You’ve heard the axiom, ‘If I can do it, you can too.’ Your Masthead editorial writer believes in that notion. Why? Among the reasons: “³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8.38-39 NIV per Bible Gateway). The career odyssey of decades in manufactured housing industry frontline sales, management, owner, communities supervisor, consulting, and publisher are the culmination of often fierce battles in recent years. Some in MHVille can relate to aspects of this to their own bumps and bruises quite easily. Why?

Because the struggles we’ve endured – and that maybe you or your colleagues have undergone too? – are battles against an arguably rigged and corrupted system. That rigged and corrupt system should not discourage us. Why? Because – “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:28-39 (NIV-per Bible Hub).

Despite what Williams Shakespeare called the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, we at MHProNews are stronger, better off, hopefully wiser, and are well equipped for what lies ahead.

And what lies ahead is nothing less than the battle over the American Dream and manufactured housing’s possible role in that noble cause.  It is about what matters most in life and how life could be better for many millions if the foot on the necks of so many are removed.

For some who have been decades in this once far greater industry (evidence for each of these claims are shown further below) – as this writer can authentically claim over 30+ years in MHVille – who have honestly worked to serve your customers with integrity, this missive is for you.

Because if we can endure, survive, and then begin to thrive, you can too. If we can see the outlines for a brighter future, you could too.

Some details help tell the tale.

Mid-October 2009, we formally launched what today is known as MHProNews. Quite frankly, I never dreamed on 10.15.2009 that publishing would be so tough. A competitor tried to warn me how difficult it might be. Perhaps he did so for his own selfish reasons, perhaps it was some flash of nobility, or it might have been some mix of both. The founders of MHProNews have made it this long. 13 years under our belts, and year fourteen (and beyond) ahead. We are better off after years of backstabbing, dirty tricks, slurs, attempted bribes, a string of abuses. Scars of battle don’t change the reality that we can honestly say that after adjusting time and again, we are significantly better off now than the day we launched.

Some cheer what they read here while others jeer. But by God and thank God, we are still standing.

The future for us and untold thousands of other pros can be far brighter. The future could be brighter for millions of Americans too, if only our industry cleaned up the bad actors in our midst, no matter how David vs. Goliath the battle may seem to be.

MHVille veterans, manufactured housing rookies, possible future entrepreneurs who don’t mind rolling up their sleeves and doing whatever it honorable takes – and yes us too – could all wake up in the foreseeable future better off. That can occur while white hats serve others so well that their customers send their friends, family, and other fellows to obtain their share of the American Dream through modern manufactured home living.

Not to brag, but rather to share insights that should inspire others, we have made a mark on this industry. Goliath may not be dead – yet – but after a while those slingshots fired hits could well pay off in a variety of honorable ways.

In the famous words of the Revolutionary War hero, John Paul Jones (circa 1779), when asked to surrender he is said to have replied, ‘I have only just begun to fight!’ Perhaps the more accurate phrasing historically was “I have not yet begun to fight!” – Jones having already fought long and hard. Either version is packed with meaning. Let others debate how Jones said it, the notions and inspiration of Revolutionary War hero John Paul Jones are likely to live on for centuries. Jones will be recalled long after those who nit pick the actual wording could be forgotten.

Why? Because Jones did fight on. And Jones won.

Jones was the captain of the Bonhomme Richard, a converted merchant vessel that had 42 guns mounted on it according to Eyewitness to History. That source tells the tale from those who were there during the historic battle which including this snippet: “more than 1,500 persons were witnessing the conflict, and the humiliating termination of it…” Jones and his men prevailed. As Dictionary notes about that fabled retort of Jones to the demand he surrender, “He [Jones] was doing battle with a British ship when his own ship was badly damaged, and the British commander called over to ask whether Jones had surrendered. He answered, “I have not yet begun to fight.” He and his crew then captured the British ship. His own ship [i.e.: the Bonhomme Richard] later sank.”

• JPJ’s true story is what an unexpected victory looks like.
• Jones’ historic refusal to give up is what snatching victory from the jaws of defeat looks like.
• If God is for us, who can be against us?
• If Jones could do it, you can too.
• If we can do it, you can too.

There are so many such stories in American (and world) history that those who may tire of the battle should recall: “…but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31 NIV Bible Hub).

During the 21^st century, literally tens of thousands of manufactured home locations sold out or went out of business.

Once great brands in MHVille that had a long legacy (no industry pun intended) in manufactured housing ended up selling out to a major consolidator.

