After a slip, fall or getting knocked down, the most basic choices are staying down or getting up. Most of us – and certainly regular readers of this column or MHProNews.com – strike me as the 'getting it up' after a fall type of owner, leader or professional. New manufactured housing industry blood as well as the 'survivors' alike are working harder and smarter to 'getting it (the numbers of sales) up.'
As you know, the MH World has taken a long, slow slide down from its high in 1998 for the last dozen plus years. That said, 2011 ended on a modest 3% uptick. What made this uptick a possible sign of even better things to come is precisely the fact that we have seen double digit shipment increases for about half a year now. We are not out of the economic woods yet, but there are positive signs.
Can we increase sales and shipments by more than 150,000 new HUD Code Homes a year?!
Before we finish this column, we will tackle the topic noted above. So for those of you who scan a column (or readers with ADHD), please hang with me until the end, so you can learn something that you or a colleague in the Industry can use now to grow your results.
I get emailed reminders from readers that we have the smallest active labor force in decades at present. I'm reminded that there are more people on food stamps or federal assistance than at any time in modern history. We still have in many markets lots of foreclosures. All that and more may all be true, but let's remember, that those with reduced incomes may well qualify for one of our entry level homes and there are still tens of millions who make great target markets for our home products. Bottom line, if we have a can-do,'let's turn lemons into lemonade' solution orientation, we will continue our assent up in sales and shipments.
More Manufactured Home Financing
MH pros have long known that financing is a key element to a robust recovery of our Industry. We believe that including professional marketing, sales and management enhances the financing opportunities needed to sell more homes, a belief that many of your share. So, as we have seen in recent months, there are businesses located even in 'challenged' parts of the U.S. that are doing far better than their peers in the same market. They do that based in part on their extra efforts in management, marketing and sales systems that yield improved results.
So financing related tools along with marketing/sales/management marketing are keys to industry growth.
You also need products (homes) to sell (or in the case of some communities, lease/RTO, etc.), and a host of other services needed or useful for you to grow your MH street retail, manufactured home community or development business.
The success of the Louisville Manufactured Housing Show in the last two years has been precisely to bring together networking, education/business building seminars along with homes, products and services all under one roof. Pros like you save time and money learning more to get the edge they need in the market place today.
The visionary thinking of the leaders of the Great Southwest Home Show are making those same opportunities possible in Tulsa OK March 1 and 2nd, and your attendance as an industry pro from most industry segments is free. Join hundreds of your peers from the retail, communities (parks) developers, installers and other suppliers world and Pre-register free at this link.
Learn more to Earn More
Check out the FREE business building workshops, finance forums and seminar line up, see below!
Thursday, March 1, 2012 at the Quik Trip Center in Tulsa OK:
10:30 AM Need More Inventory (wholesale, floorplan) Financing? The newly revised SBA Floorplan lending program will be presented by an SBA official. Learn the facts on how you and your choice of area bankers can team up to use this program, available NOW.
11:45 – 12:30 “How To Get The Most of Your Appraisal” by Sherrie Clevenger, NADA. Appraisals are a hot issue in lending today and Sherrie will give you powerful tips and insights so that you can take more deals to thebank.
12:30 – 1:15 PM “Get Savvy with the Latest Finance Programs Available on Manufactured Homes” by Matt Childers, 21st Mortgage. 21st Mortgage has come out with new programs geared for manufactured home communities (okay, you can whisper the name 'mobile home park') and street retailer programs designed to fill sites and sell homes! Don't miss this lunch and learn with Matt Childers..
2:00 PM – Attorney Kurt Kelly will be presenting two programs, one for Retailers another for Communities. The first will be MH Park Management/ Risk Control Presentation. Kurt has given this power packed presentation the following sub-titles:
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"Here's How Me, Daryl, and My Other Brother Daryl Ran Our Park and Why We Got Sued So Many Times"
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"Great Ways to Get Sued and Lose Your Park"
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"Smart Management: How to Avoid Lawsuits and Losses in Your Park"
Kurt will show you how to avoid key risks in your manufactured home community that can protect your investment and keep you profitable!
