In April 2014, Webalizer reported that individuals from 154 countries visited MHProNews; many to read stories and/or watch videos about manufactured and modular housing movers, shakers and news-makers.

While the vast majority (some 90%) of that global audience is here in the U.S., Canadians and nationals from virtually every nation on Earth are too, including:

• the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China),

• oil-rich nations,

• investor/industrial powerhouses such as Germany, England, Japan, France, Switzerland and…

• well, virtually every nation on the planet.

Research – reading and viewing – are the heart of understanding any subject. Factory built housing is no exception. Many want to see a subject through the eyes of the “leaders;” those movers, shakers and news-makers. Others want to read the daily business news, industry OpEds, editorial news/commentary or legal, marketing, management, sales or general content that sheds light on this unique and growing industry.

Speaking of News-Makers

As we publish this report, industry giant Equity Lifestyle Properties (ELS) is preparing for their annual meeting. What 200 MH industry pros heard live from Sam Zell at the National Communities Council (NCC) meeting in Chicago, drew tens of thousands here to read the exclusive ELS confirmed quotes from their billionaire chairman, found in these two exclusive articles:

• Sam Zell, The Point of the Spear and You’ve Got to have Confidence

• Sam Zell, “Our Way of Life is Very Much Threatened.”

We also brought you another ELS focused exclusive, the branded-interview A Cup of Coffee with…Marguerite Nader. Ms. Nader is ELS President and CEO, leading the largest manufactured home community (MHC) operation in the U.S..

Eyes on Akron

Thousands of industry professionals – and the public – have their eyes on Akron and the Eastern Ohio Home Show. One of the major sponsors for that event is UMH Properties (UMH), and we brought the exclusive A Cup of Coffee with…Sam Landy. In A Breakfast with…Tim Williams – and ‘this Tim’ being the Executive Director of the Ohio Homes Association – you get a look at the man whose vision and team effort made the event a reality.

When the Akron Beacon Journal published their recent pre-event write write up, we brought you this special report on our sister site:

http://ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com/eyes-on-akron-and-todays-surprising-factory-built-homes/

Other leaders with firms connected to the Eastern Ohio Home Show will be showcased in upcoming video interviews we will showcase, including:

• Eugene Landy, founder of UMH and father of CEO Sam Landy.

• Ron Thomas, Sr. – MMHF and Louisville Show Chairman and founder of Rona Homes and a show co-sponsor.

Are you seeing a pattern emerge?

For research and understanding of the movers, shakers and news-makers in manufactured housing, MHProNews is the #1 place to be, as the following professional profiles, interviews, information and links demonstrates.

Interviewing an Industry Legend

Part II of the video and text interview above is linked here.

All recent video interviews are done in association

with ManufacturedHomes.com.

In A Cup of Coffee with…Jim Clayton, you have part one of a two part series that includes a video interview different from the text interview!

Catch both the current and upcoming videos and the written Interview – again, these written interviews are not a transcript of the video, rather they are a unique and complimentary set of Q&As – to gain a holistic insight into the founder of industry giant, Clayton Homes and the Chairman of Clayton Bank.

Manufacturers: We Try Harder

Remember Avis’ ‘we try harder’ campaign in response to Hertz being number one in their field? The second largest family of manufactured housing builders is award-winning Cavco Industries, and you’ll find A Cup of Coffee with…Joe Stegmayer here.

We plan to unveil a new video interview with Cavco’s Chairman, Joe Stegmayer – who was a prior chairman for MHI – in the days ahead.

We also have the red-hot (hot because its been read a lot!) interview, A Cup of Coffee with...Terry Decio. Here is a short video interview with Terry at the 2014 Louisville Show, which covers different topics and questions than the written interview linked above.

Adventure Homes has been an amazing story, successfully launching their firm during one of the toughest periods in American Housing history!

The video above shot during the 2014 Louisville Manufactured Housing Show is with Adventure’s managing partner, Wally Comer. Again, these are entirely different insights and topics from our written interview with him, A Cup of Coffee with…Wally Comer.