• Some sources say that between 10,000 to 20,000 manufactured home retailers alone have disappeared.
• Thousands of land-lease manufactured home communities (MHCs) have closed for redevelopment.
• Thousands of other MHCs have sold out to a consolidator.
• Why is it that the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) hasn’t done a careful study of those totals and their causes for exiting MHVille? Hold that thought.

Among those industry consolidators? While one should use the word ‘alleged,’ there is clear evidence that Berkshire Hathaway owned Clayton Homes is a leader in that camp. But there are others that are also MHI members, or a member of an MHI affiliate that fit that apparently fit script. As we have said before, that doesn’t mean that everyone at MHI is a black hat. Nor is everyone in a black hat brand a problematic person. Some very fine people are working for some problematic operations.

Clayton Homes and other consolidators routinely aligned with Clayton dominated MHI ‘allegedly’ are buying up the remaining pieces of the manufactured home industry. Oddly to some, the evidence is public. The evidence isn’t just found on our websites.

The evidence is also found among those publicly traded firms. There own investor pitch decks may tout and brag about their plans to consolidate a fragmented industry. If you aren’t a giant, that means you are viewed as a meal by a consolidator.

One brazen MHI member all but admitted publicly and in writing to being a monopolist. That begs questions.

• Where are the state and federal antitrust and other regulators?
• Where are the elected and appointed public officials?
• In fairness, they are not entirely But the case can be made that public officials could be doing far more. Perhaps starting in 2023, they will do so if the right wave hits in the looming midterms?

NPR, the New York Times, the Washington Post, HousingWire, Fox, Seattle Times, Denver Post, Motley Fool, Seeking Alpha, or an array of mainstream or specialty media periodically report on some aspect of manufactured housing and the industry’s successes and woes.

As occasionally useful and insightful as those mainstream media reports are, with all due respect, those are outsiders looking in.

In fairness, outsiders may not grasp the subtleties or the history of this once far greater industry. There are other possible reasons (ad dollars or strategic alliances, for instance) that may be factors that causes them to fail to get to root issues or obvious evidence that doesn’t quite fit the already troubling narrative.

Thus, it is no surprise that others in media can miss key facts that are found here day by day in an evidence-based fashion. For those in MHVille who blog or publish and are clearly tied to MHI, the reason they don’t genuinely buck the system ought be obvious. Follow the money.

Perhaps that is why manufactured housing specific trade media – MHProNews and some three years later, MHLivingNews – have gained a strong following. It is others in MHVille, including competitors, that have sung the praises of this publication. We are still the runaway largest and most read professional publication in manufactured housing. Per sources deemed reliable, our readers include senior members from the largest firms in MHVille to thousands of independents and others in between. Public officials are regular readers. Nonprofits and trade groups are too, of course. Researchers periodically stumble across some of our research, fact checks, and reports and they may become curious to find insights and facts that they don’t see reported elsewhere.

Outsiders looking in may dig deeper and end up doing reports of their own, which have and/or will cite our work.

Part of the point is that “We have only just begun to fight.” Some of you have only just begun to fight too. Others may need to get into the fight if you want your business’ or careers value to be what it ought to be. Again, examples and evidence are further below.

Instead of sabotage monopoly tactics killing us off – bruised but not dead – we have only grown stronger. At times, humbled. At times, at low ebb. But by God’s grace and the application of the ancient notion of “Ora et Labora” the efforts have been ongoing and have gained a level of traction that was unheard of in MHVille trade media from 10 or 20 years ago. If 2-5 years from now this and/or a new generation of manufactured housing entrepreneurs are taking white hat values into the marketplace and properly care for their customers, the potential for new record highs in this once far larger profession has never been greater. Again, evidence for that is provided further below.

Let’s rephrase and say that again. Years of examining the facts and evidence uniquely unpacked here on MHProNews and MHLivingNews are increasingly clear.

1. The need for affordable HUD Code manufactured homes has never been greater.
2. The opportunities in MHVille, therefore, have never been larger.
3. The fact that some self-described moat-builders seem to have the upper hand could one day vanish like a morning fog over a field in springtime. As a reminder, once ‘great’ and ‘giant’ brands or billionaires later found themselves in court and then in prison.
4. Those facts ought to be inspiring for thousands of manufactured housing independents and white hat employees.
5. The dirty little secrets of manufactured housing are steadily being exposed for what they are.
6. A body of evidence exists here that are saved by others online (e.g.: the WayBackMachine).
7. When the time comes that ethical, justice minded public officials are in position willing to take on the rigged and corrupt system, this body of evidence will provide reams of evidence.
8. When the time comes that contingency class action, RICO, antitrust or other attorneys decide to take on this corrupt, target rich environment, they will make a pretty penny from would could be a multi-billion dollar suit. Not only could motivated attorneys – who will need to be ready for an obvious battle with deep and connected pockets – but so too will their clients.
9. The day may come when enough of the survivors and/or new entrepreneurs could decide to forge a post-production trade group that will team with faithful MHARR and begin to move these needles even more and faster.
10. The day may come when authentic resident-groups decide to shun their ersatz cousins that appear to be on the same page, but in fact are funded in part by some of the same people they claim to be ‘exposing.’
11. Renters, manufactured home owners, and conventional housing owners could and should see that they all have a stake in there being enough affordable housing. The yo-yo economy is in some measure undergirded – or not – by a stable housing market. The fact that another 2008 style bubble is underway and perhaps about to burst, albeit differently than the mortgage/housing system meltdown circa 2008, should be a reminder that this yo-yo could be halted. As left-leaning Wikipedia reminds those who don’t recall the S&L crisis: “The savings and loan crisis of the 1980s and 1990s was the failure of 1,043 out of the 3,234 savings and loan associations in the United States from 1986 to 1995. An S&L or “thrift” is a financial institution that accepts savings deposits and makes mortgage, car and other personal loans to individual members.” These boom-bust housing economic cycles could largely be avoided. But voters will need to stay vigilant, and certainly white hat businesses and professionals should be engaged.
12. A new and brighter American Dream could be dawning. The alternative is that the twilight of the American Dream is upon us. Which will it be? That is another matter for “Ora et Labora” – Prayer and Good Work – efforts.

Looking back at those early years, the middle years, and the more recent years at MHProNews is an odyssey of discovery. 12 or 13 years ago, the dozen bullets were hardly top of mind, or in some cases, even on the radar.

As someone that has decades in this industry, as someone who discovered corrupt practices at specific businesses, it frankly took me too long to recognize that something that can occur in a company can also occur at a larger scale in a trade group or within an industry. I saw partners robbing partners with what they thought were clever cons. I saw contractors that gigged their clients who had begun to ‘trust’ them. There are several examples and true to life stories that could be told. But each of those is a reminder that this writer was too slow to recognize why manufactured housing was underperforming.

The insiders had rigged the system with corrupt practices that some third-party researchers have dubbed “sabotaging monopoly” practices.

But the very games that have been ongoing for years in MHVille are precisely the things that could cause the moat-builders to find themselves on the receiving end.

For example. As financing has been throttled to benefit a few insiders, as industry pros, public officials, attorneys, and the public become increasingly aware, the “sabotaging monopoly” practices of the moat builders can become a vulnerability. Breaking the law can have costly consequences.

The way that battle for the future of manufactured housing had to start is by systematically exposing the facts, evidence, and then connecting the proverbial dots with the proper analysis and commentary. Typos aside, the largest body of evidence against MHVille consolidators, moat-builders, and sabotage monopolists are essentially unchallenged. That segment of our odyssey is not finished, but it was necessary. That body of evidence is now in place.

Surrogates for the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) routinely duck the key issues covered here. Why?

Or they may attempt some red herring techniques, or projecting onto those exposing the corruption what has been occurred in this industry at the hands of consolidators. If they could defeat the arguments and evidence, why do they duck the debate?

• By attempting to silence or sideline once widely praised MHProNews – curious minds want to know.
• The people who have the spirit of John Paul Jones are paying attention.
• The kinds of professionals who are involved at the Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) that have been fighting this battle against consolidator for years. Some of those MHARR members are not only still profitable, sometimes they are more than years ago.
• That which hasn’t killed them made each of them stronger.
• There is an awakening occurring in America.
• PINO DINO Joe Biden was CORRECT when he said that consolidation of professions is a serious problem. But in pointing that finger at others, three fingers were pointing back.
• The pattern of paltering, posturing, projecting at others is increasingly being exposed.
• Less than 2 years of a PINO DINO Joe Biden White House is enough to make millions of once loyal Democrats question ‘their own party.’
• It is the bought-and-paid for Biden-types in government that are arguably the very politicos and public officials that consolidators and sabotage monopolists in MHVille and other industries turn to for protecting themselves against the legal risks of their strategies.
• Those who use the word fascists paradoxically are the fascists.

Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger may die a natural death before they and others of their ilk are caught up in what could arguably be an epic antitrust, RICO, and public corruption case. Larger and lesser moat-builders may face the same. Because more people are waking up to the fact that monopolists have been and still are near the heart of what’s gone wrong in the U.S. and the waylaying of the American Dream.

We have only just begun.

“³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8.38-39 NIV per Bible Gateway).

Because – “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:28-39 (NIV-per Bible Hub).

Thank you for being part of this journey to fight for the American Dream and the American way that is meant for people of all backgrounds or ‘identity groups.’ Freedom has never been free. The fight is on. As happy warriors, we have only just begun to fight.

If we can do it, you and your colleagues can too. ##

 

 

 

Fact Check-Texas Manufactured Housing Association (TMHA) and TRERC Research on Manufactured Housing Trends in #1 Production, Shipments Manufactured Homes State; plus MHVille REITs, Stocks Update

Fact Check, Texas Manufactured Housing Association, TMHA, Texas Real Estate Research Center, TRERC, Research, Manufactured Housing Trends in #1 Texas, Texas Manufactured Housing Production, Texas Manufactured Shipments, Manufactured Homes, plus MHVille REITs, Stocks Update, production, factories, suppliers, retail, dealers, communities, manufactured home REITs, brokers, finance, suppliers, mobile home park investing,

 

Facts, Facts, and More Facts on Manufactured Housing Production and Shipments for all 50 States – What Months of Data Reveal; plus Sunday Weekly MHVille Manufactured Home Pro Headlines Recap

Some 90 days (i.e.: 3 months) of national manufactured housing production and shipment data on a state-by-state basis reveal significant insights useful for all serious affordable housing advocates, manufactured home professionals, investors, public officials and others. First up will be data for all 50 states, Washington, D.C.

“THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING ZONING PROBLEM.”-SEPTEMBER 2019 MHARR ISSUES AND PERSPECTIVES – Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform

MHARR invited state manufactured housing associations to provide with particularly egregious, actionable cases of zoning and/or placement discrimination…

 

HUD Sec Marcia Fudge – Zoning, Manufactured Homes – “Until We Start to Address This We Are Going to Continue to be Perpetually in This Kind of Situation.” – News-Analysis, plus Manufactured Housing Stock Updates

HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said this week in a House Financial Services Committee Hearing that “Until we start to address this [zoning/placement barriers for HUD Code manufactured homes] we are going to continue to be perpetually in this kind of situation.” That sobering line by U.S. Housing and Urban Development …

 

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4 Quick, Documented Examples of Manufactured Housing Institute Leaders Publicly Ducking Out on Explaining Their Performance – or Lack Thereof – ELS’ Howard Walker

Prima Facie Cases Against Manufactured Housing Institute, Richard A. ‘Dick’ Jennison, Tim Williams, 21st Mortgage, Kevin Clayton, Tom Hodges – Clayton Homes, Et Al

 

 

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"HIGH CRIMES" Fact-Packed Op-Ed Makes Case 'President Trump Can Lawfully Retake White House BEFORE 2024' - As 2022 Midterms Loom 'Enforce Existing Laws' Examined; plus MHVille REITs, Stocks Update

"HIGH CRIMES", Fact-Packed, Op-Ed, Makes Case, President Trump Can Lawfully Retake White House BEFORE 2024, As 2022, Midterms Loom, Enforce Existing Laws. Examined; plus MHVille REITs, Stocks Update, communities, production, factories, suppliers, finance, production, brokers, L. A. Tony Kovach, L. A. "Tony" Kovach, WND NewsCenter,

 

 

 

Stay tuned for more of what is 'behind the curtains' as well as what is obvious and in your face reporting that are not found anywhere else in MHVille. It is all here, which may explain why this is the runaway largest and most-read source for authentic manufactured home “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.

Pondering ‘The Only Place Success Comes Before Work is in the Dictionary’ – Vince Lombardi – How it Applies in All Professions, Including Manufactured Housing – Life Hacks Analysis

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Donald Trump Jr., The Smear, Exploring the Threat of the New Feudalism in America - Issues, Examples, Solutions

On Thursday evening 5.19.2022, Donald Trump Jr., son of deposed President Donald J. Trump, took to the proverbial stage to inspire a group of several hundred conservatives. While there were a few youth and some younger adults in the audience, it is fair to say that the majority of those in attendance were in the 50-plus category.