If a service is popular or of general interest, the demand is routinely there. That’s especially true in ‘good times.’
- Given the millions of housing units needed in the U.S.,
- the fact that conventional housing builders can neither meet the demands nor the price points necessary,
- and years of routinely favorable third-party research,
- the logic for manufactured housing is compelling.
That should mean that investing in this industry is sound.
But as the current year-over-year downturn in new HUD Code manufactured home shipments makes clear, what would appear logical is not the same as the lived reality. That begs the question, why aren’t manufactured homes more robustly embraced?
Tonight’s final 2019 featured focus will be part one of exploring that enduring topic. See that in our focus section further below.
Periodic readers of this business-nightly feature should note there are a few tweaks to some of the standard portions of our evening market/investing report. Read carefully as some changes of the ‘standard text’ that follows before our left-right headlines and also in other features near the end of tonight’s reports.
Every evening our headlines that follow provide snapshots from two major media outlets on each side of the left-right news spectrum that reflect topics that influence or move investor sentiment. In moments on this business evening report, you can get ‘insights-at-a-glance.’
This report also sets the broader context for manufactured housing markets, in keeping with our mantra, “News through the lens of manufactured homes and factory-built housing” ©.
We begin with headlines left-of-center CNN followed by right-of-center Fox Business. We share closing tickers and other related data courtesy of Yahoo Finance, and more. 5 to 10 minutes reading this MHProNews market report every business night could save you 30 minutes to an hour of similar reading or fact-gathering elsewhere.
Perhaps more important, you will get insights about the industry from experts that care, but also dare to challenge the routine narrative that arguably keeps manufactured housing underperforming during an affordable housing crisis.
Newsy, Peeling Back Media Bias, Manufactured Housing Sales, Investing, Politics, and You
Headlines from left-of-center CNN Business.
- How did he get out?
- Carlos Ghosn left Japan without his passports. His method of escape remains a mystery
- Auto alliance between Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi has struggled since Ghosn’s arrest
- Ford says reservations for its First Edition electric Mustang are full
- What 2020 could bring for the stock market
- The auto industry will never be the same after a tumultuous 2019
- Opinion: Investors should be optimistic about stocks in 2020
- Uber and Postmates sue California to block gig economy law
- Going electric could help revive the motorcycle industry
- Sonny Mehta, editor-in-chief of Knopf, dies at 77
- Meet China’s new breed of e-sports athletes
- Cannabis industry growing pains lead MedMen to ditch Arizona
- The best day of the year for stocks might surprise you
- ‘Murder Mystery’ tops Netflix’s most-popular titles of 2019
- Watch what SpaceX’s first-ever astronaut launch will look like
- 6 ways to be a better boss and a happier one
- Stocks end the decade with a bang
- Life outside of work for C-suite executives is just as messy as yours
- What to do if you’re asked to sign a non-compete agreement
- Forget resumes and LinkedIn. This tech firm finds talent in unexpected places
- Women-led businesses are getting more VC funding than ever. But there’s still a long way to go
- How to ask for a raise: 5 tips for negotiating a higher salary
Headlines from right-of-center Fox Business.
- Stocks rally on final day of 2019, capping off banner decade of gains
- The major averages swung between losses and gains at the open but quickly reversed course after President Trump announced that the ‘phase one’ trade deal with China will be signed on January 15.
- Ex-Nissan boss reportedly escaped Japan by hiding in musical instrument case
- ALL-NATURAL hair of the dog: Healthy remedies to help hangover recovery
- Year in beer: The brands you’ll love in 2020
- World’s richest person of 2019 ends year with mind-boggling fortune
- The middle class has never had it so good
- The big 401(k) changes coming in 2020 you need to know about
- Lawmakers extend key tax break for beer, wine and distilled spirits
- Why Cleveland Browns head coach firings have cost franchise a fortune
- Opioid deaths significantly more common in these towns, study reveals
- FOX Business anchors, reporters reveal their favorite business-themed movies
- Gunman helped by Texas congregation, angered when denied cash: minister
- Three parts of country are driving the American housing rebound
- Trump reveals when US, China will sign ‘phase one’ trade agreement
- Airline reaches huge compensation deal over Boeing 737 Max
- Miami Heat to enter 2020 without naming rights deal at home arena
- Massive project could make Israel an energy exporter
- Bipartisan robocall law signed by Trump authorizes FCC to target scammers
- From mergers to brawls, Wall Street’s biggest champs and chumps of 2019
- Trump blames Iran for US embassy attack, vows to hold nation ‘fully responsible’
- Miller64 joins Dry January with a beer-like twist
- Mysterious vaping-related illness takes another life, dozens killed across US
- Microsoft going after North Korea hackers
- Social Security benefits set for slight bump in 2020
