The Blevins team talks with customers at a recent trade show.
Manufactured Housing Suppliers Combine Forces
Blevins Inc., a Nashville-based supplier of housing products, has acquired Tri-State Distributors and its nine branch locations.
Tri-State will continue to operate its corporate office in Royston, Ga., and all of its nine locations across Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi. Tri-State will be a division of Blevins Inc. and will continue operating as Tri-State Distributors.
Founded in 1983, Tri-State serves the hearth, heating and gas products industries, as well as the manufactured housing and residential HVAC industries, in the southeast United States. Its product lines include gas grills, fireplace logs and heating products, along with HVAC equipment and manufactured housing accessories.
Merging Companies, Merging Ideas
“When Brad Blevins and I began talking about merging our two companies, I came to realize that his ideas about what success means in business are the same as mine,” said Tri-State CEO Steve Williams. “We both believe in taking good care of customers and employees. The transition has been very smooth, and I have agreed to stay on for a while to help ensure that operations continue to run as they should. Overall, I believe this merger will be a win-win for everyone.”
Brad Blevins, president of Blevins Inc., said his company and Tri-State have been competitors for more than 20 years, and the organizations have become well acquainted with each other during that time.
“By partnering with Tri-State, we look forward to helping continue the great momentum that the company has and are very excited about the benefits that both companies can get by being a part of the same organization,” Blevins said.
Founded in 1971 and family owned, Blevins supplies the manufactured housing industry with 13 distribution locations. The Blevins service area stretches from New Mexico to Maine to Florida, making deliveries to 35 states. With the acquisition of Tri-State Distributors, Blevins Inc. will have over 500 associates.
President Trump readies himself to sign an executive order on affordable housing. Image and video courtesy of C-Span.
Move Toward Regulatory Reform Bodes Well for Manufactured Housing Industry
President Trump signed an executive order that directs federal agencies to collaborate on ways to reduce government barriers to affordable housing.
“We’re going to take a major step in our historic regulatory reduction campaign today,” the president said during a live broadcast from the Oval Office. “We begin a bold new initiative to bring down the cost of housing for American families… launching the White House Council on Eliminating Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing.”
The new federal council will be led by Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.
“Over-regulation of housing in the housing market is a primary cause of the rising housing costs across our country. Nationwide it’s estimated that the regulations account for more than 25 percent of the cost of a new home,” the president said. “As a result, the supply of affordable housing cannot keep up with demand today. Over 37 million American households have to spend more than 30 percent of their annual income on housing.”
Manufactured Housing Institute on Council for Affordable Housing
In a “Housing Alert” to MHI members, the national association indicated the council would work on how to:
Quantify the impact of the lack of affordable housing on individuals and the economy and the impact of regulatory barriers on the production of affordable housing
Review rules and regulations for impact on impeding affordable housing development. And to make changes at the federal level to support the production of affordable housing
Adjust federal programs to incentivize localities to reduce regulatory barriers or condition federal funding on such reductions of local impediments, such as zoning and land-use restrictions
“MHI has always advocated for policy solutions that target the underlying problem—a limited supply of affordable housing,” MHI stated in its alert. “Today’s executive order makes clear that the only appropriate solution is to focus on reducing the cost of supply and emphasize innovative housing solutions, which includes manufactured housing and a right-sized regulatory focus.”
HUD Secretary Ben Carson to Lead New Council on Affordable Housing
Secretary Ben Carson said the council consists of members from eight federal agencies. Council members will lead federal efforts to engage with the state, local and tribal leaders across the country. The goal is to remove obstacles that impede the production of affordable homes.
“The president has given us a mission to break down barriers and to clear the path for the millions of Americans to pursue their American dream,” Carson said. “It’s a mission we proudly and enthusiastically accept.
“The forgotten men and women of America will be forgotten no longer”, Carson added, thanking the president and administration.
“The home is the foundation of the community, which is the foundation of the nation. We can all do this if we work together,” Carson said.
Structure of the New Council on Affordable Housing
A White House-issued release on the executive order states the assistants to the president for domestic policy and for economic policy, or their designees, will serve as vice chairpersons for the council.
In addition, the council on affordable housing will consist of the following officials or their designees:
Secretary of the Treasury
The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
Secretary of the Interior
Secretary of Agriculture
Director of the Office of Management and Budget
Secretary of Labor
Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers
Secretary of Transportation
Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs
Secretary of Energy
Heads of executive departments, agencies and offices may, from time to time, designate or invite attendees, as appropriate. The vice chairs shall convene regular meetings of the council, determine its agenda, and direct its work with the oversight of and in consultation with the chairman. The Department of Housing and Urban Development will provide funding and administrative support for the council.
Senators Join Administration for Signing of Executive Order on Regulatory Reform
Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., said she visited all 15 Arizona counties within the first 90 days of her Senate term. She said there was a theme among her constituents throughout.
“We’re a very diverse state, and the economy is growing. But a top theme is affordable housing, and there are many barriers to that, and so this group coming together … to provide more opportunities at lower cost, so everybody can meet their full potential, is really important for my constituents. So I am grateful for this initiative.”
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., said the new council is certain to help more Americans who are credit-worthy to achieve homeownership.
“The American Dream so often is seen through the prism of homeownership,” Scott said. “This executive order will accelerate the path of responsible home ownership.”
Affordable Housing Crisis Impact on the Housing Market
The demand for affordable living options is rapidly increasing, providing new opportunities to fill this gap in the market. Mobile or manufactured home communities are a solid affordable housing option for populations priced out of traditional affordable options.
At the same time, many mobile home communities have undergone a significant transformation over the past two decades. Communities still in need of improvements have new financing opportunities for owners trying to turn a profit.
