In recent years, routinely once a month, MHProNews provides data to industry pros obtained from the Institute of Building Technology and Safety (IBTS), which in turn collects data under contract for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  That data, which is also used by others in MHVille, is effectively “official” federal data. We also provide earlier in the month all or much of the monthly national production snapshot generated by the Washington, D.C. based Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR). Additionally, the U.S. Census Bureau produces a periodic report that updates information on manufactured housing. Some of that information (production/shipments) from the Census Bureau is rounded off, and thus is less accurate than the IBTS produced figures. That noted, the Census’ cost on new HUD Code manufactured homes data is presumably more accurate than their production/shipment insights. That cost data from Census is also ‘official’ federal data. Those facts, additional trends, and more information recapping recent reports in MHVille are all provided in this news-analysis.  But before providing that, let’s flash back to remarks made in Louisville, KY a few years back by an executive from Ashley Furniture who attended that year’s manufactured housing industry trade show.  The Louisville Show has been a fixture in manufactured housing almost annually for some 50 years, save for a couple of interruptions in the 21st century due to declining attendance one year as the manufactured home industry was in decline and due to COVID19 on another occasion.

That Ashely executive had walked (toured, inspected) several of the new manufactured homes on display. He was apparently a supplier to one or more of the firms which had homes being exhibited. This writer and that executive chatted for a bit, and he expressed his amazement and positive impressions about manufactured homes. Naturally, this writer agreed with that, but mentioned conversationally what manufactured home sales nationally had been. The Ashley executive was stunned. ‘Why are sales so low?’ Quite so.  A brief explanation was given, but the obviously gent had difficulty accepting that homes that were so reasonably priced would be selling at such low levels.

 

 

Flashback years earlier to a discussion with two ladies from then central Wisconsin based Moxie Magazine. This writer and they were sitting in a model home in Colonial Gardens in Weston, WI. The home was a 3 bedroom, 2 bath single section manufactured home. While decorated, staged, and lighted, it was hardly the fanciest or largest model at that property. When one of the ladies asked what the price of the home was, the reply was given. One of the women from Moxie burst into tears.  While it was not the first or last time that something was said or done (or not said or done) by this writer that caused a woman to cry, it was the first time it happened in the course of a discussion with media touring a model home.  So, naturally, I asked – why the tears? She explained that she and her husband had bought a house some months previously in the Wausau WI metro that was about 100 years old. The home, she said, was drafty. The utility bills were high. Nor, per that regional media rep, was their home as attractive as the model we sat in. Yet that model home was far less expensive.

Many such true tales could be told that span decades of hands-on experiences in manufactured housing. Working in retail sales, retail management, land-lease community sales, manufactured home community (MHC) management, with factories, financial services firms, associations and others, there have been thousands of encounters with ‘the general public,’ with public officials, and an array of professionals involving modern manufactured homes. Before launching what today is called MHProNews and our MHLivingNews sister site, this writer was a periodic contributor to several trade publications, which are regrettably now defunct. Over three decades of experience as a front line sales person, manager, business owner, consultant, and as trade media could be shared. There are numerous awards and recognition that today are stored, but which once adorned walls in various offices from Texas to Wisconsin, or from Florida to Illinois. This writer has been to manufactured home communities and retail centers in Canada and in dozens of states in the U.S. from California to Maine.  There is a breadth of experience that only a small sliver of living manufactured housing professionals could claim.  Based solely on what others have said, it is fair to say that this writer is a praised expert in many segments of manufactured housing. Don’t ask me to repair a home or install one, but over the years, I’ve participated in or oversaw set ups, installations, refurb, repairs and the like.

 

Those decades of insights are woven into every article and commentary that this writer provides. We are not prone to baseless conspiracy theories.  We vigorously denied some claims a decade or more ago that since then the evidence, trends, and insights which have emerged caused this seasoned MHVille advocate and ‘true believer’ to be compelled to embrace.  There is a case to be made that it is better to admit an error and move on as circumstances warrant than it is to deny reality. Denying reality is like denying gravity. There can be serious consequences to doing either one.

With that introduction, some facts.

