Sunday, May 4, 2025

The Southeast: Land of Learning & Memorable Personalities

April 27, 2021

southeast homes Florida Allen Legacy — Palm Valley in Oviedo, Fla.

As a freelance consultant I often worked in Florida and throughout the Southeast. I “mystery shopped” land-lease communities for portfolio owners/operators, assessed hurricane damage to properties and infrastructure, and taught the basics of home sales, site leasing, and resident relations. I also networked with clients and manufactured housing trade association executives and staff.

Persons and personalities met along the way

Mystery shopping is commonplace for conventional apartment communities nationwide, not so much for and-lease communities.

Why?

Despite the high value of their income-producing properties, property owners/operators are reluctant to spend the money to gauge on-the-job performance of on-site staff, curb appeal, and resident relations. The usual mystery shopping assignment included an unscheduled telephone “visit” to the property to discern how the phone is answered, the smile in one’s voice, and efforts to close, such as an invite caller to visit the property.

I would do a drive-through inspection of the community, photographing marketing shortfalls such as lack of signage, as well as the nature and volume of rules violations, and conduct an on-site anonymous visit and evaluation of sales/leasing efforts by staff in the information center. All of this was reported in written form to the property owner/operator, sometimes followed by an onsite re-training session.

One of my most unusual consulting assignments – ever, involved flying into Miami the day after Hurricane Andrew devastated southern Florida in 1992. My assignment was to assess and photograph damage to my client’s manufactured home communities, and report back to him. My uncle, a decorated WWII veteran, met me at the airport and served as my tour guide. All the way down the interstate, highway signs had been blown away, and exit names were painted on the roadway! In community after community we saw single-section manufactured homes askew, often stacked atop one another, sometimes three deep. Large pine trees, 40-feet tall with two-foot diameter trunks, stripped bare of branches. Bulldozers and large-volume dump trucks already were clearing debris, dumping it onto a huge, growing hill, 40 feet tall by 300 feet long. My client lost all the homes in his properties.

Being an itinerant teacher of manufactured home sales, site leasing, and resident relations often followed mystery shopping visits. These frequently occurred on-site in the hot property’s clubhouse, where several to many property managers from several other communities gathered. We taught the basics of telephone etiquette, to answer on the second ring, SMILE, qualify the caller, and invite them to the property. We also covered the importance of fresh and appropriate signage , like a WELCOME HOME sign at every entrance, and parking spots that are RESERVED FOR FUTURE RESIDENT with easy access to the information center, and the value of good resident relations and how that effort translates into a money-making equation; Good Resident Relations = More Resident Referrals = Maximum Resident Retention.

Sandalwood Park Venice Fla George Allen Legacy — Sandalwood Park, Venice, Fla.

Beyond the Tactical Efforts, It’s the People You Meet

The networking aspect of freelance travel and work was especially enjoyable.

How so?

The persons and personalities I met and befriended over the decades, though some are retired or deceased now, were intriguing and memorable.

Martin Newby, now retired, was the founder of Newby Management, a 100% fee-management firm. Newby brought resident relations to manufactured home communities nationwide in the early 1990s. Had a chaplain on staff, and was widely known and respected for his “24 Hour Rule”, which was a mandate to address and correct every resident concern within 24 hours, or to communicate a solution and date in writing.

Florida Communities Team

This tale is well told in “Swan Song: A History of Land Lease Communities & Official Record of MH Shipments”. Here, an aggressive community development and marketing plan was articulated and implemented to quickly fill a dozen communities with an average of 100 rental homesites for Florida seniors. They accomplished this by using conventional highway billboards, attractive entrance and community signage, fresh landscaping every six months, and home sale and site leasing consultants who were thoroughly trained and effectively monitored for progress. We regularly mystery shopped these properties, where the prevailing attitude was “You came here to visit, so you want to buy; you’re not going to leave until you do!” This mantra was so effective, one of our senior “shopper” couples bought a new home from the Florida Communities Team, even though they owned a manufactured home in a nearby community!

The most notable personality, who I never met in person but did some work for his firm, was the late Maurice Wilder, founder of Wilder Management, in Tampa, Fla.

Here are some career highlights of this low profile, high value individual:

— Hailed from Decatur, IL. where he started out as an independent (street) MHRetailer
— Owned ten land-lease communities and RV parks throughout Florida and Texas
— Purchased the Westin Harbour Island Hotel, selling it for $46.5 million in 2014
— Owned eight office towers in Clearwater, Tampa, and Brandon
— Invested in vast reaches of farmland, and was called the king of federal farm subsidies
— Collected classic cars for his auto museum in Branson, Mo.
— Drove a $234,000 Bentley he claimed was faster than his Corvette
— Owned and raised buffalo in North Dakota, as well as ostriches, zebras, and camels in Plant City, Fla.

Maurice died in 2016, but his firm, Wilder Corporation, owns three land-lease communities in the state, and is an active member of the Florida Manufactured Housing Association.

Another longtime land-lease community owner-friend was the late Lawrence Maxwell, founder of CRF Communities, a.k.a. Century Communities, headquartered in Lakeland, Fla., with a portfolio of about a dozen properties. Larry also was the brother of John C. Maxwell, the famous Christian author, public speaker, pastor, and one of 25 authors named to Amazon.com’s 10^th Anniversary Hall of Fame, for his business leadership books, each selling more than a million copies. I mention this because, in years past, while visiting Larry at his office, he’d load me down with copies of John’s latest books to read, and I always considered it a bonus to the work I performed for him.