In A Cup of Coffee with…Phyllis Knight you got insights into one of the top female C-Suite leaders in factory built housing, in her role commercial structures role at Champion Home Builders, done before her departure.

In the video interview with Byron Stroud of Champion, you get his take on a top recent event in our industry, and see where and how Champion is positioning itself for the future in factory home building.

So we’ve had interviews with key professionals tied to each of the ‘big three’ in factory home building. As you can see above, we’ve also brought you one of the strong legacy companies, and an up-and-coming home building operation too.  In the video shown above, we bring you an independent – and publicly traded – insider look at Deer Valley Home Builders. In A Cup of Coffee with…Chet Murhpree, you’ll see two versions of the video interview – one of which is shown above – plus a unique (different) Q&A that gives Murphree’s take on the future of home building in the U.S..

Manufactured Housing Finance

The pro-industry elephant in the room in manufactured housing personal property lending is 21st Mortgage Corporation. In A Cup of Coffee with...Tim Williams (yes, a different Williams than the one from Ohio!), you get the keen insights into this C-Suite leader’s perspectives on key issues impacting the Manufactured Home industry and its future potential.

In A Cup of Coffee with…Don Glisson Jr., Triad Financial Services leader and then MHI Chairman sounds off on his ideas for industry advancement that drew many times more readers than there were attendees at all of the three top MH Industry events in 2014 combined!

The government backed – FHA, VA and USDA loans – made by lenders such as First Guarantee Mortgage – are routinely hot reads here on MHProNews.com. So it was no surprise that our exclusive interview with their CEO, A Cup of Coffee with…Andrew Peters also drew a big crowd.

Another exclusive was with award winning CU Factory Built Lending’s executive, in A Cup of Coffee with…Barry Noffsinger. CU is a division of rising star, San Antonio Credit Union (SACU). We will be bringing you more news and interviews with various units tied to manufactured housing from SACU in the days ahead.

The widely acknowledged leading MH finance consultant – and a prior interim president of MHI – is featured in A Cup of Coffee with…Dick Ernst.  We will bring you in the days ahead a video interview that covers new ground with this industry leader, not covered in the original all-text interview linked above.

(Note – if you click icon at the bottom right corner of the video screen,
it expands to ‘full screen mode’ and near HD quality playback.) 

Politicos!

You’ll also find the ‘politicos’ here, for example: A Cup of Coffee with…Stephen Fincher. Congressman Fincher is considered by some to be one of the Republican Party’s bright stars. His leadership in launching pro-MH finance legislation, HR 1779, is evidence of his belief in manufactured housing.

With bi-partisan zeal, we’ve also brought you then U.S. Congressman and now U.S. Senator from the Hoosier State, A Cup of Coffee with…Joe Donnelly. Donnelly has taken a leadership role in the companion Senate bill to HR 1779, dubbed S. 1828.

Another U.S. Senator has sounded off here on MHProNews, not in an interview but in a guest column. Senator Marco Rubio has signed onto S. 1828. In his guest column, ObamaCare, Business and You, readers can catch a glimpse of his thinking and appeal to millions that makes him a presidential possibility for Republicans in 2016.

MH Retailers and Associations

While MH Communities are rising fast in sales, MH Retailers still sell the majority of manufactured homes in the U.S..  Associations – national and state – are critical for protecting and educational efforts that support our industry. Let’s run through some of the retailers and associations leaders we’ve interviewed.

A Cup of Coffee with…Michael Evans. CEO Centennial Management, Inc., now a member of the RV/MH Hall of Fame (factory built home retailer, 9 locations in business some 43 years).

A Cup of Cocoa with…Doug Gorman. President, Home-Mart, Inc, the most award winning MH Retailer in the U.S.. and supported by our publisher for induction into the RV/MH Hall of Fame.

A Cup of Coffee with…J. D. Harper. Executive Director Arkansas Manufactured Housing Association.

