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Development Is Back!

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yale advisors manufactured home development communities

Should You Develop an MHC? If So, What Does It Entail?

By James Cook and Mitch Gonzalez

First off, how did we get here? There was virtually no development for the manufactured home community property type for 20+ years!

Mitch Gonzalez
James Cook

The MH & RV Class has attracted a lot of attention lately from the institutional investment world, but the “smart money” has been quietly acquiring these properties for years. Today, it is estimated that more than 70% of the larger, institutional communities are owned by an aggregator that rarely sells, thus creating a scarcity of opportunities to invest in the industry. Due to the increased demand, coupled with this scarcity of product, investors have been forced to start bidding on mid-size and even small communities just to place raised or allocated capital seeking a safe home. Today, even the 75- to 150-site communities are becoming very sought after.

The good news is the increase in value and demand per space have finally made it feasible to develop new communities and turn a profit.

In the heyday of development in this sector, the 1970s and 80s, you could sell 75-100 new homes every year and generate a large enough profit on each home sale to cover the cost of development of the site itself. Since then, and especially since the recession, the cost of site-built homes has been artificially depressed and too low for new manufactured homes to offer a competitive price. In addition, the relatively low value of a developed space was further suppressing the new manufactured home development and to a lesser extent RV resorts.

We abruptly turned the corner sometime in 2019 as prices per developed pad reached $80-200k per site in prime markets, and suddenly, development started to spring up around the U.S. Then, the pandemic and government shutdowns came, which caused people to flee cities and multi-family housing and rush to more rural settings. This rush to detached housing fits the MH & RV industry perfectly. The rapid mass migration, combined with a shortage of construction workers, has created urgency to build. Single-family rentals are selling at record highs and the delta between site-built and factory-built housing has never been wider. 

With construction rapidly on the rise, we felt it necessary to launch a dedicated land and construction division to better understand and facilitate new manufactured home community development.

Enter Mitch Gonzalez, the national land and development director for Yale.

Land Development for New Affordable Housing

Existing mobile home communities are selling at record-breaking prices per pad as institutional investors continue to consolidate the sector. As such, a new generation of feasibility for manufactured housing developments has arrived. New manufactured home developments offer significantly higher than existing returns compared with other communities. Investors can expect to see 20% – 30% stabilized cash-on-cash returns compared to high single digit/low double digit returns for existing properties.

Seeing how attractive they are, let’s break down the steps of development for a new manufactured home community.

Site Selection

It’s important to dial-in the necessary buying metrics for your investment, such as population and market rents. Different metrics should be used to prequalify the property based on the property type. While an RV Resort will benefit from traffic count on a major interstate, a Manufactured Housing Community will benefit from local employment centers and single-family home prices.

Acquisitions

Once we have selected a possible development site, we are ready to dive into the due diligence. Third-party Reports such as feasibility studies, drainage reports, and environmental assessments will be necessary for the evaluation. Buyers and Sellers can expect purchase agreement terms to include 90-day due diligence and 45-day close with contingencies on third-party reports and zoning hurdles.

Entitlements

We will then do a full evaluation of the current zoning and adjacent parcels. In most cases, the property will not have the necessary zoning and a Land Use Change will be needed. The best way to go about this will be to engage a designer and local engineering group for conceptual drawings. These will be very helpful for the pre-application meeting with Planning & Zoning when you are expected to sell them on your idea.

Construction

Construction costs are on the rise in all asset classes. Material costs are up 19.4% in the last 12 months according to the Product Price Index and labor is slowly coming back as government assistance runs out. It is critical to staff the right general contractor for the project that will be able to build at a competitive rate. A new manufactured home development can expect between $30k and $45k of hard costs per pad across the U.S.

Lease Up

The last barrier of entry will be setting up an allocation to fill the community. Many manufactured home builders are 6-12 months out on orders. It is important to be timely and strategic in making sure model homes are available when sites start to come online. A great sales team will need to be assembled to ensure lease-up coordinates well with home allocation.

Zoning continues to be a big hurdle for Manufactured Housing Developments, yet all states need more affordable housing. As more 5-star communities are built, there will be more great examples of what affordable housing can be. The development of manufactured home communities is gaining traction in states like Arizona, Texas, and Florida and I expect the southeast coastal markets will see the next wave of new development in the space.

