NuWireInvestor tells MHProNews the image most Americans have of manufactured housing communities comes from TV shows like “COPS” or from comedians like Jeff Foxworthy which not only portrays MHCs as undesireable but by association negates the investment opportunities that may be gained by investing in a community. While many of the eight percent of Americans who live in factory-built homes have incomes in the $20,000-30,000 range, some residents of MH in California and Florida are very well heeled, including Hollywood stars. In addition, since the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development set stringent standards for the production of manufactured homes in 1976, “mobile home” is a misnomer that carries on to this day, since it costs about $3,000 to move one from point A to point B, and 99 percent of them are in the same spot as when they were first sited. Banks like loans to purchase communities because they have the lowest default rate of any type of real estate, and they are the highest-yielding asset class in commercial real estate.

(Photo credit: MHVillage–Lake Village, Nokomis, Fla.)