Aesthetics, Affordability Can Co-exist
Mobile home community owners have made great strides toward shifting the perception and the reality of manufactured home living. Many new communities include amenities like clubhouses, swimming pools, and tennis and basketball courts. The majority of the homes are move-in-ready, three-bedroom houses with full kitchens, baths, and laundry. The subdivision setup of communities allows for private parking, individual gardens, lawns, and patios on small, easy-to-maintain lots.
Affordability comes into play here. Consider that the quality of manufactured homes is equal to site-built homes, but the cost comes in at a fraction. This allows residents to save hundreds of dollars per month. Savings come from not only monthly lot rent or mortgage payments, but utilities when compared with living in an apartment or site-built home.
A manufactured home community in Davie, Fla.
The New Normal of Mobile Home Mortgages
Just over a decade ago, residents would walk up to any mobile home dealer and purchase their own home to move into a park of choice. In that case, they could apply for a chattel mortgage. This allows the customer to pay off the home while not owning the land. These days, the path to manufactured homeownership looks a little different.
Most of these dealerships closed down in the wake of the Great Recession, especially in the Midwest. And in the mobile home parks themselves, vacancies increased — resulting in foreclosures on the homes owned by residents. In these vacant properties, mobile home community owners have found new opportunities.
One method to increase occupancy and profitability is for the community to own the new inventory of homes and finance them with chattel financing, or to rent to residents. By providing financing to residents, manufactured home community owners can increase the occupancies at the properties and for their entire portfolio. And, when refinancing, community owners can receive cash-out components to use toward property improvements.
By owning the homes and renting them out to residents, Mobile home community owners can increase cash flow and enhance the communal aspects of the parks, adding further value to the community and its homes.
A Pair of Examples
Here is an example: one manufactured home community management firm in 2006 needs funds to bring new and used mobile homes to some recently acquired properties in Missouri. They want to fund the acquisition of these homes and increase occupancy. The firm establishes a relationship with a bank to finance its chattel portfolio and uses other financing options for new home acquisitions.
The increase in occupancy and value creation allowed the property to be refinanced in 2018 with a substantial cash-out component. They were able to set aside funds for additional site work and down payments for more houses. And the loan has an earn-out component in addition to being non-recourse.
In 2019, 13 years after starting the chattel finance business, the firm refinanced 800 homes with a new chattel financing agreement for $11 million to fund the acquisition of new homes, as well as the consolidation and reduction of interest rates for the entire portfolio.
Theory in Action
In our experience, these loans have been funded by a range of lenders, including agencies, CMBS, banks, and debt funds. Many of them had earn-out provisions. So, as the property cash flow increased over the loan term, some lenders would fund out cash equity to borrowers. This allows for liquidity without going through the entire refinancing of the property.
The dynamics of manufactured home community ownership are changing. This means great potential exists for savvy owners who are ready to refresh tired, less desirable properties. At the same time, these owners can provide much-needed affordable options to a housing market that’s desperate for them.
A commercial mortgage banking firm can help prepare the park and owner who don’t have a financial officer who understands these more complex financing options. A commercial mortgage firm can visit the property to ensure that it is up to the expectations of the lender, appraiser, and engineers. With full cooperation and commitment, mortgage and chattel loans can close in 45 to 75 days.
Emphasis on Education, Expertise, Solutions for Aspiring Homebuyers
Freddie Mac has launched All For Home, a new approach to its single-family affordable home lending mission.
The All for Home initiative looks to drive industry change by providing:
Education
Mortgage offerings
Business solutions
Insights to lenders and the affordable housing ecosystem
“For nearly 50 years, Freddie Mac has been making homeownership possible for millions of people who wish to purchase a home,” said Danny Gardner, senior vice president of single-family affordable lending and access to credit at Freddie Mac. “Our All For Home effort spotlights Freddie Mac’s leadership in support of its affordable mission and looks beyond today to build the future of home by facilitating better lender and partner collaboration to reduce barriers for those seeking homeownership.”
With All For Home, Freddie Mac Single-Family is working for a change to the perception of affordable home lending by providing thought leadership, educational resources and innovative, collaborative solutions to enable lenders and partners to reach more people who want to own a home.
The goal is to re-shape affordable lending and broaden understanding of opportunities to better serve borrowers.
Partnership In Place with Manufactured Housing Institute
Freddie Mac has partnered with the Manufactured Housing Institute and is working with leading manufactured home builders to expand manufactured home buying and ownership to more borrowers. The requirements for manufactured homes are designed so the mortgages purchased are originated, underwritten and serviced to help a qualified borrower buy a manufactured home they can both afford and sustain.
Freddie Mac’s Home Possible® affordable mortgage origination program during 2015 – 2018 exceeded $50 billion in home mortgages to 262,328 U.S. families.
Across the country, Freddie Mac provided homeownership and financial literacy education to 518,168 aspiring homeowners through its CreditSmart® program in 2018. In addition, it provided affordable-lending training to 32,796 loan officers and real estate professionals through outreach events last year.
Freddie Mac Initiative focuses on four pillars
Insights
Provide best-in-class research and data on the affordable lending market and the Borrower of the Future customer base. The results will be used to advance thought leadership and industry perspectives on the future of homeownership.
Education
Host community-based homeownership education and outreach events
Provide lender and real estate professional training
Help housing counselors to reach and inform audiences such as millennials, women, veterans, people with disabilities, senior citizens and very low- to moderate-income borrowers
Mortgage Offerings
Develop additional lending and down-payment solutions for:
First-time homebuyers
Manufactured housing
Energy efficiency properties
For very low- to moderate-income borrowers
Business Solutions
Provide lenders with expanded opportunities to enable technology-driven lending processing services including:
Loan Product Advisor®
Automated Collateral Evaluation
Asset and Income Modeler including AIM for self-employed borrowers
Home Possible Sweat Equity offerings, rural offerings such as NextJob, Servicing-Released XChange℠, and Freddie Automated Servicing Transfer℠
“Through collaboration and partnership, we are working to develop and enhance solutions and technologies that allow our partners to confidently, swiftly and easily help more people achieve the dream of homeownership,” Gardner added. “There is power in anticipating future homeownership needs so that, together, our partners and lenders can make a positive impact.”