Yale Realty & Capital Advisors can be a resource at every step of the development process. We have clients and partners that specialize in manufactured housing and RV resorts.

About the Authors
Mitch Gonzalez is the director of land sales and development for Yale finding the highest and best use of a property leveraging a diverse background in real estate investment. He previously ran a construction company providing general contracting services for brands such as Emcure Urgent Care, Jonna Properties, and Safeway Oil Company, overseeing $70 million in closings.

James Cook is the national director of brokerage for Yale Realty and Capital Advisors. He entered the manufactured housing and RV property asset class in 2005 as a licensed agent listing homes for a local investor. In 2012, he founded the fully-integrated finance and brokerage shop and has accumulated transaction exceeding $1 billion in value. He offers perspective at a national level, providing insight into the niche industry.

How to Design a Healthier Home

By
Suzanne Felber
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felber lifestylist healthier home
Having solid surface flooring helps keep less dust and allergens in your home. The right appliances also makes for a healthier home.

Are you leaving money on the table every time you sell a home?

Suzanne Felber The Lifestylist manufactured housing design
Suzanne Felber, The Lifestylist

The past few years have been challenging, to say the least. Now we are at a point that it isn’t just about cost, it’s about being able to get materials in a timely fashion to be able to build the homes that you have sold. Rebranding our homes and getting even more consumers excited about them is something that, as an industry, we have been working on, and it is starting to work. People are understanding that we are a viable solution to the affordable housing crisis. 

With the pandemic came a renewed interest in healthy living, along with what we all can do individually and as a community to help save our planet and ourselves. As a Lifestylist, this has always been my focus, and it is now even more so today.

A healthy home and embracing a health-and-wellness lifestyle mean different things to different people. It can be as simple as recycling, or it can be about updating your plumbing fixtures and appliances to save water and to be energy efficient. The less we waste, the healthier the planet will be for everyone.

A well-designed kitchen is the heart of the home in many ways. Having energy-efficient appliances is an important part of the design. Photos by Beko Appliances.

Here are five easy ways to promote a healthy lifestyle in your homes.

  1. Recycling — It is often overlooked, but factory built housing is one of the efficient forms of construction. For anyone who has ever toured or worked in one of our plants, you know that there is little or no waste created in the construction of our homes. Everything that you can repurpose or recycle is, and many companies are putting a lot of thought into what happens to a home when it is updated down the road. The Shaw Carpet Cradle to Cradle Recycled content carpeting can be infinitely recycled keeping millions of yards of carpet out of landfills. Offering recycling centers in communities is an easy way to truly make a difference.
  1. Energy Efficiency — If you have ever been in one of our homes in winter, even with no heat on I am always amazed how well insulated many of our homes are. As an industry, we have also started using more energy-efficient heating and air units, and the Nest style thermostats can play a big difference in keeping down a homeowners utility bills. It is not just about the initial cost of the home, it is also about how much it will cost to maintain it and how expensive the utility bills will be. If we can help our customers understand how the extras that we add in our homes will help cut their monthly expenses, they will be more secure in investing more to buy their dream home.
  1. The Right Appliances — When asked which rooms are the most important to homeowners, time and time again consumers choose the kitchen and the bath. Appliances are a big expense, but they are also so important to the health and well-being of the homeowners. We often put in stainless “pretty” appliances, but how efficient and functional are many of these long term? Are you buying look or function?

    An appliance company that is one of the leaders in Europe has landed in the United States, and they are going to change the way that people use and think about their appliances. Beko has already been named the Energy Star® Partner of the Year for Sustained Excellence, and its focus is health and wellness. The company’s Everfresh® technology will keep produce fresh for up to 30 days. Imagine how much healthier a family would be, and how much money could be saved through fresh fruit and vegetables that last more than a week. And the technology comes at many levels of Beko’ offerings, not just on the high end. I anticipate the brand will be seen and talked about in our homes very soon, and customers will be asking for them.

    Induction ranges remain a bit more pricey than what you’re likely to see in our homes, but the price is coming down. Induction is one of the most energy-efficient ways of cooking, and on many of the ranges, you can boil water in 90 seconds. It might take a couple of years, but I see this as the new frontier for ranges and cooktops.
  1. Water Works — Every year fresh water is getting more scarce, and finding ways to use water more efficiently in our homes and plants needs to happen. Believe it or not, and newer, well designed dishwasher save gallons of water every time someone uses them, is a more sanitary way to clean your dishes and is a huge time saver. Making sure that you use faucets that won’t be dripping and wasting water a few years out is also a great water and maintenance saver, and there are beautiful bath faucet sets that are major water savers without having to sacrifice stream strength. Make sure that your outdoor faucets can be protected or shut off during chilly weather to prevent freezing.
  1. Bringing In the Outdoors — Air quality has become a huge topic of concern. We need to talk about how we protect the indoor air quality of our homes, and how we use insulated windows, bath fans and ceiling fans to keep the air moving, to filter out unwanted particles. Making sure that you change your filters and use better quality filters when you do is an easy way to improve the air quality in a home.

    Spending more time outdoors also is very beneficial for our health and well being. An inviting outdoor space, maybe even with an outdoor kitchen, is a great way to blend indoor and outdoor living. A large front porch not only adds to the curb appeal of a home, but it is a great way to be a more active part of your neighborhood while enjoying friends and family. Even if an expansive porch isn’t something that can be done on all homes, making plans available to consumers for site-added porches and decks is a great way for consumers to realize the unlimited potential of our homes.

If you have noticed, a lot of these ideas are things that we are already doing to some degree. Some have been done for so long that we forget to talk about them, or we are talking about them in a value-added sense instead of them being about improving the customer’s quality of life long term. Try adding in a product or idea that is focused on health and well-being, then use this as a talking point to educate homebuyers and residents on all of the things that you already are doing in your homes. I think you will discover that there may be hidden profit in your home that cannot be overlooked.

Bookmark MHInsider for the latest in manufactured housing news, and to keep up on all of the manufactured housing industry trends.

The ‘Jessup Way’

By
Patrick Revere
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the murphy from jessup housing

Business Partners Team to Grow New Texas Builder

Jessup Housing set up a nicely branded and comfortable networking lounge at a hotel and conference center for the Texas Manufactured Housing Association annual meeting. The space served as a prearranged spot for Jessup employees, clients, and partners.

Scott Cannon, the company’s vice president of sales, sits forward on one of the many bench-style sofas in the networking lounge and talks about the origins of Jessup, its roots and culture, and the homes it builds for customers in nine states.

“Every person in the business builds as if we’re building for our own family,” Cannon said. “Each home is like a new baby.”

In barely four years, Jessup Housing, out of Waco, Texas, has become a destination employer and a vital housing provider in the central and western U.S.

The company was started by David and April Jessup with a small group of investors at the end of 2017, leveraging the industry veterans’ 50-plus years of experience with multiple builders. Together, they selected a location to build homes and pulled in a team to make it happen.

Cannon came aboard in May 2018. Casey Peacock and his sister-in-law, Meghan Roller, joined the team having been running a collection of manufactured home dealerships, Hench’s Homes, in central Texas. Lance Inderman was “the land guy”.  Donnie and Jack Brewer, signed on with dealerships in North Louisiana, and Todd and Marvin McDonald rounded things out with dealerships in Jasper, Texas.  Finally, April Jessup was set to draft and design homes, manage payables and receivables, and order materials.

But first, they needed a new facility.

Jessup I in Waco

“David leased the old plant, a shell really, with no planks and no cover and no plumbing or wiring or anything else,” Cannon said. “The shell of the building was there, but really nothing else.”

A member of the Jessup team, Jose Rivera, gives a thumbs up while building roof trusses.

They had the advisers in place and hired contractors to build out a factory to manufacture homes the way Jessup intended. The Jessup team held a job fair at the factory and 381 people showed up. They were overwhelmed with the response. They hired 80 people the first week and have been ramping up a bit more every quarter.

“It’s a modern plant in an old shell,” Casey Peacock said. “We put a lot of money in on the front end to save on the backend, and it’s worked.”

Like its production space, the leadership team for Jessup requires each home to have an added element of integrity that will serve the homebuyer well. They use cross members throughout, state-of-the-art plumbing systems, enhanced insulation, and a number of other measures to build the best possible home in each price point.