The Northwestern Mutual Real Estate, Murex Properties Partnership

Northwestern Mutual, according to the 32^nd annual ALLEN REPORT, owns 10 top-quality land-lease communities with 3,929 rental homesites in two states. And these, for the most part, are fee-managed by Murex Properties from their offices in Fort Myers, Fla. Murex, according to the ALLEN REPORT, owns and manages 7,202 rental homesites in 16 communities. The latest trade news from Northwestern has veteran loan originator, everyone’s friend, John Jacobs, confirming his retirement from the in January 2021. Steve Adler, founder and owner of Murex Properties, is a member of the RV/MH Heritage Foundation’s Hall of Fame Class of 2020 – awaiting induction in August 2021, due to coronavirus pandemic-related gathering restrictions.

The most well-known snowbird Floridian, often in Michigan during spring and summer, is military veteran Lou Vela, loan originator with Q10 Lutz Financial. I don’t know anyone in the land-lease community sector who does not know and like Lou. He’s in his mid-80s and, as they say, going strong. Given the pandemic turmoil of year 2020, he turned from originating community mortgages to commercial real estate sales, mostly selling communities and self-storage facilities. This spring he’s transitioned back to lending, but is focused on securing raw land development financing for clients. And there’s this Lou tale worth telling here. During the 1999 Networking Roundtable, when snowed-in at the Colorado Springs Marriott Hotel, Lou phoned Bill Marriott’s office to have our hotel and bartender provide the group with some beer, so we could properly enjoy the baseball World Series games being played that weekend. That is vintage Lou.

HUD Withdraws Trump Administration Proposed Rule on Equal Access to Housing

Patrick Revere

April 23, 2021

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is withdrawing the previous administration’s proposed rule that would have weakened the Equal Access Rule. The Equal Access Rule ensures that all individuals regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity have equal access to the programs, shelters, other buildings and facilities, benefits, services, and accommodations.

“Access to safe, stable housing—and shelter—is a basic necessity,” HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge said. “Unfortunately, transgender and gender non-conforming people report more instances of housing instability and homelessness than cis-gender people. Today, we are taking a critical step in affirming HUD’s commitment that no person be denied access to housing or other critical services because of their gender identity. HUD is open for business for all.”

The Trump administration refused to fully implement the Equal Access Rule and proposed a rule in 2020 that would have allowed shelter programs and operators to subject transgender individuals to inappropriate and intrusive inquiries, deny them accommodations, and subject them to greater harassment, HUD said.

Action withdrawing the rule will be submitted to the Federal Register within a week.

Added Resources, and Background in Equal Access Protection

Additionally, HUD is releasing technical assistance resources prepared by technical assistance providers to HUD grantees. These resources will support HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development grantees in implementing the Equal Access Rule.

The 2016 CPD Equal Access Rule requires that HUD grantees funded in whole or in part by any Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) program ensure equal access to community planning and development programs, shelters, other buildings and facilities, benefits, services, and accommodations. Grantees must ensure shelter access be provided to a person in accordance with that person’s gender identity, and in a manner that affords equal access to the person’s family. The rule further ensures that, when consideration of sex is prohibited or not relevant, individuals will not be discriminated against based on actual or perceived gender identity, and where legitimate consideration of sex or gender is appropriate—for example, for shelters that serve only one sex or otherwise operate in a sex-segregated way—the individual’s own self-identified gender identity will govern.

On July 24, 2020, the previous administration proposed a rule entitled “Making Admission or Placement Determinations Based on Sex in Facilities Under Community Planning and Development Housing Programs”. This proposed rule, if finalized, would have significantly undermined the 2016 CPD Equal Access Rule.

The proposed 2020 Shelter Rule would have allowed for HUD-sanctioned, federally funded discrimination against transgender people, who face disproportionately high rates of homelessness and extreme risk in unsheltered homelessness.

First, the rule would have allowed HUD CPD-funded shelters and other facilities to create policies excluding transgender and gender non-conforming people from being placed in single-sex facilities that aligned with those persons’ gender identities. This would have created insurmountable barriers to shelter access for transgender and gender non-conforming people who already face serious discrimination and difficulty in safely accessing shelters.

Second, the rule would have allowed CPD grant funding recipients, subrecipients, owners, operators, managers, and providers to overrule the gender identity proffered by a person seeking shelter and make their determination about that person’s gender. It allowed CPD funding recipients to focus solely on a person’s sex assigned at birth and then assess that based on physical factors such as height and the presence of facial hair. This intrusive and humiliating inquiry would be inflicted on the especially vulnerable people experiencing homelessness, many of whom have experienced sexual assault or other trauma.

Equal access to HUD programs that serve people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness is essential in addressing the challenges faced by transgender and gender non-conforming persons. National research has indicated that denials of access to shelters for transgender and gender non-conforming persons based upon gender identity are commonplace. Transgender women reported being excluded from women’s shelters at high rates. In one key study, transgender housing testers called shelters in four states to ask about where they would be housed. Only 30% of the shelters contacted by the testers were prepared to house transgender women with other women, as would have been appropriate.

Transgender and gender non-conforming persons face enormous safety risks in shelters. According to a national survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality, nearly half of all transgender respondents who accessed shelters left those shelters because of the treatment they received there — choosing to live on the streets over the abuse and indignity they experienced in a shelter. This survey further reported that 25% of transgender persons who stayed in shelters were physically assaulted and 22% were sexually assaulted in shelters.

MHInsider, the premier source of manufactured housing news, will continue to update readers on what the new HUD Code final rule means for the industry, and the customers who buy and live in new manufactured homes.

Development of New Manufactured Housing Communities Picks Up

Patrick Revere

April 20, 2021

new manufactured housing community development

Mike Callaghan _fee_based_management — Michael Callaghan, Four Leaf Properties

After decades of minimal new development in the manufactured housing community sector the pace is increasing for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the current stock of aging properties and a need for updated infrastructure and amenities.

New manufactured home communities, built from raw land, have been hampered by zoning difficulties, NIMBY (not in my back yard) pressure, lean access to financing, regulatory burdens, and a general misconception about the value of manufactured housing.

Since 2002, the number of new “ground-up” manufactured housing communities nationwide remains low, something less than 400 nationwide. As a matter of reference, in the 15 years prior there were more than 2,600 such communities built, including 395 in 1986-87 alone.

A New ‘Development’ Business

Michael Callaghan is a managing partner at Four Leaf Properties, an Illinois-based owner and operator of manufactured home communities as well as a professional third-party manager for community owners who desire or require added resources.

Callaghan said he and his team have been working with increased regularity with operators interested in developing new communities, so much so that Four Leaf has formalized a new business unit within the company to manage and pursue that work.

“Cap rate compression and the demand for vacant lots has taken us to a point where we’re now spending almost as much for a vacant lot with 1970s infrastructure as a newly developed lot with new infrastructure,” Callaghan said. “The trick to land sourcing, as an alternative to existing communities, lies in finding a location where the demand for the product is met with an equal amount of municipal support. It’s as if you’re contending with two buyers, the end-user and the municipality. You need to see demand from both sides to make a project viable.”

Callaghan emphasized that community owners have become developers by necessity, driven by the massive shortage of affordable housing. Historically that has been addressed in the manufactured housing industry through the expansion of existing communities. However, that opportunity is gated by limited land for planned expansion and availability of adjacent property that can be acquired and entitled.

Financing for new communities also continues to be a hurdle, but interest rates for commercial real estate loans remain near historic lows. Those rates and the rapidly growing demand for housing, along with housing price escalation, has captured the attention of policymakers and legislators alike.

“Despite the challenges, if you can find the right piece of property, the math works all day long,” Callaghan said. “I don’t think that was the case even five years ago.”

A Strategy Toward New Community Development

Florida, Texas, the Carolinas, Colorado, and Arizona are leaders in recent years among locales for new manufactured housing developments.

Following the sale of Four Leaf’s portfolio in 2018 sale to Yes! Communities, one of the nation’s largest community owners, the company began to aggressively acquire with a development focus in some prime locations.

Four Leaf owns and manages communities in Florida, Indiana, Michigan, and Texas. Callaghan said the new development group currently has about 2,500 sites underway, or in entitlement awaiting development. More than half of those homesites will be available for occupancy home placement and occupancy by the end of the year.

“We learned by executing smaller expansions at several of communities,” Callaghan said. “It was 20 spaces at a time developed a bit informally. Over time, however, we identified the resources and established the processes to take on bigger projects moving forward.”

The development strategy is approached as a joint venture between Four Leaf, the community owner/developer, and local governments. Callaghan said preemptive sales and marketing efforts, thoughtful staging and phasing, a designated construction entrance, and good communication with residents throughout the development cycle are just a few of the keys to success in developing new communities.

One of the largest obstacles in having new communities built during the last 25 years has been the lengthy wait in recovering investment costs

“You don’t have to bite the apple all at once,” Callaghan said. “There is an option for putting in utilities and developing homesites prior to full development of infrastructure and amenities, taking the sting out of the owner and investor wait for return on investment. If you don’t have to incur all your asphalt and concrete costs before the community is filling, you can hold back a lot of your costs. But you have to do it right, and stage it correctly, because you can’t bring in 100 new residents and ask them to live on a construction site for 12 months.”

One of the remaining challenges is getting industry involvement for a new movement, a transition from traditional MH property acquisition to a focus on new developments.

“The MH market has been red hot and no one wants to pour cold water on it, but behind closed doors we’re all recognizing that paying top dollar for obsolescent infrastructure is really dangerous to the health of the business. There has to be a next step in the evolution of the MH industry,” Callaghan said. “We’re at the point where we need to match the modern nature of the home product with modern infrastructure, property design layouts and amenities. Placing six-figure assets on ten-dollar infrastructure is bad, long term, for the industry.

This is the beginning of the end for the first-generation infrastructure, but we’re replacing those old dinosaurs with way better product, better lot configurations, and that translates to a better living experiences for residents,” Callaghan said. “You’ll know we have turned the corner when you see manufactured housing developers coming into a place like metro Detroit where massive housing demand meets a glut of old product and no new supply. All the characteristics for success are in place. That day is coming.”