More Home Buying Initiatives On the Way
Freddie Mac will continue to launch new affordable education and lending initiatives in the coming months.
June is National Homeownership Month. Freddie Mac recognizes the critical need to address the changing dynamics in the housing market. The changing marketplace creates new challenges, which require new strategies for the realization of homeownership. Freddie Mac continues to launch new affordable education and home lending programs and is proud to prompt industry dialogue directed at solving affordability and accessibility barriers for borrowers.
Kenny Shipley, of Legacy Housing. All photos courtesy of Legacy Housing.
Kenny Shipley, co-founder and CEO of Legacy Housing, watched the Bedford, Texas, company he started in 2005 with Executive Chairman Curtis Hodgson go public (LEGH) in early 2019.
Some might say it’s a long road from West Texas to Wall Street. They have no idea.
That trip will take 24 hours of highway driving, if it’s all about the destination. But, if you’re Kenny Shipley, it’s about the process. It’s about trust. It’s about doing the right thing, with a “burn in your belly”. And if that’s the route you take, the travel from West Texas to Wall Street takes 14 years or more. Maybe a lifetime, if you ask Kenny.
Let’s Start with the ‘World Famous Pecos Cantaloupe’
Shipley has done quite a few things in his life, including sell plenty of homes. However, before there were homes to sell, there was a ripe West Texas melon travelers would take a U-turn to obtain.
Shipley and his brothers, Billy and Doug, would make the three-hour ride to Pecos, Texas, for no other reason than to load up on whole, locally grown fresh cantaloupe. It’s a sensitive crop, and timing was everything, he said.
“In Pecos, it’s such a dry, sandy heat, and they just grow so sweet,” Shipley explains, as if he’s tasting a cantaloupe in the very moment he’s talking about it. “They are delicious, and you can see it. They’re bright orange.
“You needed to pick them at just the right time. Not too early, and you can’t keep ’em on the vine in the heat. We had it down.”
The sign they rigged up on route 114 to Lubbock read “Pecos Cantaloupe. World Famous”. They’d sell them out of the back of the truck. Then, in the heat of the day or when restlessness took over, the trio and whatever friends they could recruit would take the melons to local markets. Shipley would even take the juicy treasures door-to-door throughout his hometown of Levelland, population 8,000 at the time, 30 miles west from Lubbock.
“I’d take a cut of cantaloupe door-to-door,” Kenny Shipley said. “‘Taste this, they’re world famous’. People would say, ‘Man that’s good’. We’d sell two for a dollar. We’d load up that truck from Pecos for six cents a pound, so we did OK.”
The Legacy Housing factory in Forth Worth, Texas.
‘Everything We Got, We Worked For’
“My dad taught us how to be entrepreneurs, and we were always hustling,” Shipley said of he and his siblings.
He said not one of them has ever filled out a W-2 in their lives. They worked for themselves, they worked hard, and they made money.
“We ran gasoline stations for a bit when we were right out of high school,” he said.
“We’d buy used batteries for $1, and put them all on a train charger. It charges 10 batteries at a time,” he said. “We’d charge them for a couple hours and see if any of them held a charge, and spray them and clean them up to look like new. We’d sell the good ones for $19.95, and the others we’d sell for junk at $5.”
They’d also buy imported wristwatches for $1.75 and sell at the gas station for $20. Like anything else, you’d keep some of the profit and put the rest back in the business. Or a business, whatever made sense.
Their father was in the car business, so Kenny and his brothers always had a few lessons to lean on as they built their own ventures.
“We didn’t have a lot, but it could have been a lot worse,” he said.
The Shipleys moved to Levelland from a town that was just a little smaller. He said West Texas was a fun place to grow up, a safe place where kids could be kids.
“We had two pool halls, a roller rink, two movie theaters, a drive-up theater, two city swimming pools… You knew everyone in the area, and we always would hang out in our garage because we had a pool table,” Shipley said. “We didn’t have a door key for our house. We’d go out of town for three or four days and just leave it open. It was that kind of town.”
They’d have football games with 25 people on each side. They rode bicycles everywhere.
“Of course, there were no computers or video games, so if you wanted to have fun you had to go outside. And I’m grateful for that,” Shipley said.
Legacy Housing co-founders Curt Hodgson and Kenny Shipley with former Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Randy White, center, who was a spokesman for Legacy Housing for several years.
When It Comes to Housing
Shipley and his brothers had been dabbling in manufactured housing for a few years at the time they went in together and started a retail business. Bell Mobile Homes in Levelland has been operating for 38 years now.
“When I got in, the industry was moving 300,000 homes, and interest rates were 23 percent,” Shipley said. “I was doing 23 percent loans through GE Credit.”
But times would change, and fast, particularly in West Texas.
Shipley and Hodgson crossed paths in the mid-’80s. They were both buying repossessed homes and selling them, including to other retailers.
The manufactured housing business was down-trending from the peak years of the 1970s. To further distress the Texas market, oil by the barrel was way down, to $8 per barrel in the mid-’70s. There was a massive effect on the labor market, which particularly affected housing.
Banks went under in droves. Any area MH financing was in operation was east of Interstate 35.
“West Texas was cut off,” Shipley said. “There were no finance companies doing business west of I-35.
“For us to survive, we would get bank financing or sell ’em for cash. I met Curt (Hodgson), and we were competing for many houses,” he said. “One day we kind of started buying and selling to each other, and we slowly started partnering up on a pile of houses.”