Part I

Washington, D.C., May 3, 2024 – The Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) reports that according to official statistics compiled on behalf of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), HUD Code manufactured housing industry year-over-year production increased again in March 2024. Just-released statistics indicate that HUD Code manufacturers produced 8,447 new homes in March 2024, a   10.4% increase over the 7,646 new HUD Code homes produced in March 2023. Cumulative production for 2024 now totals 24,277 homes, a 14.6% increase over the 21,174 HUD Code homes produced over the same period in 2023.

A further analysis of the official industry statistics shows that the top ten shipment states from January 2023 — with monthly, cumulative, current reporting year (2024) and prior year (2023) shipments per category as indicated — are:

 

More from that report by MHARR is found in the headlines recap further below.

Next, per the U.S. Census Bureau, is the following data.

Average Sales Price of New Manufactured Homes by Region and Size of Home

By Month of Shipment

(Dollars)

	United States			Northeast
	Total1	Single	Double	Total1	Single	Double
2023
December	121,300	79,600	149,600	124,100	83,500	156,600
November	126,600	85,900	154,100	122,600	92,400	158,200
October	120,000	83,300	147,700	118,900	84,300	151,900
September	119,700	80,400	151,700	128,700	85,400	172,800
August	128,800	89,800	154,600	132,500	105,200	158,400
July	118,000	82,300	150,200	122,700	72,900	143,100
June	121,400	85,400	153,900	121,800	85,300	149,800
May	129,900	86,300	160,200	120,900	89,800	146,000
April	125,000	86,100	153,600	123,900	87,000	160,800
March	124,700	85,200	155,400	135,200	100,600	172,900
February	128,100	89,200	160,400	136,600	107,000	167,800
January	126,100	82,100	156,900	122,900	86,700	148,300
2022
December	122,100	80,200	155,700	113,900	75,300	158,300
November	125,200	88,000	155,200	119,200	93,900	146,700
October	128,300	81,400	160,400	127,000	86,400	155,300
September	130,400	95,800	159,400	131,300	101,400	162,000
August	125,700	86,500	158,800	117,800	74,700	145,100
July	131,800	85,200	161,600	129,700	93,300	157,400
June	126,900	87,600	159,600	118,500	92,700	134,100
May	124,900	85,800	159,200	121,500	82,100	148,500
April	132,000	83,100	168,000	128,900	87,200	154,700
March	129,200	87,300	156,600	117,900	97,400	145,300
February	128,000	87,700	156,300	130,600	76,000	152,700
January	122,500	84,600	152,800	120,600	85,900	141,800
2021
December	123,200	80,900	150,300	104,700	73,900	127,200
November	111,900	76,400	139,900	100,900	71,600	133,500
October	112,000	81,700	138,200	110,300	74,400	138,700
September	118,300	78,800	141,300	102,100	76,100	124,100
August	112,000	80,000	138,000	105,000	86,000	117,000
July	118,700	76,000	137,800	98,500	74,100	125,700
June	106,800	70,200	128,100	101,600	73,700	124,200
May	106,500	69,900	128,300	98,400	69,900	121,500
April	100,200	66,700	122,500	95,900	73,800	113,300
March	98,100	63,300	123,200	91,400	58,600	121,300
February	98,300	65,400	122,500	88,300	59,400	113,800
January	95,000	64,100	118,500	102,600	67,900	116,200
2020
December	90,200	62,600	110,800	93,600	58,200	115,300
November	92,600	63,500	112,800	85,600	63,600	103,900
October	89,400	57,200	110,000	91,000	57,700	112,100
September	87,300	58,300	107,800	84,800	61,000	105,600
August	88,200	57,700	109,300	87,600	56,700	109,600
July	84,200	59,800	102,700	78,600	58,600	100,300
June	85,600	52,900	109,800	91,700	55,400	117,000
May	85,900	55,200	109,100	79,100	56,300	100,200
April	86,900	53,300	108,200	86,100	53,900	105,200
March	82,900	53,800	106,900	79,100	54,400	102,400
February	83,400	55,600	107,500	81,500	54,000	109,800
January	86,400	55,300	107,900	77,700	52,900	104,800
2019
December	86,400	54,400	105,700	79,500	54,000	98,500
November	81,600	52,100	107,100	79,200	49,400	113,100
October	81,700	53,900	103,800	80,600	61,200	101,600
September	81,500	55,600	101,800	84,100	59,600	103,700
August	84,100	49,200	107,900	81,900	45,700	101,200
July	82,000	54,000	106,500	88,000	51,600	129,500
June	84,400	52,800	103,800	84,800	57,800	109,100
May	78,100	53,800	98,100	76,400	49,200	105,200
April	78,900	55,700	100,700	82,000	59,300	109,000
March	78,900	50,400	102,100	74,500	48,000	98,400
February	85,000	52,600	107,600	74,100	52,300	97,500
January	81,800	53,400	103,400	86,600	60,100	109,000