Design a Winning Sales Center

Suzanne Felber

April 19, 2021

How to Create a New Comfort Zone for Your Customers

What a difference a year makes!

It’s hard to believe a bit more than year ago we were in Las Vegas at The International Builders Show and Kitchen and Bath Show with over 100,000 of our peers from all across the globe. So many things that we did and enjoyed such a short time ago we wouldn’t dream of doing now.

This year the show was virtual, and despite some technical difficulties, it was a very beneficial and dramatically safer experience than it could have been otherwise.

palm harbor hom center interior design — The home center at Palm Harbor’s Plant City, Fla., location is an inviting place where potential homebuyers can find information, see homes, and have their questions answered.

As much as we all want “back to normal” it won’t be happening as soon as we’d like.

The good news is that this has been the year for more reasons than ever in which consumers understand that factory-built homes can be an excellent option for their new home. Being constructed in a controlled environment has a different, even more, positive message than it did even six months ago. I jokingly tell my clients that I have almost put myself out of business — they have been selling the homes that I have merchandised right off of the lot, furniture and all.

As a result, they have fewer homes to show. More homes are sold before they even arrive at the retail centers than ever before. As early as February, it became clear that the manufacturers have backlogs of orders that will keep them busy for the rest of 2021.

How do we use the tools that we have and keep the sales coming?

Your sales office is where you begin your in-person customer experience, perhaps the only physical tool you have for now to sell your homes. Here is a checklist of five things to evaluate within your home center or sales location when you are thinking about selling more homes in 2021.

1. Welcome Home

When a customer drives past your location, why are they driving past and not coming in? What incentive do they have to spend time with you instead of just doing a Google search and seeing your homes online? A well landscaped and welcoming sales center is a critical investment. Ensure that the paint or siding is fresh and that the office is easily accessible and ADA compliant. Do you have a porch area and furniture where you can sit outside and learn more about the customer and their needs while you look out over the new models? Is there room for more than one family member to wait for a sales team member without feeling uncomfortable?

Creating multiple greeting spaces is a priority right now.

2. First Impressions

When a customer walks up to your front door, are they greeted by an inviting, well-designed reception area, or is it furnished with sofas and furniture that came out of storage or from a model you sold long ago? The sales center should be one of the first things you think about, not an afterthought. An easy, inexpensive way to greet guests is to have a signboard at the door that you can use to welcome people who have appointments with you— greet your customer on the sign by name, like Welcome Smith Family! This makes your customer know you put time and effort into their visit and it encourages drop-ins to make an appointment next time, as well.

3. Moving on Up

Breeding discontent with a buyers’ current living situation is a subtle way to help them decide that it is time for a new home of their own. You want the finishes, furniture, and decor in your sales center to be just a step up from what your buyers have, not intimidating, but something they can aspire to. A sales office is a great place to partner with a local furniture store. I am a huge believer in marketing partnerships and giving a complementary company a place to showcase what they offer. This is a win for everyone, including your customer. In return, ask them to promote your business at their location just like you are happy to promote them.

4. Decision Makers

Treat your sales center like a sales center, not just a place that your sales team spends time between leads. Do you have inspiration or storyboards on the walls? Do you tell your story and why they should be comfortable and buy from you instead of the competition? When I was active in merchandising site-built homes, we often didn’t have an actual home to show prospective clients. We would use actual materials from our homes to build refreshment spaces or tables, the flooring that was available in our homes would be used on the floors in the sales center, and the wall colors would be ones that we currently offer in our homes. I would love to see manufactured home builders do something like this for our retailers.

5. Closure

Your closure room should be a celebration room; it is where the customers’ dreams come true! Is this a pleasantly designed space, or is it just a corner with old files stored around it? Please don’t let it be the place your team uses to eat lunch. You ask a customer to spend up $100,000 or more with you, please go as far as you are able to let them know they are special and that you appreciate them and their business. Stock a fridge with a non-alcoholic refreshment, like sparkling cider, and have disposable champagne glasses on hand. It’s a beautiful way to celebrate them making one of the most significant milestones in their lives. You and the entire family can participate!

The Palm Harbor Village Model Center in Plant City, Fla., is an excellent example of a well-designed sales center. It has tremendous visibility right on the frontage road of Interstate 4 and is the largest model center in Florida. It is in front of the builder’s manufacturing facility, and the 33 acres and 22 furnished model homes make quite an impression. I have visited a few times and it is always beautifully landscaped with a large lake in the front that some of the houses are sited around. They also do a great job on the website for the center. A factory tour video is highlighted so you can see how your new home will be constructed. There is a lot of information, and they have actual photos of the models at the center – all professionally decorated and displayed. I also love the scrolling “News This Week” on the site where they share and congratulate new Palm Harbor homeowners. It’s a creative, personal touch.

Now is a great time to rethink your sales office strategy for the spring selling season. Don’t be afraid to ask your team and customers for their input as well — a different perspective can make all of the difference in how your view the selling process.

Happy selling!

Neighboring Florida Communities Rise Again to Meet Demand

Patrick Revere

April 15, 2021

sandhill shores yes communities demand for housing fla

A 55+ manufactured home community that rose from the ashes in St. Lucie County, a short drive from Fort Pierce, is extending a hand to pull up its adjacent sister community, which will bear a new name and an array of amenities for families in South Florida.

Seventeen years ago residents in St. Lucie County ducked and covered as a system of Atlantic storms — Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne — pounded the southern coastline, driving area residents from their homes, including those at Sandhill Shores.

“A lot of homes were destroyed and people weren’t able to come back home,” YES Communities Senior Vice President Shawn Harpin said. The Denver-based community ownership group inspected Sandhill and its adjacent property, interested in the possibility of a purchase.

“We went down to get a feel for the asset and the surrounding area,” Harpin said. “I remember saying out loud ‘This is a great location’. You’re a couple of golf strokes from an outdoor recreation area, Savannas State Park, with camping, boating, fishing, and picnic facilities, and it’s a five-minute drive to downtown Fort Pierce.”

main entrance sandhilll shores demand for housing in south florida — Photos courtesy of YES Communities.

The Market is Hot in South Florida

Harpin said if anyone was to inquire in March about the pace of sales — the expectation for continuing to fill one property, and developing another amid the challenges of the pandemic — he would have cringed a little, maybe, and certainly would have hesitated.

Today, the story is told.

Sandhill was about 30% occupied when YES Communities purchased the property in August of 2017, and it since has added about 130 homes.

South Florida demand for housing Sandhill Shores YES Communities

“We are 70% occupied now and we’re hoping to have the community full in the next two years,” Harpin said.

“In this area on average there’s been a 23% in drop in inventory from a year ago. Housing prices are higher than 2006. Additionally, as the impact of the pandemic eases, the demand for housing, especially affordable housing, will increase,” he said.

When the eviction moratorium drops, it’s going to change not just for us, but all around. The demand for housing, especially affordable housing, cannot be overstated.”

Homes at Sandhill Shores come from across the state line in Waycross, Ga., from Clayton’s home building facility there as well as some from the ScotBilt Homes facility.

Sandhill sits on more than 58 acres and eventually will have 375 homesites. It is a gated community, with a gym, shuffleboard, swimming, outdoor pergola kitchen, putting green, horseshoe pit, pickleball, fire pit, and game room.

All of the homes are for sale, Harpin said. But the community does have a small number of park-owned rental homes as well.

The demand for housing is so high that YES is reviewing the option to convert many of the RV slips in Sandhill back to manufactured housing homesites. And it purchased the adjacent community and built a plan to have it complement the existing housing stock for homeowners and renters with families.

The New Community That is Savannas Ridge

The neighboring community to Sandhill, just across a small canal, once was a place called Pleasure Cove. The communities were planned and zoned at the same time, under the same ownership. Pleasure Cove changed hands from its original ownership, was held up by a management company, went into receivership, and was fee-managed for a time before development was halted.

“We knew the company that was looking to sell the property, and Steve Schaub and I were talking about it, and we could tell they wanted something positive to come out of it,” Harpin said. “We made the purchase, got city approval and right now we are in the assessment stage, cost and timewise, on what it’s going to take to bring this community up to what we want it to be. We are hoping by the fourth quarter of ‘21 we’re breaking ground.”

The community has underground utilities and a former clubhouse with “good bones”. Savannas Ridge and its 32 acres will have 209 homesites, a renovated clubhouse, swimming, and a playground for individual residents and south Florida families.

Two Manufactured Home Communities with Ties to Open Land

“We want to work with the city to provide a connection from the communities to the city greenbelt,” Harpin said. “That’s been part of the vision from the beginning, and it’s something I feel confident we can achieve given the relationship we have with the city and surrounding community.

Harpin said some of YES’ success in the area is attributed to is the city’s realization that YES is a partner with many of the same goals, not just an organization looking to get in, win a buck, and get out.

The connection between what Savannas Ridge will be and what the public recreation area is creates a lifestyle mix that both retiree residents at Sandhill and all-ages residents the emerging community value.

The locale is the common denominator that will make each property a success.

“Savannas Recreation Area is a rare wilderness area, and just happens to be our neighbor in Fort Pierce,” Harpin said.

Top 50 Manufactured Housing Community Owners

Patrick Revere

April 15, 2021

50 Top Manufactured Home Community Owners and Operators — Sun Communities ranks among the top community owners measured by number of homesites.

Manufactured Home Communities Ranked in Order by Largest Number of Homesites

owners investors what's the deal — Attendees at the NCC Spring Forum in Las Vegas look over MHI’s display of the Top 50 Manufactured Housing Community Owners.

The National Communities Council is a leading organization in the manufactured housing industry, representing the community owners, operators, managers, developers, lenders, and suppliers.

NCC is a division of the Manufactured Housing Institute, the only national advocacy organization representing all facets of the manufactured housing industry. In most years, MHI announces the top community owners during the NCC Spring Forum at the Congress and Expo of Manufactured and Modular Housing, often held in Las Vegas.

The NCC serves its members by being an effective advocate with policymakers, media, and the general public. It strives to improve the business climate for its members by increasing professionalism and education within the industry. The NCC also is among the industry’s most reliable sources of data used to create more opportunities for the successful development, operation, and marketing of land-lease communities.

Top 50 MH Community Owners and Operators

Sun Communities, Inc. – Southfield, Mich. – 83,294 homesites
Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. – Chicago – 73,700 homesites
RHP Properties, Inc. – Farmington Hills, Mich. – 60,163 homesites
YES! Communities – Denver – 47,278 homesites
MHP Funds, LLC – Cedaredge, Colo. – 31,652 homesites
Hometown America – Chicago – 24,355 homesites
UMH Properties, Inc. – Freehold, N.J. – 20,000 homesites
Lautrec, Ltd. – Farmington Hills, Mich. – 19,150 homesites
Newport Pacific Family of Companies – Irvine, Calif. – 17,375 homesites
Kingsley Management Corporation – Provo, Utah – 16,000 homesites
Cal-Am Properties, Inc. – Costa Mesa, Calif. – 14,631 homesites
Meritus Communities – Bloomfield Hills, Mich. – 13,964 homesites
Bessire & Casenhiser, Inc. – San Dimas, Calif. – 13,863 homesites
J & H Asset Property Mgt., Inc. – Yorba Linda, Calif. – 13,802 homesites
Continental Communities – Oak Brook, Ill. – 11,640 homesites
Investment Property Group – Irvine, Calif. – 11,500 homesites
Zeman Homes – Chicago – 11,103 homesites
Shapiro Real Estate Group – Farmington Hills, Mich. – 10,267 homesites
Horizon Land Co. – Crofton, Md. – 10,200 homesites
Inspire Communities – Gold River, Calif. – 10,149 homesites
ParkLand Ventures, Inc. – Glen Ellen, Va.- 9,866 homesites
Newby Management – Ellenton, Fla. – 8,052 homesites
Harmony Communities – Vancouver, B.C. – 7,888 homesites
Nodel Parks – Southfield, Mich. – 7,880 homesites
Riverstone Communities – Bloomington, Mich. – 7,500 homesites
KDM Development Corporation – Pittsford, N.Y. – 7,500 homesites
Garden Homes Management Corp. – Stamford, Conn. – 7,342 homesites
SSK Communities – Erlanger, Ken. – 7,018 homesites
MHPI, Inc. – Des Plaines, Ill. – 7,002 homesites
Stonetown Capital – Denver – 7,000 homesites
The Four Leaf Companies – Oak Brook, Ill. – 6,805 homesites
Ascentia Real Estate Holding Co., LLC – Littleton, Colo. – 6,777 homesites
Commonwealth Real Estate Services – Portland, Ore. – 6,701 homesites
Westwind Enterprises, Ltd. – San Jose, Calif. – 6,473 homesites
Heritage Financial Group – Elkhart, Ind. – 6,305 homesites
Sierra Corporate Management – Anaheim, Calif. – 6,000 homesites
Choice Properties, Inc. – Troy, Mich. – 5,850 homesites
Storz Management Company – Orangevale, Calif. – 5,772 homesites
Asset Development Group, LLC – Menononee Falls, Wis. – 5,216 homesites
HomeFirst Certified Communities – Birmingham, Mich. – 5,176 homesites
Santiago Communities, Inc. – Santa Ana, Calif. – 5,100 homesites
Jensen’s, Inc. – Southington, Conn. – 4,868 homesites
Les Frame Management – Redondo Beach, Calif. – 4,613 homesites
Thesman Communities – Los Angeles – 4,316 homesites
The Carlyle Group, Inc. – West Hollywood, Calif. – 4,000 homesites
Ravinia Communities LLC – Northbrook, Ill. – 3,983 homesites
Murex Properties, LLC – Fort Myers, Fla. – 3,976 homesites
Blair Group – Lakeland, Fla. – 3,866 homesites
FolletUSA – Gold River, Calif. – 3,571 homesites
Santefort Real Estate Group, LLC – Westmont, Ill. – 2,945 homesites

-NCC Top 50 Manufactured Home Community Owners most recent reported data is from 2018

Retail Sales Sizzling in the South

Dawn Highhouse

April 13, 2021

Regional_Homes-customer-options — Photos courtesy of Regional Homes

In 27 retail sales locations across the South and toward the mid-Atlantic, Regional Homes Senior Vice President of Operations Charles Stricklin is witnessing a trend among homebuyers: There are more of them, and they want to move in today.

“It’s just been escalating, particularly over the last two years,” Stricklin said. Regional Homes, based in Flowood, Miss., runs the majority of its retail home sales operations in the state, though they also have locations in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and North Carolina.

The organization employs about 200 people, and last year they moved about 2,500 homes.

“The whole year in 2020 just continued to improve, improve, and improve in sales. No one thing happened that blew us up; it’s just been consistent growth,” he said.

Actually, each of the last three years has proven to be new record-sales years for Regional Homes. Sales in 2020 were up 10% from the prior year, Stricklin said. And while the buyers are aplenty, the most notable change in recent years has been the diversity of the buyer and their willingness to take advantage of the current financing terms.

Regional Homes customer home tours — Regional Homes provides manufactured homes for customers in four states, has a broad customer base and meets a wide range of homebuyer needs.

“I’ve been in the business 33 years, and I’ve been in this market from Texas to Florida, too, and what I see happening here, now, it’s more of an increased ability to purchase driving this,” he said. “The rates are very amicable for buyers today. The lower payment allows a customer to buy when they might not have been able or willing before, and those who are more firmly in the market are in a position to buy more house.

“A customer with strong credit and a good down payment can get a rate on a 23-year chattel loan at about 5%,” Stricklin said. “If you had that same really strong customer three years ago, you could get a 7 or 7.5% rate, and that makes a big difference in your monthly.” According to Stricklin, it is similar with a customer who has some debt, or doesn’t have as good credit, or as solid of a down payment; the rate three years ago would have been 12%, now it’s 9%.

Up to the Challenge

Of course, operating conditions in 2020 and early 2021 have been less than favorable, with coronavirus precautions putting a strain on production and the myriad of unique considerations needed for meeting with potential buyers.

“But we’ve got good partners in manufacturing, and we’ve bought in volume to try to counter that aspect,” Stricklin said of the extended backlog. “We still have to wait longer than we want, but because of those relationships, I feel like we’re able to do better than many retailers can from order to delivery.”

Backlogs and wait times were growing well before the pandemic, too. This compelled Regional Homes founder and President Heath Jenkins in 2018 to become a minority investor and part-owner in Hamilton Homes in Alabama, thus securing a regional segment of the production pipeline. For years, Regional Homes has also done business with Cappaert, Champion, Deer Valley, and Winston Homes to keep a wide array of offerings available for their manufactured home buyers.

What Are Homebuyers in the South Asking?

Stricklin said a majority of Regional Homes’ sales are single-section homes, often entry-level homes for first-time homebuyers, with a mix of empty nesters as well. Most buyers have land waiting, so land-home financing is about 20% of the business, with chattel lending making up the remainder.

“Kitchens and master bathrooms still sell homes, and family space would be the next consideration,” Stricklin said. “Those are the driving factors for most of our customers.

“We have one of the best and educated teams in the country when it comes to providing a variety of financing options and putting the buyers into the right house,” Stricklin said.

Many first-time buyers in the area were gifted or inherited land, such as split parcels that can be used as a downpayment. And the minimal zoning and regulatory climate in most of the small towns and rural areas of the South make it easier to place a manufactured home.

Regional Homes gets many of its entry-level homes from Hamilton, Cappaert, and Champion’s facility in Benton, Ky. Stricklin said buyers in the Florida Panhandle and the newly opened markets in North Carolina are more likely to ask for multi-section or modular homes. Regional Homes buys those homes from Deer Valley, Winston, and Champion’s facility in Dresden, Tenn., to satisfy that demand.

“We have plenty of customers who want what they want, and they’re willing to pay for it,” he said. “They’re looking for a last-purchase home with some higher-end materials. Deer Valley buyers are nearly all what you might call a custom home buyer, which is 5 to 8% of our sales, but it’s growing, and it’s largely because of those interest rates.”

In fact, the higher-end Deer Valley, Winston, and Champion homes begin to hit a price-point that almost competes with the site-built market. Regional Homes offers diversified product lines to meet customers’ wants and desires in each market, and the number of markets continues to grow.

“We’re happy to have expanded our footprint,” Stricklin said. “We’ve worked hard. This year, 2021, will be our first full year with North Carolina, one location, and we added three locations in Louisiana last year.”

JLT Manufactured Home Community Market Reports Available for Alabama, Georgia

Patrick Revere

April 8, 2021

Garden West Estates April Rent Dog Walker Manufactured Housing Industry

April JLT Reports for mobile home rent comps in Alabama and Georgia are available now for purchase, including immediate download through Datacomp, the national leader in manufactured home and mobile home valuation and community data.

JLT Market Reports provide detailed research and information on communities in 186 housing markets throughout the United States. These include the latest rent trends and statistics, marketing programs, and a variety of other useful management insights.

Datacomp maintains and provides the JLT Market Reports and is the nation’s #1 provider of market data for the manufactured housing industry. JLT Market Reports are recognized as the industry standard for manufactured home community market analysis.

The April 2021 manufactured housing market data published in JLT Market Reports for Alabama and Georgia include information from four markets on 68 “All ages” and “55+” manufactured home communities.

Altogether, the reports from Alabama and Georgia manufactured home communities include data representations for 15,810 homesites.

Regional Trends in Manufactured Housing Community Rent, Occupancy

South region manufactured home communities show a year-over-year 4.5% increase in average adjusted rent.
South region manufactured home communities show a year-over-year 0.9% increase in occupancy rate.

What’s in JLT Market Reports?

Each JLT manufactured home community rent and occupancy report from Datacomp has detailed information about investment-grade communities in the major markets. The detailed information includes:

Number of homesites
Occupancy rates
Average community rents, and increases
Community amenities
Vacant lots
Repossessed and inventory homes, and much more

JLT Market Reports also include management insights that rank communities by the number of homesites, occupancy rates, and highest to lowest rents. Established reports show trends in each market with a comparison of April 2021 rents and occupancy rates to April 2020, as well as a historical recap of rents and occupancy from 1996 to the present date in most markets.

The April 2021 JLT Market Reports for Alabama and Georgia manufactured home communities are available for purchase and immediate download online at the Datacomp JLT Market Report website, or they may be ordered by phone in electronic or printed editions at (800) 588-5426.

Each fully updated report for mobile home communities is a comprehensive look at investment grade properties within a market, enabling owners and managers, lenders, appraisers, brokers, and other organizations to effectively benchmark those communities and make informed business decisions.

April is Fair Housing Month

Patrick Revere

April 5, 2021

The month of April is designated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as Fair Housing Month, with the 2021 theme “Fair Housing: More Than Just Words”. HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said the theme reflects the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to advancing equity in housing and the importance of increasing public awareness of everyone’s right to fair housing.

“Fair Housing Month is a time to recommit to our nation’s obligation to ensure that everyone has equal access to safe, affordable housing,” Fudge said.

Fudge said the mission continues to guard against housing discrimination in the form of individuals and families being denied a place to call home because of the color of their skin or where they come from, landlords refusing to allow persons with disabilities to keep assistance animals, individuals being denied a place to live because of who they love.

“In this moment of unprecedented crisis, fair housing is more important than ever,” Fudge said. “Fifty-three years after the Fair Housing Act was signed, our journey to justice in housing continues.”

Each April, HUD, local communities, fair housing advocates, and fair housing organizations across the country commemorate Fair Housing Month by hosting an array of activities that highlight these ever-important and continued efforts.

The month is used to provide a dedicated time in which housing professionals, advocates, and activists can collaborate to enhance the awareness and understanding of fair housing rights and to end housing discrimination.

Secretary Fudge will commemorate Fair Housing Month with a virtual celebration on April 7^th at 2 p.m. Eastern time that also will feature the Justice Department’s Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela Karlan, HUD Acting Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Jeanine Worden, and HUD Senior Adviser Alanna McCargo.

Last year, HUD and its Fair Housing Assistance Program partner agencies received more than 7,700 complaints alleging discrimination based on one or more of the Fair Housing Act’s seven protected classes: race, color, national origin, religion, sex, family status, and disability. During that period, the categories with the highest number of complaints were disability and race, respectively. HUD also received complaints that alleged lending discrimination as well as numerous complaints from women who faced unfair treatment, including sexual harassment.

“Although the Fair Housing Act became law in 1968, we still have major challenges ahead of us,” said Jeanine Worden, HUD’s acting assistant secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity. “This April, on the 53^rd anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, HUD is renewing its commitment to level the playing field so every person has the same opportunity to live where they choose and benefit from all of the opportunities this nation offers.”

Investigation Continues into Orange, Calif., Fatal Shootings at Unified Homes

Patrick Revere

April 5, 2021

Tovar and Raygoza Unified Homes Shooting victims — Luis Tovar and daughter Jenevieve Raygoza in an undated family photo.

A mass shooting in Orange, Calif., has sent shockwaves through the manufactured housing industry and within the small Southern California city where it occurred on the afternoon of March 31 at Unified Homes. Four people were killed, and two more injured, including the suspect who is hospitalized following a shootout with police.

Unified Homes owner Luis Tovar, his daughter Jenevieve Raygoza, 28, Leticia Solice, 58, who is was a Unified agent, and Matthew Farias, 9, were killed.

Blanca Tamayo, Farias and Raygoza’s mother, survived the attack.

Police said the alleged shooter used a bicycle cable and lock to block the exterior gates to the business prior to entering. Police engaged in a shootout with Aminadab Gaxiola Gonzalez, who was shot.

The officers were uninjured. Gonzalez has been charged with four counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder.

Karla Maria Tovar, Luis Tovar’s wife as well as an agent with Unified Homes, spoke with local media. She explained how she was attempting to shield their 10-year-old son from at least some of the grief from the loss of someone she described as a model husband and father. She also vowed to keep Unified Homes operating.

“Unified Homes is going to go forward,” Karla Maria Tovar told the Daily News. “I don’t know how (I’ll do it), but I will.”

Investigators said Gonzales had either professional or personal relationships with each of the victims. He had been in a relationship with and long-estranged from a broker assistant with Unified Homes, Aleyda Mendoza, who in media reports stated that she had no understanding of what could have motivated the shooting.

“I can’t understand what went through his head to make such a terrifying decision,” Mendoza said in a quote from the Associated Press. “He left behind a sea of pain and grief for so many families who can’t find comfort.”

The Farias family has set up a GoFundMe page to try to abate funeral costs for the the 9-year-old victim, who had been a student at Hoover Elementary School in Santa Ana.

“As members of the manufactured housing industry family, we are all affected by this senseless tragedy,” Newport Pacific Companies Marketing and Regional Manager Maria Horton said. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families who lost loved ones in this horrific disaster.”

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EVENTS

Persons and personalities met along the way

Beyond the Tactical Efforts, It’s the People You Meet

Florida Communities Team

The Northwestern Mutual Real Estate, Murex Properties Partnership

Added Resources, and Background in Equal Access Protection

A New ‘Development’ Business

A Strategy Toward New Community Development

How to Create a New Comfort Zone for Your Customers

1. Welcome Home

2. First Impressions

3. Moving on Up

4. Decision Makers

5. Closure

The Market is Hot in South Florida

The New Community That is Savannas Ridge

Two Manufactured Home Communities with Ties to Open Land

Manufactured Home Communities Ranked in Order by Largest Number of Homesites

Top 50 MH Community Owners and Operators

Up to the Challenge

What Are Homebuyers in the South Asking?

What’s in JLT Market Reports?

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