MHMSM.com presents Factory Built Housing Industry News at Noon with Erin Patla.
We begin with these stories:
HURRICANE EARL is heading north and threatening communities from North Carolina to Maryland. Manufactured home owners can be reassured, however, that their homes can withstand the event as well as site-built homes, if not better. For more detailed information, see the InFocus Report As seasonal Hurricane risks rise, Studies prove Modern Manufactured Homes are a safer bet at MHMSM.com.
HOME PRICES ARE UP. According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices data through June, the U.S. National Home Price Index rose 4.4 percent in the second quarter after having fallen 2.8 percent in the first quarter. Nationally, home prices are 3.6 percent above their year-earlier levels. In June, 17 of the 20 MSAs covered by the indices and both monthly composites were up; and the two composites and 15 MSAs showed year-over-year gains. “Some of the disappointment in home sales is the natural result of the end of the tax credit,” Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York, told Bloomberg News before the release of the report. “Whether the softer trend in home sales results in lower house prices is the critical question for the outlook, as that would impact consumer wealth and financial market stability.”
In Manufactured Housing News
FROM IDAHO, The Spokesman-Review reports that a traffic and delay restriction on Highway 12 may impede the transportation of manufactured homes. According to the paper, Idaho’s transportation chief said Monday that a court decision revoking permits for giant truck shipments on scenic U.S. Highway 12 from Moscow to Lewiston could “end up restricting commerce and limiting business opportunities.” The Idaho Department of Transportation (IDT) and ConocoPhillips, which wants to move 350-ton coker drums over the roadway, is appealing the decision. IDT Director Brian Ness told the paper there are many communities in Idaho where a manufactured home could not be located, because it is not possible to get it there without delaying traffic for more than 10 minutes. The department is committed to doing the right thing for highway users by ensuring minimal delays. The route, once explored by Lewis and Clark, runs along the Clearwater and Lochsa rivers and is dotted with campgrounds, hiking trails, historic sites and popular whitewater rafting stretches.
FROM SAN DIEGO, the Union Tribune reports that according to city planning officials, Cavalier Mobile Estates intended to circumvent the city’s rent-control ordinance. As such, on a 3-to-2 margin, the City Council rejected the property owners’ request to subdivide the property. Currently, the manufactured home park rents spaces to tenants, and the rents can be raised only to reflect an increase in the consumer price index.
“More Manufactured Housing News continues…”
But first, this podcast of News at Noon is sponsored in part by:
CommunityDASHinvestor.com. Tap into Excellence, your ONE-STOP Resource for the Manufactured Housing Industry, the Leader in Land Lease Communities information!
Tap into Excellence – visit on the Web at CommunityDASHinvestor.com or call 317-346-7156.
Now, back to our stories.
ACCORDING TO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, persistent water quality and septic problems have forced residents of a central Nebraska manufactured home park to vacate. The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality previously gave the owners of Grand Island’s Mobile Manor three months to either find a solution or close down. The power to the park has been shut off as more than 20 families were forced out by the unresolved problems.
A LETTER TO THE EDITOR in the Arizona Republic was aimed at the decision by the city of Santa Monica, California, not to purchase homes from Arizona-based Cavco because of a boycott over the recent immigration law. “Congratulations to the Santa Monica, Calif., City Council for not accepting Phoenix-based Cavco’s lowest bid for manufactured homes, despite staff recommendations,” Scottsdale resident Bill Adler wrote. “In these times of great wealth and plenty, spending up to an extra $400,000 of taxpayers’ money reinforces the notion that, down to city councils, most politicians are not only ill-informed on the problems of the day, i.e. immigration, but totally out of touch with those who advise them and those they represent. Perhaps that is one reason so many Southern California businesses are leaving and heading just across the state line to the east.”
ACCORDING TO THE ABILENE REPORTER, Clayton Homes announced last week in 60 days it will close its modular home manufacturing facility in Breckenridge, Texas, which operated under the name Karsten Homes. According to the report, about 130 workers will be affected, but most will be offered a chance to transfer to another plant. The article indicated production will be consolidated into Waco, Texas and Albuquerque, New Mexico locations. Clayton Homes purchased Karsten Homes in 2005.
GE APPLIANCES & LIGHTING has announced that it has signed a four-year contract to become the exclusive appliance supplier for Clayton Homes, the largest manufactured homebuilder and modular housing builder in the United States. GE is the number one supplier of major appliances to U.S. homebuilders.
In Financial News…
THE SAN ANTONIO BUSINESS JOURNAL reports that the San Antonio Federal Credit Union has acquired Mountainside Financial—the largest broker for manufactured home lending in the United States. As such, Mountainside has been added to SACU’s CU Factory Built Lending Division which provides loans to homeowners in communities who wish to build on private land. The company also supports retailers and brokers with new and used home purchases, refinancing and other loan products for the manufactured home owner. Financial information was not disclosed for the deal.
FUTURES WERE DOWN when the Dow began the day. It recovered, lost and recovered again, however, and ended five points in the green. Many manufactured home-related stocks ended up as well. All American Group was up more than 20 percent to close at 30 cents a share, Palm Harbor Homes was up nearly two percent to $1.62 share and Sun Communities was up almost one percent to close at $28.58 a share. The Manufactured Housing Composite Value was up modestly for the day.
“On behalf of Production and IT Manager Bob Stovall, Editor L.A. ‘Tony’ Kovach, Associate Editor Catherine Frenzel, INdustry in Focus reporter Eric Miller, and the entire MHMSM.com writing and support team, this is Erin Patla. G’day!”