Midwest			South			West
Total1	Single	Double	Total1	Single	Double	Total1	Single	Double
									2023
116,300	82,600	157,500	119,200	79,100	145,600	140,800	76,600	168,000	December
116,800	83,900	157,300	125,100	85,200	150,000	149,600	90,600	175,900	November
111,400	84,600	149,400	119,900	83,000	147,400	135,100	82,200	146,100	October
116,000	83,500	159,400	115,900	78,000	144,500	142,300	87,600	178,400	September
113,900	92,200	145,900	128,500	86,500	153,800	149,500	94,400	163,300	August
116,000	81,400	153,400	114,900	82,600	149,300	137,000	84,800	154,900	July
111,800	84,200	153,700	120,100	85,300	152,600	140,000	89,500	162,400	June
104,900	82,900	141,000	132,500	87,800	161,600	149,700	79,800	171,800	May
112,300	87,000	148,900	123,200	83,200	150,100	150,600	105,100	173,400	April
109,400	88,600	152,000	123,800	80,800	153,100	140,800	94,900	162,000	March
114,400	85,300	158,800	127,800	88,200	157,900	144,000	92,800	170,000	February
107,200	83,600	153,100	129,200	81,200	158,300	131,500	81,300	156,700	January
									2022
104,700	82,300	144,300	124,000	80,700	155,400	134,700	77,600	162,400	December
113,600	89,100	147,600	126,000	86,500	155,800	138,400	89,500	161,800	November
113,500	87,500	156,700	128,100	77,000	160,000	153,600	86,200	167,300	October
114,600	93,000	155,500	130,300	94,400	158,500	148,600	107,500	163,900	September
110,900	87,500	151,900	126,400	86,000	159,400	144,100	93,400	166,400	August
110,800	83,600	156,100	131,300	82,900	158,700	156,800	97,300	178,200	July
112,500	90,100	146,500	125,300	88,200	159,900	154,200	68,400	174,500	June
112,300	83,600	148,800	124,400	85,900	162,400	142,000	91,900	156,100	May
110,400	80,500	147,800	132,100	83,500	169,900	155,400	82,400	176,600	April
118,500	90,000	154,200	127,400	85,200	154,400	156,100	89,800	171,600	March
115,900	82,400	155,500	126,300	89,500	155,000	150,100	85,100	163,600	February
108,300	82,800	145,400	122,700	85,400	153,300	140,800	80,700	161,000	January
									2021
103,300	88,200	129,400	123,500	80,000	149,600	145,200	76,900	170,600	December
107,300	78,100	143,800	110,700	77,000	138,400	128,800	68,400	145,500	November
101,000	81,000	132,600	110,700	81,900	136,400	131,600	85,000	150,400	October
109,300	80,900	142,300	119,300	78,500	142,200	132,100	76,200	141,600	September
100,000	77,000	132,000	112,000	80,000	139,000	135,000	79,000	143,000	August