The company has worked hard, Cannon said, to organize a package of floor plans and homes built to satisfy 80% of Jessup’s market.

“We want to be the best builder on the planet,” Cannon said. “This is all above and beyond what HUD code requires…We to do it The Jessup Way.”

Start Simple, Do It Well

Jessup team members Johnny Salinas and Nicolas Licea take a break for the photographer and the company’s plant in Waco, Texas.

Jessup spent most of 2018 getting the home building facility, the key players, and the partnership worked out. They built oil field units to get the factory ramped up and systems in place. In 2019 the company began building a multi-section home to bolster its lineup of single-section floorplans. In July of 2019, Rick Michalak rounded out the team, with 35 years of management experience, as vice president of production.

“We were able to increase our production 25% in a relatively short period of time,” Casey Peacock said.

“We show up each day at 6 – 6:30 so we can be there to shake each employee’s hand each day to thank them for being there with us.”

— Jessup Housing Vice President Scott Cannon

It wasn’t long before Jessup was producing 30-35 homes each week. When a need for expansion arose, the company expanded into an adjacent facility on the same site.

In July of this year, Jessup acquired its second plant in Waco, and production continues to ramp up at “Jessup II”.  Now with more than 300 employees between the sites, its central Texas workforce is poised to optimize production towards 50 floors per week.

“We’re just ramping up,” Peacock said. “We are adamant about avoiding overtime, to manage labor expenses while providing our team members with work-life balance. We’re getting into a rhythm, and that’s what you want. That’s how we’re going to consistently get 45-50 floors a week.”

And, of course, the demand is there to support production.  In March 2020, they sold 100 homes in a week.

“It was 140 the next week. It just keeps going up and up,” Peacock said.

Jessup’s 9-State Sales Territory

Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming

90 Independent Retailers

50 Community Locations

Bookmark MHInsider for the latest in manufactured housing news, and to keep up on all of the manufactured housing industry trends.

New Organization to Advance Women in Manufactured Housing

By
Patrick Revere
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women advancing manufactured housing maria horton justine natalaie
From left, Maria Horton and Justine Natalie are among the industry professionals organizing Women Advancing Manufactured Housing.

A new organization formed by manufactured housing professionals is recruiting members and building partnerships to organize on a single platform for an important voice in advancing the industry.

Women Advancing Manufactured Housing is the result of years of casual conversation about organizing a coalition for women in the industry and came to fruition during a roundtable discussion among Justine Natalie from Dynamic MH Solutions, Maria Horton from Newport Pacific, Sherrie Clevenger from CoreLogic, Maryuri Barberan from Pentagon Properties, and Kim Shultz-Rainford from Affordable Casa Group at the recent SECO Conference.

The five primary organizers comprise the executive committee for the new group. While the group focuses on the support and advancement of women for the industry, the organization is open to any manufactured housing professional who wants to be involved.

“WAMH is a movement that has been discussed for many years,” Horton said. “The group that has come together to see it come to life has a combined 150 years of experience in all aspects of the industry, and we remain excited to honor, recognize and learn from all industry professionals who want to join.”

Horton said the organization will partner with an existing nonprofit while it continues to organize its legal and operating structure. WAMH’s mission is to support women in the industry, improve the perception of manufactured housing, and collaborate and expand each member’s knowledge and network.

Organizers for WAMH have been meeting weekly since October, and are planning quarterly member meetings with subject matter experts, including at in-person events as the organization grows. WAMH already has a modest number of supporters who have committed to membership as well as providing startup funding.

WAMH Key Goals

  1. To provide a supportive network to increase the presence and voice of women in the manufactured housing industry.
  2. Consistently strive to improve the perception of manufactured housing.
  3. To create a collaborative effort for general industry answers and to share and expand the knowledge of each and every member of WAMH. 

“Although it’s been a relatively short time since WAMH was formed, this phenomenal group of women has already contributed fantastic strategic ideas to drive positive momentum within manufactured housing,” WAMH co-founder Justine Natalie said. “ I am honored to be on the executive committee and to partner with industry professionals as we work toward our WAMH mission statement. We are looking forward to spreading the word of WAMH and are excited about what we are striving to bring to the industry in terms of knowledge, support, and mentorship.”