Hodgson was in retail and running auctions, and Shipley would enter his homes in the auction. They ran that way for two decades, working hard and making ends meet.
Has three manufacturing facilities, including its original in Fort Worth
It is the fourth largest builder of manufactured homes in the U.S.
Offers customers 70 floor plans, including tiny homes
Delivers to 14 states from the Southwest to Southeast
A welder at Legacy Housing works on the chassis of a new home.
A Little Bit Closer to Wall Street
The pair had purchased and sold enough homes, and built enough relationships, that eventually the two entrepreneurs came around to talking about building their own homes. They had the experience, the work ethic and enough capital resources to make it happen. They only needed to formalize a plan.
“We didn’t even have a contract or official partnership, not until we started Legacy,” Kenny Shipley said. “That was the first time we signed anything. We had bought a Cavalier plant. We were already buying inventory at that point. Floorplanning inventory, that’s how we got started.
“We had 40 guys doing business with us,” he added. “They had sales centers, and they believed in us. Then we started building homes, too.”
Initially, the pair wanted to keep the homes “low end”. The idea was to keep them basic to build and simple to sell. They had one 16×60’ floor plan they built for the first 90 days. Then they added in a 16×80’ that brought them out to about six months in business. After that, they started building and selling double wides.
“We built it organically,” Shipley said. “We build our own roof trusses, we laminate our sheetrock. And we profile our trim. We’ve done a good job of taking the middlemen out of what we do. And we’ve had to do that to compete with the big boys. We go to China to do our own importing. Our product is the same product because we were already buying from China, we just cut the middleman out who was taking 25-30 percent.”
The pair, and their team at Legacy Housing, which now numbers more than 800 employees, built the business up well enough and continue to have strong enough confidence in their product to have started their own retail finance program.
“We’re not the answer to everyone’s prayers, so there’s still that need for the other lenders, but we have our niche,” Shipley said. “We build the widest floor, the highest roof. We deliver the most bang for the buck for the consumer, kind of like that Pecos cantaloupe.”
Roof trusses built in the Legacy Housing plant.
Focus on the Best Product, and Build a Network
As much as he loves building homes, Shipley still has a soft spot for the retail end of the business: the independent retailer, the entrepreneur.
“It’s a gamble every day when you wake up and have no idea where your dollar is coming from. That’s the case with our network, from Colorado to Kansas to Florida,” he said. “We love the independent guys. That’s what built America.”
Shipley said he and Hodgson agree, they cannot think of any two industry professionals who have created more business by setting up independent dealers. Legacy Housing currently operates through an independent dealer network of better than 100 retailers.
“I truly believe we’ve put more people in business than anyone else. We’re always going to support independent dealers. Those are the guys we want to do business with,” he said.
“Anyone can have a sales center and make money. You need to have that burn in your belly. If you don’t, you probably can’t, but if you have that dream and the burn in your belly, you’re going to do it.”
Where Ya Headed?
Shipley and others at Legacy Housing are asked quite often if the manufactured housing industry can reach its peak sales volume again. More than 400,000 homes shipped in a year? That’s more than quadruple the current production, in an industry already on an assertive upward trajectory.
“I don’t think so,” Shipley says, hesitantly. “Too many independents left, and not too many are getting back into it. There are no families getting in, and of course there are families aging out.”
True, the housing crisis and credit crunch pushed droves of traditional retailers out of business. Which leaves factories with fewer places to send homes and buyers with less obvious places to shop. Much of the sales recovery in the industry has come through community operators that now sell homes as well.
Take note, though, Kenny Shipley still hands out his business card. “I can help” is what it says, right beside his cell phone number.
In the meantime, Legacy is pleased to build its own business, and continue its own, well, legacy.
If Not by Road, Then By Air (or Heir)
Kenny Shipley’s always working. Checking on retailers. Walking the floor. Responding to sometimes 80 phone calls a day. But he still lives in Levelland, now population 13,000 or so. It’s 275 miles by air to the original factory in Fort Worth.
“I’m a pilot,” Shipley states.
He has been flying since the age of 17; earned his license at about 20 years old. He took a long number of years off when his children were young, but bought an airplane in the mid-’90s. He’s been flying to the plant two, three times a week ever since.
“We both fly a Meridian jet prop,” Kenny Shipley said of himself and Hodgson. “His is blue, mine’s red.”
They’re personal planes, Shipley’s quick to point out. The company didn’t buy them. They’ve always kept a low profile, he said, and particularly so now.
“We’re working with shareholder money now, and we consider our shareholders as partners,” he said. “We are going to treat their money like it’s our money. We’re not going to be frivolous.”
Kenny Shipley’s son, Ken, followed him into the family business. Ken started at age 16 in the setup department. A decade later he leads sales.
“He’s a better salesman than I was,” Shipley admitted. “He’s a natural.”
JLT Market Reports Available for Immediate Download
Datacomp has published its June 2019 manufactured home community rent and occupancy reports for Iowa, Nebraska, South Carolina, and Virginia.
JLT Market Reports provide detailed research and information on communities in nearly 170 major 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 publishes 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.
June 2019 manufactured housing market data published in JLT Market Reports for Iowa, Nebraska, South Carolina, and Virginia include information on 187 “All ages” and “55+” manufactured home communities.
Altogether, the reports on the four states’ manufactured home communities include data representations for 33,128 homesites.
“The four states represented in the June 2019 publication of the JLT Market Reports are recording growth in occupancy and average adjusted rent across the board, with one small exception for a static occupancy rate among retirement communities in one South Carolina market,” Datacomp Co-President and Chief Business Development Officer Darren Krolewski said.
