Matthew Silver

Following a 25-year career operating a custom hardwood furnishing business and occasional writing, Matthew Silver has been writing professionally for over a dozen years, six of those for the factory-built housing industry. Otherwise, he may be found performing folk music in the Indianapolis area.

Home Affordability Index to Set Record

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the first 11 months of 2012 is setting the stage for what is anticipated to be a record year for the housing market, once Dec. numbers are in. HousingWire says NAR’s Housing Affordability Index through Nov. 2012 stood at 198.2, and expects …

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Three Major Indexes Gain; Tracked Housing Stocks Mixed

Investors were heartened by analysts expecting corporate earnings to grow 3.2 percent in Q4 2012 versus last year, as the three major indexes posted positive results for the day. CNNMoney reports the Dow Jones Industrial Average nudged up +0.46 percent, + 61.66 points, to end the day at 13,390.51. The …

Three Major Indexes Gain; Tracked Housing Stocks Mixed Read More

Opportunity to Dispel MH Myths is Now

Writing in the Huffington Post, Corporation for Enterprise Development president Andrea Levere says the outdated notions that link manufactured housing with “Hurricane Katrina trailers” has put a damper on the efforts to house many homeless survivors of Hurricane Sandy that ravaged the northeast U.S. shores Oct. 29. While Federal Emergency …

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REO-to-Rental Market Expanding

Institutional investors as well as nontraditional investors are poised with $6 to $9 billion to acquire REO (real estate-owned) properties that many number from 60,000 to 90,000 in the single-family rental market, according to nationalmortgagenews. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Jade Rahmani says while this may account for only 15 …

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Canadian Project Requires Extensive Modular Housing

The journalofcommerce reports WEQ Britco is set to begin building a 2,000 room modular workforce accommodation complex in northern Manitoba, Canada at the proposed site of Manitoba Hydro’s multi-billion dollar Keeyask power generation plant on the Lower Nelson River. Manitoba Hydro began preliminary work on access road and camp development …

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UFPI Moving to Oregon?

StatesmanJournal says Universal Forest Products, Inc. (UFPI) may be interested in moving to Silverton, Oregon’s vacant industrial park from Grand Rapids, Mich. City manager Bob Willoughby informs MHProNews the city has been discussing this option with UFPI for several months. The closing of Redman Homes in May, 2008 led to …

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Three Indexes, Housing Composite Slip; LPX Posts Nice Gain

Stocks edged down today as investors anxiously awaited corporate returns for the previous quarter. CNNMoney reports the Dow Jones Industrial Average nudged down -0.41 percent, -55.44 points, to end the day at 13,328.85. The Nasdaq dropped -0.23 percent, -7.00 points, to close at 3,091. 81, while the S&P lost -0.32 …

Three Indexes, Housing Composite Slip; LPX Posts Nice Gain Read More

NAHB Housing Index is Moving on Up

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) says its First American Improving Markets Index (IMI) rose from 201 in Dec. to 242 this month, an increase of over 20 percent. Now including 48 states and the District of Columbia, before being added to the list the metro area must show …

NAHB Housing Index is Moving on Up Read More

Students Build Disaster Shelter

Tallahassee tells MHProNews two University of South Florida architect students have designed an extruded aluminum disaster shelter that snaps together and is easily transportable. The main structural members can have conduit running through them, and the roof channels direct water to a tank at the rear of the modular unit. …

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Manufactured Housing Goes Hunting

AmmoLand reports from Fremont, Ohio that MH building products maker StyleCrest is teaming with Mossy Oak to produce Wildside Camo Siding for hunting blinds, lodges, cabins and sheds. The extrusion-process camouflage siding will resist UV rays and extreme weather conditions, and is easy to install. As MHProNews has learned, StyleCrest …

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Village turns down Possible MHC Development

The belvideredailyrepublican says Poplar Grove, Ill. officials have nixed plans to annex an additional 600 acres and with it the possibility of an MHC being developed on part of the property. Two developers had proposed a mix of residential and commercial if the annexation occurred, but the village board in …

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Coming Soon: QM and Servicing Rules

NationalMortgageNews says the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is set to release Dodd-Frank’s Qualified Mortgage (QM) regulation Jan. 10 in Baltimore. Under the new regulation, lenders must verify assets of the consumers, and in exchange, lenders will have a legal safe harbor. A rule the CFPB has considered is in cases …

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CFPB Region Director Could be Watching You

OriginationNews reports the person who helped plan staffing, enforcement and direction of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is now the regional director of the West Region office of the agency in San Francisco, covering 18 western states including Alaska, Hawaii and Guam. Edwin L. Chow is responsible for consumer …

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Inventory Drop will Add to Housing Values

Economist Joseph Brusuelas, writing in a Bloomberg Brief on the 2012 housing review and outlook for 2013, says, “Rising purchases of homes from cash buyers and investors reduced the monthly supply of existing homes on the market to 4.8 months in November from 6.4 months in January of 2012. Careful …

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Major Indexes Slip; Deer Valley, Nobility Homes Slide

Noting companies will struggle to beat earnings expectations for the last quarter of 2012, Barclay’s said in a report, “We suspect earnings season will be a negative for the market overall.” As investors prepare for the corporate returns, CNNMoney reports the Dow Jones Industrial Average nudged down -0.38 percent, -50.92 …

Major Indexes Slip; Deer Valley, Nobility Homes Slide Read More

Passages—Rick Wilson

Rick L. Wilson, forty-year veteran of the manufactured housing industry, passed away Friday, January 4, at Central Baptist Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. A production manager with Fleming Homes in Fleminsburg, Kent., the last several years he was a manufactured home retailer, according to maysvilleonline.  A kentucky Colonel, Wilson, 62, also …

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MHC Residents: Busted Walkways are Dangerous

The StandardExaminer reports from Farr West, Utah the Westwood Village Homeowners Association will meet Tue., Jan. 8 to discuss cracked and uneven sidewalks that pose a risk to the 400 seniors who live in the 350 homes at the MHC. After attempts to get a response from owner Equity LifeStyle …

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Another MOD Player in the Bakken Oil Field

BillingsGazette reports nine workers at the newly-opened System Building Solutions (SBS) in Laurel, Mont. are getting on-the-job training building a two-story 20-room modular man camp for the Bakken oil field build-out in western North Dakota. Utilizing resources in the Billings area, SBS is working out of a building previously occupied …

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Patrick’s Stock Nearly Triples in 2012

IndyStar reports two-thirds of nearly 50 Indiana public companies traded on large exchanges finished last year with higher stock prices than at the beginning of the year. Included is Elkhart-based Patrick Industries (PATK) whose stock price more than tripled, going from $4.30 to $15.56 a share. Julie Ann Kotowski, director …

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MHI Meets with CFPB Director Cordray

The Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) informs MHProNews that on Dec. 17th MHI staff and members of the manufactured housing industry met with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Richard Cordray and staff members to push for housing finance rules that take into account the special challenges of the MH market. …

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