Bookmark MHInsider for the latest in manufactured housing news, and to keep up on all of the manufactured housing industry trends.

Clayton Puts Focus on Sustainability

By
Patrick Revere
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clayton homes sustainability 65 years sustainable homebuilding
Clayton Series Homes come with an Ecobee smart thermostat.

Tennessee Home Builder Earns Multiple Awards, Hires New Director

Clayton has been honored multiple times in recent months, and as recently as October, for its positive impact on the state of Tennessee’s natural resources and communities.

“Whether it’s a private business, a government body, or a college or university, we want to recognize those who are showing a commitment to protecting the environment in Tennessee,” Gov. Bill Lee said. “Our honorees this year have proved worthy of such recognition.”

The Maryville-based company was honored by the Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Awards program for exceptional voluntary actions that improve or protect the environment and natural resources with projects or initiatives not required by law or regulation.

“We have an outstanding group of award recipients,” Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) Commissioner David Salyers said. “We want these awards not only to honor the winners but to encourage others to follow their lead.”

Clayton Savannah, a home building facility in Savannah, Tenn., was recognized for material management practices, one of eight organizations honored on the day. It worked toward the vision of “developing housing innovations that improve lives and build a better tomorrow” in multiple ways, including with a partnership at Pickwick Landing State Park.  The company diverted landfill waste from the home building process by donating leftover gypsum board to add to a nutrient-rich mix of compost to feed the gardens.

“We earned this award due to the way our team members have embraced sustainability by reusing, reducing, and recycling materials,” Clayton Savannah Environmental Health & Safety Manager Lisa Lujan said. “During the pandemic, we stopped and looked at our internal processes to see what we could do better on reducing and reusing materials. In 2020, Clayton Savannah reused 1.5 million pounds of materials – primarily wood and sheetrock – that would have otherwise gone to the landfill.”

The program also gives awards for agriculture and forestry, building green, clean air, energy and renewable resources, environmental education and outreach, natural resource conservation, sustainable performance, and water quality conservation.

The state environmental awards have been given each of the last 35 years, but not necessarily in each category. The 2021 awards lacked an honoree in the clean air category. Eleven judges reviewed 75 nominations in picking the 2021 recipients.

Clayton Home Building Group® Recognized as Market Leader

Clayton exterior CrossMod
The exterior of a model home from Clayton, on display at The Louisville Show in 2020, that qualifies as a CrossMod with the potential for conventional financing.

Clayton Home Building Group received the 2021 ENERGY STAR® Residential New Construction Market Leader Award for 34 of its off-site home building facilities across the nation.

The facilities were awarded for the construction of energy-efficient modular and manufactured homes.

ENERGY STAR® certified homes are quieter and more comfortable, have lower utility bills and help protect the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. To earn the ENERGY STAR® certification, homes must meet strict energy efficiency guidelines set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. From January 2020 through April 2021, Clayton built over 20,000 ENERGY STAR® certified homes.

“Through our green building practices and energy-efficient features that are included in our Clayton Built® homes, we are able to embrace sustainable home construction,” CEO Kevin Clayton said. “While we pride ourselves in the homes we build, we are also proud of the innovative building methods and standards we continue to adopt for the future.”

The company’s continued emphasis on being an environmental steward in the community and in the homes it builds has resulted in the hiring of a new director for environmental and sustainability initiatives.

“Building a better tomorrow for our communities and the environment is core to our mission at Clayton,” Clayton Director of Environment and Sustainability William Jenkins said. “Contributing more ENERGY STAR® certified homes to the marketplace is a great achievement for Clayton’s sustainability initiative. It represents our commitment to build a more sustainable future for our customers and communities.”

Beyond Energy Star, Clayton is starting the process of assessing the carbon footprint of its operations. Once established, it will be used as a baseline to set progressive emissions reduction targets going forward. As part of its national sustainability effort, Clayton aims to improve the energy efficiency of its homebuilding and supply facilities, set ongoing reduction targets for waste and water, and increase reliance on renewable energy.

“Innovations in energy efficiency help our homes operate more efficiently than comparable homes built to code,” Jenkins said. “This enables our customers to significantly reduce their consumption of energy and natural resources, which translates to less greenhouse gas emissions and reduced strain on their respective power grid.”