3:15 PM How to Attract More Customers with Good Credit. L. A. 'Tony' Kovach will share some proven strategies that are proven to attract more customers to retailer centers and manufactured home communities that are selling or leasing homes. See why hundreds of MH Pros have found this presentation to be a winner for their business, see the link above for more details.
6:30 PM All Industry Night Party – drink, eat and network with your peers at the Quik-Trip Center at Expo Square, near the show floor! Courtesy of the sponsors of the GSWHS,
Friday, March 2, 2012
9:45 AM (This is a repeat of the Thursday event on the same subject, if you can't catch it Thursday, come Friday!) Need More Inventory (wholesale, floorplan) Financing? The newly revised SBA Floorplan lending program will be presented by an SBA official. Learn the facts on how you and your choice of area bankers can team up to use this program, available NOW.
10:45 AM Manufactured Home Finance Forum – moderated by Industry Financing pro and former MHI interim president, Dick Ernst. Learn all the Best Financing Options for your Manufactured Home Customers available from these 7 top Industry Lenders! The following lenders have agreed to present their 'best of the best' programs:
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21st Mortgage
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CU Factory Built Lending
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Triad Financial
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US Bank
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Cascade Financial
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CIS
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First Guarantee Mortgage Corporation
Each lender will hit the highlights of their latest and new programs for about 7-9 minutes each. At the end of the panel's presentation, there will be time for questions from attendees like you, so come prepared to ask these experts what's on your mind!
1:00 PM Avoiding Dealer Risk and Liability – by Attorney Kurt Kelly.MH Retailer Management/Risk Control Presentation. Kurt has given this presentation the following sub-titles:
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"Toting Toward Armageddon: Great Ways to Get Sued at Your Dealership and Lose it All"
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"Smart Management: Loss Control is The Best Investment You'll Ever Make" "Really?! You Did That?!? A Retailers Top 10 Dumb Management Ideas"
In this sue happy culture, you can't afford not to come and learn what Kurt has to share with Retailers and Community operators to protect your business interests! When you register above, you are already have access to these presentations too.
2:15 PM Discover Legal no down payment loans in fee simple sales (no, I'm not talking about 'land in lieu) that is non-recourse. This is a 'no-brainer' loan program that every MH Retailer needs to learn and use. William “Bill” Lawson of First Guarantee Mortgage Corporation will share the details of how you can tap into this mis-understood and under-used loan program.
You will also get some quick insights into other products you can use to grow your business:
VA loans in fee simple sales available today with no down payments (yes, this is different than the loan program noted above) that is non-recourse. With a rising number of vets, this is a another no-brainer to learn and implement.
FHA Title II Loans with 3.5% down payments, manually underwritten so no minimum FICO needed and one time close available. Land-in-lieu can be done with Title II too.
Raising Shipments by another 150,000 homes a year?!
At Louisville, we had a federal official as a counter-part of the presentation that Bill Lawson will be doing in Tulsa. The federal official trough out a funding level on the no down program. While she was speaking, a ran the numbers, and asked her a question with dozens in the audience listening. Paraphrasing, my question to her was: “Are you telling us that this could loan program as currently funded could mean the equivalent of 150,000 homes at $150,000 average each?” She checked the math and said, yes, nationwide, that is about right.
Now please stop and think. No matter what part of the Industry you hail from, this is the kind of information that we need to get into the hands of the front lines who are selling homes in our Industry! That would be 3 times as many homes as we currently sell and ship. Let's keep in mind, that this is just one of several loan programs out there.
Do you want to grow your business? We have the tools and resources available right now. What we need is for pros like you to come to the Great Southwest Homes Show in Tulsa, learn more to earn more and put these tools to work in your market. I'm told that we have attendees pre-registered from as far away as New York with more scheduled to come from neighboring states too.
Want to get your business up? You know how, and if you don't, then you know where to come to get it up. I hope to see you in Tulsa, OK March 1 and 2, 2012. # #
post by
L. A. “Tony” Kovach, MHM
www.MHProNews.com
www.MHMarketingSalesManagement.com or www.MHMSM.com
Innovation – Information – Inspiration for Industry Professionals
Office – 815-270-0500
latonyk@gmail.com or tony@mhmsm.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