110,500	79,100	139,300	119,200	74,500	137,100	131,100	81,700	142,800	July
94,900	65,600	125,800	107,500	70,700	128,000	116,400	72,200	131,500	June
94,300	67,500	128,200	109,900	70,600	129,200	104,400	70,300	125,500	May
85,400	61,800	125,400	100,400	67,700	122,200	118,400	65,000	125,000	April
86,400	60,800	119,100	98,100	63,700	122,400	113,000	67,300	130,800	March
87,300	62,400	118,100	98,100	67,100	121,800	116,900	60,900	131,900	February
83,000	62,100	112,700	94,000	64,600	117,300	113,400	62,300	129,500	January
									2020
77,100	55,800	107,900	90,100	64,500	109,900	108,800	64,500	115,900	December
81,000	62,400	117,400	92,600	64,200	109,700	115,400	60,100	128,200	November
81,700	58,300	108,000	87,400	56,500	107,900	108,900	61,200	120,000	October
72,100	52,800	98,300	86,900	58,400	105,700	110,100	68,600	126,600	September
75,900	59,500	97,600	87,900	56,800	109,100	104,900	60,500	119,500	August
72,600	56,900	97,000	83,700	59,500	101,300	103,700	72,100	113,200	July
81,400	56,100	115,200	82,700	51,700	106,800	102,700	55,600	117,000	June
73,400	56,800	100,900	85,200	54,100	108,500	105,100	60,700	117,800	May
79,500	57,000	105,000	84,000	51,600	106,100	111,800	64,500	120,300	April
79,200	55,300	108,400	82,000	53,300	106,900	92,600	54,300	106,700	March
70,900	55,200	98,200	82,000	55,300	105,600	103,500	59,600	118,900	February
74,200	55,400	101,800	86,200	55,200	108,100	103,400	59,900	111,300	January
									2019
70,200	54,400	96,100	87,900	54,600	106,900	97,700	52,100	107,600	December
73,400	50,600	104,000	79,500	52,500	104,800	101,400	54,100	114,700	November
72,100	53,800	100,200	81,600	52,500	103,400	96,600	58,800	109,100	October
71,900	55,900	98,400	80,200	55,100	99,300	99,500	55,300	113,000	September
75,700	52,500	99,800	81,400	48,700	106,600	107,500	48,200	120,700	August
74,400	53,900	105,700	78,100	54,900	100,300	108,400	45,700	121,000	July
72,600	52,700	97,100	83,400	53,200	100,500	100,600	47,000	118,800	June
72,300	56,000	98,100	75,800	53,600	95,000	96,300	55,000	106,800	May
70,800	56,700	91,900	77,100	54,000	99,300	95,400	63,600	109,100	April
71,300	49,900	96,300	77,800	50,900	101,600	92,900	49,100	108,500	March
72,500	56,000	97,200	84,800	52,600	106,600	103,100	43,500	119,400	February
68,000	54,200	98,000	81,100	51,400	101,700	95,800	59,000	110,400	January

 

Notice, from the data above, that in December 2023 the “average” new sales price for a new HUD Code manufactured home was$121,300. In the prior year, December 2022 that “average” new manufactured home was $122,100. Prices on new manufactured homes dipped slightly.

The same can’t generally be said about new conventional housing, nor about resale existing housing, where prices have steadily climbed. In an era where inflation is a big issue for most voters and virtually all Americans, manufactured housing could be touted as a beacon for savings. If only there was a national post-production trade group that were busily doing that kind of promotion…

Manufactured housing, according to MHARR (see report linked among the headlines below), is often a fourth of the price of resale or new conventional housing.

While a new ‘site built’ house or a new manufactured home both obviously need a property (lot, home site, etc.) for placement (building or installation), an apples-to-apples comparison reflects that on a cost-per-square foot basis, manufactured homes are about half the cost per square foot as new conventional construction.

The late William Wade “Bill” Matchneer, J.D., was the first administrator for the revitalized HUD Office of Manufactured Housing Programs following the enactment of the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act (MHIA) of 2000 (sometimes referred to as the MHIA, the MHIA of 2000, the 2000 Reform Law, 2000 Reform Act, etc.).

Matchneer, in his own words praised manufactured homes, said that while they are not always “a mansion perhaps,” but they are nevertheless good quality affordable homes. Matchneer, an attorney, was not given to emotional outbursts. Facts and evidence are supposed to matter to attorneys. That noted, one might detect in this video interview below a sense of pride Matchneer had in manufactured housing, as he says – among other points – that in some ways a manufactured home can be superior in performance to a conventional house, despite perceptions and common stigmas. Per the late Matchneer’s wife, this video interview posted below was shown to guests following his death at a remembrance. Clearly, the video means something to her and it meant a lot to Bill Matchneer, she said.

 

 

With those notions in mind, the savings possible from a broader use of modern manufactured homes for affordable housing seekers is stunning to many. As was noted above, that Ashley executive and that lady who bought a conventional house where just two examples out of millions possible where people were surprised by facts related to the industry.

Click the image for instructions to download or expand to a larger size.

 

 

Note that the manufactured homes in the video interview and photo array above are all what MHARR calls “mainstream” manufactured homes.  Yet those models were produced years before CrossMods. Additionally, these photos and that video illustrate the point that there were residential style manufactured homes years before CrossMods. And those mainstream manufactured homes that often have residential features sold for significantly less than CrossMods. As an MHI member producer told MHProNews, a firm that opted not to build those models, they ran the numbers. CrossMods, that top-level executive said, do not pencil out. Meaning, the money saved on lower finance costs do not offset the added expense of production and installation.

Another MHI member producer, one that is building CrossMods, told MHProNews that the product has not taken off.  See Part IV of the Saturday report on the Daily Business News on MHProNews, linked below, to learn more.

 

Yet despite appeal, favorable federal laws, widely bipartisan support for the MHIA (2000 Reform Law) and DTS, manufactured housing production has dropped sharply in the 21st century. What is going on? Bing’s AI powered Copilot has previously indicated that this table is unique to MHLivingNews and MHProNews.

YEAR	PRODUCTION
1995	344,930
1996	363,345
1997	353,686
1998	373,143
1999	348,075
2000	250,366
2001	193,120
2002	165,489
2003	130,815
2004	130,748
2005	146,881
2006	117,373
2007	95,752
2008	81,457
2009	49,683
2010	50,056
2011	51,618
2012	54,881
2013	60,228
2014	64,334
2015	70,544
2016	81,136
2017	92,902
2018	96,555
2019	94,615
2020	94,390
2021	105,772
2022	112,882
2023	89,169

 

To learn more about why manufactured home production is so low, see several of the reports linked in the weekly headlines recap that follows.

Don’t miss today’s postscript.

With no further adieu, here are the headlines for the week that was from 5.12 to 5.19.2024.

Part II – Sunday Weekly MHVille Headlines Recap

What’s New from Washington, D.C. based MHARR

 

 

 

What’s New on MHLivingNews

 

 

 

 

 What’s New on the Masthead

 

 

 

 

Select Items from the Words of Wisdom from Tim Connor, CSP

 

 

 

 

What’s New on the Daily Business News on MHProNews

Saturday 5.18.2024

 

Friday 5.17.2024

 

Thursday 5.16.2024

 

Wednesday 5.15.2024

Tuesday 5.14.2024

 

Monday 5.13.2024

 

Sunday 5.12.2024

 

Postscript (Part III)

1) Mainstream media often cite each other in their reports. Sometimes, mainstream media takes pot shots at each other. Left-leaning CNN and MSNBC may take shots at right-leaning Fox News or Newsmax. To provide balance in our reports, for a decade or more, this platform’s Daily Business News on MHProNews reports have featured a headline recap from left and right leaning sources. More information, not less, can routinely be beneficial and is thus better.

2) Similarly, MHProNews has periodically looked at work-product from rivals in manufactured housing trade media and blogging. It is common in mainstream media, common in other professions, and ought to be common in MHVille too.  There are times when left or right leaning media deliberately seems to omit information that doesn’t fit their agenda. Who says? Media observers. For that matter, insiders with mainstream news outlets.

 

 

 

 

3) Not only is hindsight potentially 20/20, as the quotation above illustrates, sometimes remarks viewed in hindsight are clearer than when they were first uttered.

 

 

 

 

4) By sourcing items from across the political spectrum, and by sourcing items from across the manufactured housing spectrum, MHProNews and our MHLivingNews sister site have built up the runaway largest and most read trade platforms serving the manufactured housing industry.  Per a recent report from SimilarWeb about MHInsider, our primary cPanel serving MHProNews has some 30+ times the traffic as measured by visitors as MHI-involved MHInsider does.  Our page views are about 100+ times the rate of engagement, per that same source and the server-based data provided to MHProNews by Webalizer. MHI’s website has more traffic than MHInsider does, but it still pales in comparison to the visitor and pageviews rates reported about our platform.  By periodically peering into what bloggers like Frank Rolfe or George Allen have to say, again, the most complete, the most robust and well rounded reports are found here.

5) While our articles are routinely longer, the engagement rates as measured by pageviews and visitors speak volumes. People want to know. As more Americans realize that news is often biased, providing longer articles that lay out facts and statements in context gives thinking readers the opportunity to see things they literally won’t find on any other single site in manufactured housing.  While that takes time and effort, it is arguably worth it for both us and for our growing numbers of readers.

6) While some in MHVille make boastful remarks about themselves and their platforms, citing some vacuous and self-serving MHI award or MHI-linked award for ‘cred,’

7) MHI’s behavior and claims are inconsistent with their rhetoric in several respects. It has been so for several years.

 

 

 

8) Similarly, the ‘circle fest in a hot-tub’ bloggers and publishers largely in league with MHI are inconsistent and often self-contradictory.

 

 

 

9) Of particular concern, perhaps, is ManufacturedHomes.com. They reportedly have several MHARR members as clients, which is of course each of their respective right. That said, ManufacturedHomes.com has apparently played favorites with MHI, so much so, that MHI has given them an award too.

 

 

10) We respect the right of individuals and organizations to be express themselves, right or wrong, because we freely admit to past mistakes too. That said, by following the suggestions of the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethical Conduct, we admit those errors and strive to learn from them. What we don’t seek to do is keep repeating an error.

 

 

11) Per Webalizer as of 18-May-2024 07:14 CDT, our primary cPanel on MHProNews has had in the past 11.5 months 2,259,103 visitors and 12,584,490 pageviews. We are not a listing site where people come to shop for housing. We are a Manufactured Housing “Industry News, Tips, and Views Pros Can Use” ^© site. An information and news analysis – site. Yet we apparently blow away the rivals and competition, apparently enjoying more traffic than MHI, MHInsider, ManufacturedHomes.com’s ‘news blog,’ MHReview, and other bloggers sites combined. We’ve invited them to share their data as transparently as we have. There are no obvious takers. Embarrassed, are they? Yet, they boast about all sorts of things, until we come with the pinprick of evidence and truth that pops their respective balloons. To be clear, it isn’t that we make a career out of busting someone’s bubble. It is rather that their bubble’s need to be burst because they say such often outrageous things. See the report on George Allen and related linked above or here. If they had a leg to stand on, and the courage to debate  the issues constraining manufactured housing publicly live or virtually, one might think that they would do so. They were silent again last week when invited to respond to the latest reports, or any report on MHProNews.

12) Because we ground our reports in facts, evidence, and applied common sense, the reports we publish routinely stand the test of time. Thus, they are often visited months or years after they are initially published. Facts and evidence have value.

From time to time, a rival will for whatever reason admit that we have the superior platform. For instance.

• Darren Krolewski, senior executive with Datacomp, MHVillage, MHInsider.

 

• A ManufacturedHomes.com linked official said that when people at meetings or events are talking about something that they read in an industry trade publication, it is something that they read on MHProNews. 
• Frank Rolfe, during a bus tour of a manufactured home community spotted me and introduced this writer for MHProNews to the other attendees on the tour as a ‘celebrity’ from the manufactured home industry.
• George Allen, hardly someone who reportedly wants to praise anyone or any firm who doesn’t pay him in some form or fashion, said the following. He did so despite several critiques of he and his ‘educational’ content.

 

 

• Kurt Kelley may be one of the most likeable and gentlemanly professionals in manufactured housing. We gladly shared articles by Kurt for Years on MHProNews. Well after he launched MHReview, Kelley said this via email.

 

 

13) They may all (not certainly but may) have a higher net worth than this writer does. Reporting things that are not popular in some circles may have a price. But the race is not over. Before this writer hangs up his keyboard and puts himself out to pasture (or passes this platform onto the next generation of truth-tellers), the value of speaking the truth as best as it can be known at the time has potential power. Potential power is often worth money.

 

 

14) Because so many (not all) others in MHVille share a narrative that may or may not comport with all known facts and evidence, they have de facto ceded ‘the high ground.’ They have de facto provided us with a ‘durable competitive advantage’ that results in sharing the truth consistently and persistently.

As a result, evidence-based reports that no one else in MHVille has yet to have the cojones to touch are routinely found only on MHLivingNews and/or MHProNews. The headlines for the week in review (Part II above) or some samples below as shown, are just some reasons why people in or beyond MHVille found our content enduring and relevant.

 

 

 

 

15) The information in Part I of this article, and the other linked reports, are eye opening evidence of reality. The reality is that manufactured housing is underperforming during an affordable housing crisis. MHI postures efforts that magically fail, year after year, to significantly move the needle to the kind of production levels that MHI’s own prior presidents said where possible.

 

The following image can be expanded. Click to follow prompts on your device or download and open to a larger size.

 

 

16) MHI’s periodic revision of their website seem to deploy Orwellian or Soviet-style memory hole methods.  Someone who may be inconvenient to the latest narrative from ‘their party’ or ‘the MHI regime’ is systematically erased from their public pages.

 

 

17) It ought to be obvious. The powers that be in manufactured housing want the industry to underperform at this time. The reason that is increasingly obvious is because the largest firms have hundreds of millions to billions of dollars available to take the legal and marketing steps necessary to ‘grow the business.’  Yet, they do not do so. What that implies by behavior is that they are consolidation focused, not organic growth focused — at least they are not production growth and robust community development oriented at this time.

 

 

 

 

18) What investors have spent billions of dollars in recent years trying to ‘reinvent the wheel’ that manufactured housing already provides are added reasons why the industry should be soaring instead of snoring.

 

 

19) MHProNews respects the education and experiences of those we critique. Lesli Gooch may be the least savvy and perhaps most conflicted of the bunch, on some levels. But even “Dr. Gooch” ought to realize after years in the industry that what MHI is and has been doing hasn’t worked, won’t work, and that doing the same thing over and over is a fool’s errand. Even a blind squirrel finds some nuts. So, how is it that MHI keeps making the same mistakes year after year, and almost throughout the 21st century of MHVille history? Simple. It is because the powers that be want the industry smaller at this time for their own selfish reasons.

 

 

20) When Allen, or Rolfe, or others periodically let some truth slip out, it is all the more evidence that consolidation is the short-term goal. As Marty Lavin, J.D., has observed, you get more of what you encourage and less of what you discourage.

 

21) By posturing efforts that lead to nowhere save more consolidation, MHI and others who host events get the benefit of attracting professionals to their venues that otherwise would not come. By attracting people to those venues, they are now opportunities for ‘off market deals.’

 

 

 

The bottom line? There is apparent corruption in manufactured housing. No one could be this incompetent in MHI circles at the levels that they are operating at. They apparently like the status quo, or they would be busy using their resources to change the status quo.

 

 

Enough said for today. There is plenty ahead next week, more deeper dives into issues that in one particular case has merited an update. Another update is pending on a major MHI member firm on the legal front. Don’t miss that and more in the days ahead. ###

 

 

 

Again, our thanks to free email subscribers and all readers like you, as well as our tipsters/sources, sponsors and God for making and keeping us the runaway number one source for authentic “News through the lens of manufactured homes and factory-built housing” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) See Related Reports, further below. Text/image boxes often are hot-linked to other reports that can be access by clicking on them.)

By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHProNews.com.

Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing.

For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.

This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.

http://latonykovach.com

Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach

 

 

Related References:

The text/image boxes below are linked to other reports, which can be accessed by clicking on them.’