More About JLT Market Reports
Each JLT 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
Our reports also include management insights that rank communities by number of homesites, occupancy rates and highest to lowest rents. Established reports show trends in each market with a comparison of June 2019 rents and occupancy rates to June 2018, as well as a historical recap of rents and occupancy from 1996 to present date in most markets.
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 decisions.
UltraX from Saint-Gobain ADFORS applies to drywall in manufactured homes.
First-Of-Its-Kind Drywall Tape from Saint-Gobain ADFORS is Designed for the Unique Requirements of Manufactured and Modular Home Construction
UltraX is a self-adhesive drywall tape developed specifically for the transportation requirements of manufactured and modular home construction.
According to the manufacturer, Saint-Gobain ADFORS, UltraX does more than hide drywall joints. It also reinforces them to better withstand the forces encountered by the completed home during transportation.
UltraX employs a patented multi-directional design that protects drywall joints from the unavoidable lateral movements and shifting that manufactured and modular homes are subject to in transport. UltraX is 60 percent stronger than traditional mesh drywall tapes, according to the company. The tape will help to reduce wall repairs after delivery of modular and manufactured homes.
The self-adhesive feature saves time on both application and drying. By eliminating the need for a pre-bedding coat, joints dry more quickly and are less subject to the bubbles and blisters common with paper drywall tape.
Saint-Gobain’s product is also wider than traditional drywall tapes, which contributes to better gap coverage and better stress distribution. UltraX is 2 3/8 inches wide; the common measurement is 1 7/8.
Saint-Gobain ADFORS markets UltraX to drywall suppliers in earthquake zones, in addition to the manufactured housing industry.
ADFORS Stands for ‘Added Reinforcement’
For more than 50 years, Saint-Gobain ADFORS has focused on what it terms “technical textiles”. ADFORS invented mesh drywall tape in 1965 and revolutionized the drywall tape market with the FibaTape brand. The company offers a variety of application-specific and premium drywall tapes throughout the world.
Headquartered in Grand Island, N.Y., Saint-Gobain ADFORS is a division of the Paris-based Saint-Gobain Group.
Created by Louis XIV in 1665 to compete for a share of the increasingly popular mirror glass trade, Saint-Gobain has evolved over the past 350 years from a simple glassworks to a vertically integrated multinational with annual revenues exceeding $44 billion. The Saint-Gobain Group operates in 66 countries.
There is no shortage of tips, tricks and hacks to help you squeeze every ounce of opportunity out of your mobile home marketing efforts.
But, while everyone is flocking to the latest marketing fad, important fundamentals often can get overlooked.
Whether you’re a retailer, community owner/operator or supplier to the industry, making a mistake in these marketing fundamentals will undermine results and waste your money.
After more than 20 years of helping national, regional and local organizations improve their marketing, there are seven core elements I’ve seen neglected repeatedly.
Seven marketing “sins” that can kill results and spoil sales opportunities.
Marketing Sin #1: Ineffective Signage
If you’re a retailer or community owner/operator, a portion of your annual sales depends on drive-by traffic.
So, it’s important to have signage that is capable of catching people’s attention. From not having enough signage to poorly designed signs, any mistake in this area will reduce the number of sales leads you attract.
Signage that is unreadable from a distance while traveling at posted highway speeds is one of the biggest mistakes I see companies make.
The design, typestyle, and colors you choose for your signs impact how effective they will be as a marketing tool.
Potential customers must be able to read your sign in one second or less as they drive down the road.
Think about your drive into work this morning. How many signs did you glance at, and how many did you spend time reading?
If you’re like most people, you barely pay attention to business signs as you drive, because your mind is occupied with other matters.
Customers must be able to read your sign in one second or less as they drive at posted speeds. The signs for the hotels on the right side of the photo above are barely legible from a distance when standing still, and are impossible to read at the posted speed of 45 mph.
It’s the same for your customers. They’re flying down the road, rushing through their day.
So, you need to help them see you.
Make sure your signage is free of any object that would obstruct the ability to read it, and choose high-contrast colors for your signs to improve their visibility and readability.
Also, pick a color that contrasts well with the sign’s surroundings to help it stand out. Color selection can make your sign highly visible, or muddled and impossible to read.
Finally, when selecting typestyles for your sign, choose a font that is appropriate for the location.
On busy roads or highways with posted speeds above 35 mph, thick, bold type will be needed. The thicker type will make it easier for drivers to read your sign at a glance as they travel at posted speeds.
Pro tip: the font “Frutiger” was designed for airport signage as a typeface that is clear and easy to read from a distance, making it an ideal choice for signs.
Marketing Sin #2: Websites that Don’t Convert
Much like a sign’s job is to capture leads from drive-by traffic, the purpose of your website is to capture sales leads from internet traffic.
A well-designed, conversion-optimized mobile home website can generate a consistent flow of sales leads reliably every month. If that’s not happening for you, it’s time to fire your website and get a new one.
Let’s start with the way your website looks.
How important is the visual appeal?
According to research by Carleton University, visitors decide if they like your website or not within the first 1/20th of a second of landing on it. And that decision determines if they stay on your site or leave.
Further studies by Stanford show that 75 percent of consumers make a judgment about a company’s credibility based on the design of their website.
So, the visual appeal of your site has a direct connection to how effective it will be as a source of new sales leads.
Beyond visual appearance, other factors can sabotage your site’s effectiveness.
Technical issues like slow website loading speeds, images that do not load correctly, or features that do not work will cause website visitors to leave.
And once they have a bad experience on your website, 88 percent of them will never return, according to a 2010 study published by econsultancy.com.
Even when your website looks great and is functioning at peak efficiency, there are things you can do to improve the number of conversions you get.
Some of them, like placing your phone number in the top-right corner of your site, are simple adjustments that produce immediate results.
Another excellent technique for improving results from your website is to use social proof.
Social proof is evidence from past customers that doing business with you will be a good experience.
By adding testimonials or reviews to your website, you’re adding social proof. But if you choose to add testimonials to your site, be sure to follow FTC rules for the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising.
Another option for social proof is software that displays a small pop-up in the corner of your website, showing visitors that other people are filling out your online forms, which encourages them to do the same.
Regardless of how you do it, adding social proof helps reassure potential buyers and builds trust.
Your website is the virtual doorway to your business. It is the physical, albeit digital, location of your business online.
So, put as much care and attention into your website as you do your actual sales center, lobby, or any other customer-facing area of your business.
Marketing Sin #3: Poor Online Visibility
It’s no secret that the internet is the dominant media platform worldwide.
According to research firm BIA Advisory Services, 97 percent of consumers use the internet to find local businesses. 72 percent visited a company within five miles after doing a local search online, according to a 2016 study done by Wordstream.
Having a well-planned online marketing strategy is the key to generating a predictable flow of new sales leads every month.
There are six components to a well-balanced online marketing strategy. They are advertising, search visibility, reputation, social presence, your website, and a tracking and follow-up system.
Let’s start with how visible you are online.
Getting found on search engines like Google is a complex mix of content, technical factors, and optimization that all affect your position in search results. However, there are simple steps you can take to improve your chances of being found.
First, make sure your business name, address and phone number are correct and consistent anywhere they are listed online. Those online listings should exactly match the name, address and phone number on your website.
Also, while you’re checking your business listings online, remember to check how your business is listed in Google. You can do this by searching your business or community name and looking at what appears to the right of the search results.
If you see a box of information about your business, you have an existing Google My Business listing that you should check and update if necessary. However, if no information box appears when you search your name, then you need to create a Google My Business listing.
Increasing your visibility online includes having a presence on well-established, industry-related websites like MHVillage.com, where a lot of potential buyers spend time searching for homes.
Advertising in places that are already hot spots for buyers is a great way to get seen. And it’s an effective way to generate qualified sales leads as well.
How you appear in search results is only one aspect of online marketing.
Advertising, email marketing, having a well-managed social media presence, and video marketing also should be tools you regularly use to attract as many sales leads as possible.
Marketing Sin #4: Ignoring Reputation Management
Online reviews are becoming more influential in the buying process every year.
In 2017, Spiegel Research Center found that 95 percent of consumers check online reviews before making a purchase. Also, they discovered showing reviews for higher-priced products can increase your conversion rate by as much as 380 percent.
Reputation management is an area of online marketing that has the most significant impact on results because it is so influential in the sales process.
According to a 2017 study published by BrightLocal, 77 percent of consumers ignore online reviews posted more than three months ago. So even if you have excellent reviews, you still need to be proactive about acquiring more.
Also, if you have no reviews at all or more negative reviews than positive ones, doing nothing becomes even more detrimental. In 2016, ReviewTracker found that negative reviews drive customers away 94 percent of the time.
That same year, research by Fan and Fuel found that having no reviews caused 92 percent of consumers to hesitate on a purchase decision or delay it completely.
With online reviews, how you treat and respond to customers is on display for thousands of potential buyers to see. So, monitoring and improving your online reputation is one of the most powerful steps you can take to increase sales.
Marketing Sin #5: Not Tracking Results
One of the most common mistakes I’ve seen throughout my career is companies that have no system in place for tracking the results of their marketing.
Knowing which marketing vehicles are producing results, and which ones are not, reduces wasted advertising dollars.
It also helps you maximize your return on investment by showing you where the results are coming from, so you can shift your budget accordingly.
There are lots of ways to track results, including options that are automated.
For example, using call tracking numbers, like mhvDirect™, in the advertisements you run will give you a measurement of how many calls your ad generated, and will even let you record the calls for training purposes.
For walk-in traffic, you need to develop an internal process for registering visitors and collecting their information for future follow-up and marketing campaigns.
Installing Google Analytics will help you keep track of where the traffic to your website originates.
And tools like HotJar will show you what parts of your website people are clicking and record videos of people using your site, so you know how to improve it for better results.
Tracking the results of your marketing and making the necessary adjustments is what determines if your marketing is wasting money or making money, and prevents you from wasting homebuyer sales leads.
With a conversion-optimized campaign, every dollar you invest in online marketing should generate at least two dollars in return, doubling your investment.
Marketing Sin #6: Bad Brand Experiences
What kind of experience do prospective buyers have from sales introduction and first impression to the time they are no longer a customer? And how is that experience shaping their purchasing decision?
Many well-known elements go into a buyer’s experience with your brand, like how your sales staff greets visitors to your customer service policies.
However, the experience they have also is shaped by intangible details that trigger psychological responses and affect buying decisions.
For example, colors create both psychological and physical responses that can enhance or sabotage your brand.
The color blue, for instance, has been proven to reduce appetite. So, it would not be the right color for restaurant décor.
Other subtle elements that affect the buyer’s experience include common-sense things like, did your staff answer the phone when they called or did it go to voicemail?
Is your staff using paperwork and sales literature that is a copy of a bad photocopy? Or do they have professional-looking collateral that reinforces the buyer’s trust?
Are your model homes properly staged with inviting and purposeful interior design? Photo courtesy of Skyline Champion Corporation.
Are your model homes properly staged with inviting and purposeful interior design? Or is it a cold, empty shell that does not help the buyer picture themselves living there?
Also, is your office or sales center just a place to do paperwork? Or is it well-designed, with thoughtful point-of-sale displays that support your sales efforts with carefully planned visuals?
All of these factors come together in the buyer’s mind, and cause them to form opinions that affect their purchase decision: Do I like this salesperson? Will this home fit my family’s needs? Am I getting a good deal? Do I feel comfortable doing business with this company, or should I keep looking?
Marketing Sin #7: Lack of Follow-Up
After the initial contact with a customer, the real work of earning their business begins. Only a small percentage of potential buyers will make a purchase the first time they contact you.
It takes a structured sales follow-up process to engage more buyers and increase your sales conversion rate.
First, you need a defined process. Choose one that is easy to implement, and is used by everyone involved in the sales cycle.
Planning out the process is essential because it ensures consistency. It also helps you control the timing of follow-ups, so they build rapport instead of harassing prospects.
Like tracking marketing results, the sales follow-up process is often overlooked or poorly implemented.
A quick web search reveals many studies that say a sale is made only after five to 12 follow-up attempts. However, according to InsideSales.com, most salespeople give up after just two contacts.
And data collected by YesWare shows that 70 percent of salespeople stop after sending one email.
Persistence and patience are the keys to unlocking the results a good sales follow-up system can deliver.
The Devil is in The Details
Getting the details right in these seven fundamental areas of marketing manufactured homes will give you a solid foundation for results.
So, while everyone else is chasing marketing fads that ebb and flow with the tide of social media, give yourself a competitive advantage by doing the basics your competition ignores.
It’s an easy way to increase results without increasing your marketing budget.
Industry Professionals Greet Legislators for Display of Homes on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
The early June spectacle of the first-ever Innovative Housing Showcase is more than a collection of homes on the National Mall.
Our homes sit amid the iconic memorials. They’re lined by world-famous museums. The concepts that have taken lifetimes to build are situated adjacent the White House and Capitol Building. The Innovative Housing Showcase, with homes from our industry, is a signal that will flash brightly in the American consciousness.
Innovative builders are hosting law and policymakers through the week. Manufactured housing professionals who invest in and plan out affordable, safe and healthy places to live are awash in a new light.
They’re on a stage they’ve never known.
A new home from Skyline Champion Corporation.
Let’s face it, many legislators have not entered today’s manufactured home. Likewise, tourists, softball teams, children playing, joggers and many other everyday Americans on the National Mall this week will have a different feel for what the industry does.
Builders, community owners, retailers, the lenders and suppliers who support them, the teams that make each operation hum, should all feel proud this week.
How Should Homes on the National Mall Be Leveraged?
The spa bathroom in a new Cavco Home.
The collection of homes on the National Mall means that the general perception of manufactured housing and other factory-built homes is in a new phase.
There should be an expectation of an easier conversation.
Industry professionals should anticipate an enhanced marketplace for manufactured homes, and what most professionals have understood for so long — There is a great place to live that a majority of Americans can afford.
Who is Showing Homes on the National Mall?
Congresswoman Kathleen Rice of New York comes to Homes on the Hill presented by the Manufactured Housing Institute to say a few words about the value of manufactured housing.
There are a variety of builders and building solutions professionals exhibiting homes on the national mall. From the manufactured housing industry there are three homes. Skyline Champion is showing a pair of new homes, and UMH Properties has a home on display that was built by Cavco Industries.
When Sam Landy, president and CEO of UMH Properties, stepped on the National Mall and took in his first glance of our industry on a grand stage, he was nearly speechless.
“Wow…wow, wow, this is fantastic!” is what he said.
Skyline Champion President Mark Yost spoke during an opportunity for exhibitors to pitch their company or product. Rather, he spoke about what motivates him and his colleagues.
“Every night half a million people in America are homeless,” he said. “A third of American families are putting more than 30 percent of their wages in housing expenses.”
From the printing press to the farm plow to the assembly line, our nation has benefited from fearless leaders breaking the mold to meet the greatest needs of our citizens.
Now, it’s housing’s time.
“Attainable, affordable housing needs to be innovative,” Yost said. “That’s what you’re seeing here today.”
Steve Quick, left, and Joe Stegmayer, of Cavco, in a home being shown on the National Mall with UMH Properties.
Details on the Manufactured Homes on Display in Washington, D.C.
Cavco Industries and UMH Properties
Cavco Industries, in its commitment to providing housing solutions to help families squeezed out of the market in many places, built a new floor plan that is ideal to go into a manufactured home community. The 1,085-square foot two-section home was constructed in Rocky Mount, Virg., and will go to a UMH Properties community in Pennsyvlania.
The home has two bedrooms and two bathrooms with an open floor plan and center island kitchen. The home has a spa bathroom, floating entertainment center, oversized bedrooms and stainless steel appliances. It also includes energy efficienct features such as:
Energy Star rated
Low-E vinyl thermal windows
LED lighting
Insulation is R28 (8” minimum insulation thickness) in ceiling – R11 (3 ½” insulation thickness) in the sidewall – R22 (7” insulation thickness) in floor
High Efficiency rated furnace and water heater
Programmable thermostat
Skyline Champion Corporation
Skyline Champion brought a pair of homes with thermal efficiencies. These include ceiling insulation up to R-49 and R-21 for the wall insulation. They also have energy heel trusses and ventilation baffles, weather wrap and vapor barrier. The homes also are built with:
Designs to meet or exceed geographical load requirements
Tongue and groove decking
2×4 or 2×6 wall framing
2×4 or 2×6 flooring
MHI Executive Vice President and Director of Government Affairs Lesli Gooch and MHI President Dick Jennison talk with new FHFA Director Mark Calabria (center) about what manufactured homes have to offer.
Manufactured Housing Institute Plays a Vital Role
MHI, the national association for factory-built housing, paved the way for each of the new manufactured homes to be placed on the National Mall at the Innovative Housing Showcase. Each of the homes required permitting, and clearance from HUD as well as the National Park Service.
In addition, each of the homes on the mall already has been purchased and will be routed to land-lease communities in surrounding states.
“These beautiful new homes not only serve to inform government officials and the public as to what is possible in manufactured housing today, but will be lived in by individuals and families who want to buy a new manufactured home,” MHI President Dick Jennison said.
U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice, of New York, came to MHI’s Homes on the Hill event Tuesday afternoon and toured the homes. The Congresswoman noted the need for affordable housing and praised the industry for the solutions it provides.
“Going through these homes is alike a dream come true for me,” Rice said. “Thank you for all you do in providing these quality homes.”
HUD Secretary Ben Carson Gives Opening Remarks
Carson arrives on the National Mall after getting a ride in a 3D printed car.
HUD Secretary Ben Carson rode onto the National Mall in a 3D printed utility vehicle designed and manufactured by Oakridge National Laboratory. It was a grand entrance with a standing applause from the 200-plus people in attendance.
Carson, too, spoke of the value of homeownership. But it was more than the idea of offering someone who wants to buy a manufactured home the quality, design and technology for nearly half of the cost per square foot compared with site-built construction.
“HUD and our partners are now clearing a road for millions of Americans to prosper by driving the development of a new generation of homes, that are both affordable, and the other thing we’re highlighting is resilience.
“But this is not just a journey of financial stability,” he said. “But one of deep personal pride.”
Carson thanked the exhibitors for coming to D.C. at their own expense to show homes on the National Mall.
“You’ve come here to display some of the things that will make the American populous aware of some of the tremendous advancements that have been made,” He said. “But also, to make our legislators aware of what’s going on too.”
What is the Best Strategy for Filling Mobile Home Lots?
It’s the community owners’ lament: In filling vacant mobile home lots, do I rent, lease-option or sell with outside financing my community-owned homes?
Author’s note:Swim in safe harbors! My 30 years of experience in being the operating partner in 25 MH communities, buying, selling, renting, or leasing over 2,000 mobile homes and speaking to national and regional meetings of community owners over the past 10 years, positions me as uniquely qualified to have pointed opinions on the content I am sharing. However, my opinions and comments here are for informational purposes only, and here is why: when dealing with contractual agreements of any kind, seek out the advice of good legal counsel before implementing any new concepts or processes. In other words, “forewarned is forearmed”.
These are the points I will cover in regard to filling vacant lots:
Requiring outside chattel financing and only “selling” homes in my community
Renting homes fast-tracks a community fill-up
Taking the angst out of the lease and an option to buy
Outside Chattel Financing
In a perfect world for community owners, chattel financing would still be prevalent… but it is not. Limiting yourself to outside financing or cash sales slows the sales faucet down to a trickle. This option is best used when an owner has a high-quality community with a limited number of vacancies. Say, two to four homes at any given time. If so, upgrade your community, bring in quality homes and cherry-pick your buyers.
The Renting of Manufactured Homes
Renting manufactured homes to fill vacant lots is the best option when you have substantial vacancies because of the ability to go about quickly filling vacant sites. At my 300-site community in metropolitan Atlanta, we own 200-plus homes and rent an average of eight to 12 every month. We offer each prospect, in writing, three options to get into a home. Purchase with outside financing at a discounted rental rate; lease and an option with a $2,000 option fee; or just rent.
In four years of ownership: Zero financed sales, three lease and an option, and 200 homes rented. In the mid-2000s, I was involved with 22 communities. We owned 1,500 homes, and virtually everyone we drew in by marketing preferred to rent.
Caveat to Renting Manufactured Homes
This was all in the management of mid-size family parks in the Carolinas, so those with 55+ communities or communities in upstate New York, Oregon, Washington state and the like — where single-family rents are through the roof and there is minimal housing availability — likely would have a different experience.
If you have a community with 15-plus vacancies, then the fastest fill-up will be the true rental model.
Photo courtesy of UMH Properties, Inc.
The Lease AND an Option to Purchase
My view on the LO (lease/option to purchase) is that this model should not be used to dump an older home on someone just so you can avoid the expense and time of repairs. The opportunity should be used to stabilize your tenant base by slowing resident turnover in your community. A $2,000 or $3,000 option fee can help restrain the occupant from impulsively “jumping ship.”
My recommendations: Do a quality remodeling job to attract a more desirable, more stable tenant. Accept that the majority of your residents will be living week-to-week. There is limited disposable income to pay for emergency repairs. I have seen the need to replace a hot water tank result in a move-out when they can find a $99 move-in special somewhere.
So, offer the lease-and-an-option tenant the ability to have the community repair more expensive items during the term and add that cost to the end of the lease. Require them to complete small repairs (less than $200) themselves, but if needed, the CO will do it and add the cost to their next month’s rent.
Caveats to Lease and an Option
Don’t offer to “sell” a home using an LO or rent-to-home program. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it will be viewed as a duck (sales contract), and you may be in trouble.
Don’t offer a contract where a percentage of the monthly payment is credited to reduce the principal balance of the home. That is “amortization” or, in other words, a “loan.” Quack, quack. Optioning real estate or other things such as businesses or homes has been a viable legal transaction technique in the United States for years. It works best like this: Determine the monthly payment you need, the term you want and determine the reasonable residual cash value of the home at the end of the lease term. It cannot be zero, or that is amortization! Quack, quack.
There are two contracts, not one. An option contract, which is an agreement to sell the home at a predetermined price and at a predetermined time in the future for a one-time fee (i.e. $3,000); along with the agreement that the optionee will lease the home and follow through on the payment and upkeep terms through the end of the lease period.
The optionor agrees to deliver the title unencumbered, if the lease optionee elects to exercise the option at that time and meets all the terms of the lease. The lease of the home itself is a separate document.
Recommendation: You are selling an option, not selling the home. If you agonize over the legality of the “lease and an option,” then don’t do it. Just rent the home.
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