In addition, Clayton will also be expanding its ISO program. Currently, all of its manufacturing and supply operations are ISO 14001 certified, or in the process of becoming certified. Clayton will be expanding this program to address energy efficiency across its manufacturing and supply facilities by conforming with the ISO 50001 standard. This effort is aimed at reducing energy consumption and indirect emissions from purchased electricity.

Clayton Celebrates 65 Years in Business

From left, Jim and Kevin Clayton, father and son.
Jim Clayton on stage playing music and promoting the business.

Clayton Homes recently published a series of new interviews — conversations between company co-founder Jim Clayton and his son and CEO Kevin Clayton — in which they discuss family history, the founding of the company, its culture, and influence.

“My folks worked very, very hard,” Jim Clayton said. “They were always trying new plants… growing new types of foods on the farm.”

Their approach to farming, particularly once the family received and put to use a new tractor during World War II, created an early road map for innovation and business development. Jim received a guitar from an uncle, and brought together his growing knowledge of engines and machinery, electrical equipment, and music to build and promote his earliest endeavors.

“All of that was fun, and I was able to use it,” Jim Clayton explained. “I’m not sure we could have found a way to promote the company as well as we did with the radio and the TV shows and the live music we took to all the cities.”

Bookmark MHInsider for the latest in manufactured housing news, and to keep up on all of the manufactured housing industry trends.

2021 MHInsider Industry Awards

By
Patrick Revere
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2021 MHInsider Industry Awards
MHInsider Industry Award winners receive a personalized, engraved "Crystal Home" award.
MHInsider is a product of MHVillage, the leading marketplace for manufactured housing.

In Recognition of the Highest Achievements in Manufactured Housing

The second annual MHInsider Industry Awards tell a decades-long story of hard work, ingenuity, perseverance, and a passion for innovative thought and business leadership. The manufactured housing professionals at Datacomp and MHVillage, through MHInsider magazine, are honored to be able to recognize the colleagues awarded for their high achievements.

Our 14-member editorial board, listed below, assisted in selecting from about 75 candidates for the MHInsider Industry Awards. The list of deserving honorees was deliberated until there were 21 award nominees in five categories.

MHInsider employed the volunteer efforts of more than a dozen state and regional manufactured housing industry association directors to conduct a vote on the safe, and secure voting platform eBallot.

Each MHInsider Industry Award winner profile is like an introduction, a small bio, and a peek into what drives the recipient to achieve at such heights.

2021 MHInsider Industry Awards

Advocacy Award

Honors efforts toward outreach and education that reach beyond professional position or title. The 2021 winner of the MHInsider Advocacy Award is Karl Radde of Southern Comfort Homes. Read more about Radde and his work in the industry.

Influencer Award

Honors individuals who by their presence and authentic implementation of ideas have created widely held business practices and wholesale improvement for the industry. The 2021 winner of the MHInsider Influencer Award is Steve Schaub of Yes Communities. Read more about Schaub and his work in the industry.

Leadership Award

Honors individuals who have earned the highest levels of industry achievement through their corporate or organizational leadership approach. The winner of the 2021 MHInsider Leadership Award is Sam Landy of UMH Properties. Read more about Landy and his work in the industry.

Legacy Award

Honors manufactured housing professionals whose overall career contributions are certain to create meaningful and lasting industry improvement and excellence. The 2021 MHInsider Legacy Award winner is Don Westphal of Westphal & Associates and The Nadi Group. Read more about Westphal and his work in the industry.

Visionary Award

Honors those who have brought to market the coolest concept or product, the idea that makes the job easier, the offering better, the customer experience more meaningful. The 2021 winner of the MHInsider Visionary Award is Gub Mix. Read more about Mix and his work in the industry.

So congratulations to all of the winners. Thank you for the work you do!

The MHInsider Magazine Editorial Board

George Allen
Paul Barretto
Paul Bradley
Barry Cole
Kevan Enger
Stacey Epperson
Suzanne Felber
Dawn Highhouse
Maria Horton
Darren Krolewski
John Neet
Karl Radde
Patrick Revere
TC Sheppard

2021 MHInsider Awards Honorary Judges

Ken Anderson
Amy Bliss
Frank Bowman
Ron Breymier
Deanna Fields
Andrea Greene
Randy Grumbine
Jennifer Lassen
Jennifer Hall
Logan Hanes
Jess Maxcy
Marla McAfee
DJ Pendleton
Leo Poggione

MHInsider is a publication of MHVillage and is the premier source of manufactured housing news with a national audience of manufactured housing professionals dedicated to producing and delivering high quality, affordable, off-site built housing.

MHInsider Visionary Award Winner Gub Mix

By
Patrick Revere
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2021 mhinsider industry awards advocacy influencer leadership legacy visionary
MHInsider is a product of MHVillage, the leading marketplace for manufactured housing.

Gub Mix, Former Association Director and Event Organizer

MHInsider Visionary Award Winner

Gub Mix, the winner of the MHInsider Visionary Award, is a legend among state executives and industry-wide, having operated four organizations simultaneously in the westerns U.S. — Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah. Mix, who is related to the Old West film star Tom Mix, has been described as a “fearless promoter”. He organized and hosted the first industry congress in Las Vegas, which became the MHI Congress & Expo held each year in the spring.

What do you view as the biggest achievement in your career?

The biggest achievement in my 34-year career within the MH industry was the establishment of the National Manufactured Housing Congress in Las Vegas in 1991. Between l986 and 1990 I held a series of regional MH conventions in Reno, Lake Tahoe, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and Las Vegas, including attendees from three to 11 states. Following a very successful meeting in Las Vegas in 1990, and since the MH industry had no official annual get-together, I decided to go national and booked the old Desert Inn Resort for the event. MHI agreed to assist with program planning and approximately 600 industry leaders attended. Between 1991 and 1998 we grew from 600 to 2,000 annual attendees and our exhibitor count grew from 100 to about 250.  Following the 1998 event, MHI agreed to buy my ownership interest in the Congress and retained me for an additional five years to serve as Congress chairman.

What work or life skill do you give the most credit for your achievements?

What success I’ve had in my business life came from setting goals and working hard to achieve them. While attending the University of Idaho from 1951 through 1955 I worked full-time at the local radio station. In 1956 I bought that station and operated it until 1964. I next invested in several auto dealerships in Idaho and Hawaii and followed that by opening three manufactured housing sales centers in 1972 in Idaho. This led to the creation of a management company within the MH industry in 1982. In each of these moves, I recognized an opportunity and applied myself to succeed.

MHInsider is a publication of MHVillage and is the premier source of manufactured housing news with a national audience of manufactured housing professionals dedicated to producing and delivering high quality, affordable, off-site built housing.

MHInsider Legacy Award Winner Don Westphal

By
Patrick Revere
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MHInsider Legacy Award Winner Don Westphal

Don Westphal, Principal for Westphal & Associates and The Nadi Group

2021 mhinsider industry awards advocacy influencer leadership legacy visionary
MHInsider is a product of MHVillage, the leading marketplace for manufactured housing.

MHInsider Legacy Award Winner

Don Westphal, the winner of the MHInsider Legacy Award, developed his first community in 1964. He was paid $45. Westphal opened his Rochester, Mich., landscape architecture firm in 1969. He has planned and designed all variety of property in his career, but his heart is in the affordable housing sector, bringing to life communities for workers and families, and has become a leader in the smart, holistic design of manufactured home community and RV resorts all across the country. His company in 2020 merged with The Nadi Group, a landscape architecture and design firm operating in Canada and the U.S.

What do you view as the biggest achievement in your career?

Being able to do what I enjoy for more than 50 years is my biggest achievement. Having the opportunity to provide decent living environments for average families and planning in a responsible way has been especially rewarding. Seven community of the year awards for projects we designed, MHI President’s and Lifetime Achievement awards are testaments to our commitment to excellence and the ability to satisfy the needs of our clients.

What work or life skill do you give the most credit for your achievements?

Our ability to look at each project as a unique opportunity to change the face of the earth in a positive way while stressing affordability is important. Involvement in industry organizations, local, and church activities have created rewarding experiences and friendships that I cherish.  Being able to withstand the ups and downs of a small business owner is a skill that is needed to survive and exceed in one’s life work. I have been blessed in so many ways.