A Cup of Coffee with…Nancy Geer. Executive Director, New York Housing Association.

A Breakfast with…Mary Gaiski, Pennsylvania Manufactured Housing Association.

A Breakfast with…Jen Allen, First State Manufactured Housing Association.

Not to be overlooked is the National Communities Council (NCC) Division of MHI Vice President, A Cup of Coffee with...Jenny Hodge. Hodge has seriously advanced the agenda of the NCC, through improved meetings, outreaches and much more, as you’ll find out in her interview.

MHI’s Vice-President of Government Affairs and General Counsel will be featured in an upcoming video interview, that will compliment (but not duplicate!) the view of this attorney and popular, award winning author. Learn more in  A Cup of Coffee with..Rick Robinson.

Public Officials

A Cup of Coffee with…Bill Matchneer. Then Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Regulatory Affairs and Manufactured Housing at HUD. We’ve had a more recent guest column from Bill Matchneer, The View of Manufactured Housing Finance Related Issues from Inside the DC Beltway.

A Cup of Coffee with…Teresa Payne. Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Regulatory Affairs, Department of Housing and Urban Development.

MH Communities, Suppliers and More!

A Cup of Coffee with…Leigh J. Abrams. Chairman of leading MH and RV supplier, Drew Industries, who sounds off STRONGLY in favor of an industry image campaign!

A Cup of Coffee with…Randy Rowe. Chairman, Green Courte Partners. MHCommunities. Randy Rowe’s famous ‘5 Point Plan for Industry’ advancement is featured in this exclusive interview. Don’t miss it.

A Cup of Coffee with…Nathan Smith featured the first in-depth, full-length (aprox. 18 minute) video interview we rolled out for 2014, with MHI’s current Chairman and SSK Communities partner. You’ll find information on the page linked above, not found in the video interview above.

Former Green Courte Partners associate, president of Great Value Homes and MHI PAC Chairman sounded off in his exclusive with us, A Cup of Coffee with…Rick Rand. Rand runs the gamut from being an ‘independent’ community operator to having worked with some of the largest MHC operators in the nation, to developing an award winning MHC.

The “ReCap” video linked above gives you a snapshot of the Louisville Show and has 7 fast, hard-hitting inteviews – including Barry Noffsinger and Rick Rand – all in less than 4 minutes. Speaking of industry trade shows, last and absolutely not the least is the following interview…

A Cup of Coffee with…Dennis Hill. President and CEO of Show Ways Unlimited, specializing in manufactured housing trade shows since 1978.

Let me tarry a moment about my colleague, mentor and friend Dennis Hill, who we will feature in an upcoming video interview.

Dennis is one of those under-appreciated members of the RV/MH Hall of Fame, whose work has resulted in billions of dollars in sales for this industry. He is hard working, humble and an accomplished success story for our great industry.

More On Hand and More to Come

We’ve had numerous other interviews and exclusives over the years, but the bottom line is that nowhere in the factory-built housing world can you find more news, tips and views that pros, investors or researchers can use than on MHProNews.

We continue to evolve and routinely strive to ‘raise the bar’ on industry trade media, thanks to the critical, expert contributions of dozens of featured writers and sponsors.

Our public focused sister site – Manufactured Home Living News, with its videos, articles and ‘featured home of the week – is actually growing more rapidly than MHProNews originally did.

These are both strong testaments to the value of digital media – e-journals of manufactured and modular housing – that are bringing a national and international audience to a better understanding of the past, present and evolving future of the modern factory-built home industry.

Global eyes are seeking information, insights, investments and answers on housing are here, is it any surprise that you are here too? ##

L. A. ‘Tony’ Kovach ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com | MHProNews.com | Business and Public Marketing & Ads: B2B | B2C Websites, Contract Marketing & Sales Training, Consulting, Speaking: MHC-MD.com | LATonyKovach.com | Office 863-213-4090 Connect on LinkedIN: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach