“It was a paradigm shift,” he said.
Soon, the residents took up the mantle and took to social media to show their pride in Fostoria.
“They face off against other area communities, challenging them in a way,” Moses said. “It’s a community faceoff, of sorts, in a friendly way.”
Moses said Fostoria represents one of many success stories within the BrightStar portfolio.
Currently, the group has seven more communities under contract and is keeping an eye out for further opportunities and expansion.
“This is a long-term, legacy business,” Moses said.
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