MHInsider is a publication of MHVillage and is the premier source of manufactured housing news with a national audience of manufactured housing professionals dedicated to producing and delivering high quality, affordable, off-site built housing.

MHInsider Influencer Award Winner Steve Schaub

By
Patrick Revere
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steve schaub mhinsider influencer award winner 2021

Steve Schaub, CEO of Yes Communities

2021 mhinsider industry awards advocacy influencer leadership legacy visionary
MHInsider is a product of MHVillage, the leading marketplace for manufactured housing.

MHInsider Influencer Award Winner

Steve Schaub, the winner of the MHInsider Influencer Award, is the founder and CEO of Yes Communities, one of the largest portfolio ownership groups of manufactured home communities in the United States. Schaub created a company that focuses on building and operating affordable communities nationwide and connecting residents together to form communities in every sense of the word. He oversees all the company’s acquisitions, capital market activities, and corporate strategy. His influence with the company and in the industry has been felt particularly in the area of resident relations, hospitality, and service to the customer. For instance, Schaub has authorized the reallocation of vital resources during times of stress and adversity, including for residents during inclement weather events and in the economic impact of coronavirus measures.

What do you view as the biggest achievement in your career?

Throughout my career in manufactured housing, I have met some incredible people along the way. Each day in the MH industry, I am thankful for those who are moving this great industry forward. The most satisfying piece of what I do is to ensure that we provide best-in-class homes and a sense of pride in our communities to hundreds of thousands of people across this country.  Providing homes and communities is the most significant part of what we do.

The biggest achievement in my career has been building a world-class team that has allowed exceptional growth and success for Yes Communities. The Yes Team provides an exceptional customer experience by offering knowledge, support, and a caring nature in everything they do.  From our maintenance team members to our community management team and all of our supporting employees in the home office and field offices, the central focus is our residents and how we can better serve them. One of our Yes senior executives started as a leasing agent and now is overseeing an entire division of the country. Mentoring and building great leaders in the organization has been a central focus. At Yes Communities, each of us believes that it’s best to leave it better than we found it!

What work or life skill do you give the most credit for your achievements?

Throughout my career and being in various roles has helped me gain a better understanding of the business and having boots on the ground helps me understand what my team members might need to help them do their jobs better and the support I can give them to succeed. I worked as a sales and leasing agent and as a community manager, regional manager, and then went into operations. Having that field experience gave me a more acute understanding of the day-to-day business. My life skill that has contributed to my achievements is really about relationship building, learning from others, and being committed to those I work with. Creating motivation for my team and treating everyone as equals is what makes me love what I do. My team members know how much I admire them and how they matter. Yes Communities has been successful because of our employees, their dedication, and their love for our residents.  That’s what inspires me to continue to move our business and the Industry forward.

MHInsider is a publication of MHVillage and is the premier source of manufactured housing news with a national audience of manufactured housing professionals dedicated to producing and delivering high quality, affordable, off-site built housing.

MHInsider Leadership Award Winner Sam Landy

By
Patrick Revere
-
sam landy mhinsider leadership award winner 2021
2021 mhinsider industry awards advocacy influencer leadership legacy visionary
MHInsider is a product of MHVillage, the leading marketplace for manufactured housing.

Sam Landy, President of UMH Properties

The MHInsider Leadership Award Winner

Sam Landy, the winner of the MHInsider Leadership Award, works at the highest levels of the manufactured housing industry, from litigating on disparate impact against communities and residents, to establishing more generous financing terms for community owners who rent affordable housing, to expanding affordable living and homeownership from their home base in New Jersey down the Atlantic states, and now expanding nationwide. UMH operates 127 communities in 10 states.

What do you view as the biggest achievement in your career?

Obtaining Fannie Mae financing for communities with 60% rental homes. This dramatically increases the affordability of our rental homes and financed home sales. Second is listing UMH on the New York Stock Exchange.

What work or life skill do you give the most credit for your achievements?

Perseverance. We persevered through many business cycles but never giving up and knowing we can profitably and fairly provide quality affordable housing kept us going through some long downturns.

MHInsider is a publication of MHVillage and is the premier source of manufactured housing news with a national audience of manufactured housing professionals dedicated to producing and delivering high quality, affordable, off-site built housing.

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