- NEW YORK EXODUS: Residents flee state as population stagnates
- WATCH: Brand-new cruise ship crashes during ugly docking attempt
- Snackmaker Utz, Kitchen Cooked complete merger
- Comcast reaches agreement to keep local Nexstar channels on air
- Germany shutters nuclear plant as it phases out atomic energy
- Chipotle’s 2020 menu relaunch is appetizing, says SunTrust Robinson Humphrey
- New Year’s revelers to celebrate the new Roaring Twenties, Gatsby-style
- 10 of the best places to be on New Year’s Eve
- Nicotine-free hiring policy is a first for industry
- How to check your blood alcohol concentration with just your phone
- C-SUITE BLOODSHED: 13 CEOs who didn’t make it to 2020
- Hershey kissing iconic Kissmobile goodbye
- Pop stars sing about these luxury cars the most
- 2019’s top food order, revealed
- California rings in 2020 with landmark privacy law
- Union hits Uber, Postmates for challenging California gig worker law
- Consumer confidence dips marginally during holiday season
- New Year’s Eve is MMA league’s Super Bowl: CEO
- How NFL coaches can drain teams long after dreaded ‘Black Monday’ sacks
- Carson urges officials to ‘stop throwing firebombs’ amid homelessness crisis
- IMDb releases the top movies, TV shows of 2019
10 Market Indicator Closing Summaries – Yahoo Finance Closing Tickers on MHProNews…
Featured Focus – Where Business, Politics and Investing Meet
As it is New Year’s Eve, we’ll keep this report a bit pithier.
In October 2019, Prosperity Now issued its call to action for Anti-Stigma month. One would think that As part of Doug Ryan’s bio at Prosperity Now is this phrase, “…working to expand the lending programs of the Federal Home Loan Banks, including loans for manufactured housing.”
Indeed, Ryan has previously referred to the Berkshire brands operating in manufactured housing a ‘monopoly,’ in an article for American Banker.
Perhaps they don’t think people will recall?
Historically, Ryan and Prosperity Now promoted alternatives to lending that were more affordable than those loans offered by the Berkshire brands of 21st Mortgage Corp and Vanderbilt Mortgage and Financing (VMF).
But more recently, Ryan’s arguably been more muted in calling for robust enforcement of the Duty to Serve manufactured housing provisions of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) of 2008.
With respect to stigma, perhaps the following explains at least part of the reason why.
One of the ‘partners’ for Prosperity Now in its “campaign to fight stigma around manufactured housing” is none other than Clayton Homes.
What?
Strange, but true.
Per their website, “This October, we are partnering with (List orgs) to fight against the stigma associated with manufactured housing, often misnamed “mobile housing.””
In that list are the following.
Can you spell, “sellout?” Self-contradictory behaviors?
That is a reminder of the ground-breaking research earlier this year that showed the ties between Prosperity Now, Warren Buffett and the Berkshire brands in manufactured housing.
The headline posed an inquiry.
How is the game played in manufactured housing?
The case can readily be made that Clayton Homes, along with others that happen to be Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) members, are often the focus or ‘root cause’ of negative media.
That negative media in turn influences public perception. That in turn fuels depressed interest and thus sales. Who says?
Years of incidents like those satirically lampooned by John Oliver from HBO’s Last Week Tonight reflect those routinely direct ties between bad news creators and MHI members. That’s not to imply that all MHI member firms are ‘black hats,’ nor does it imply that all those working for black hat brands are black hats themselves. Some of our better sources for news tips to MHProNews come from black hat organizations.
But the point is that Clayton has purportedly directly and indirectly fueled the stigma, as the report linked below makes plain.
When Prosperity Now and others – arguably, correctly – are pushing to change the lingo about manufactured housing, why has Clayton and VMF specifically run ads that use that very same – and legally incorrect – nomenclature?
It is part of the pattern of how the games is played in manufactured housing. Keep the industry at low ebb, do things that are contrary to the interests of most independents, and watch the consolidation of the industry continue at a steady clip. It could work, so long as regulators don’t get wise and take action.
If you wonder why manufactured housing sales and stocks aren’t flying high, find a better hypothesis than the evidence-based case we make. Please try, serious, try.
The reason our readership has steadily grown among public officials, academics, nonprofits and investors – besides our core audience of manufactured housing professionals – could reasonably be boiled down to having more facts, more evidence, more common sense than any other trade source in manufactured housing, period. That seems to yield more readers.
Ponder how these different polarities in politics similar concerns could be applied to manufactured housing.
Then ponder what a rigged system means to investing.
We’ll have some important items in the works for 2020. Thanks to our readers, sponsors and sources for making 2019 a banner year in several ways. Stay tuned for more in 2020, as plans to ramp up await.
Related Reports:
Manufactured Double Talk? Analyzing New Land-Lease Manufactured Home Community Developments
Manufactured Housing Industry Investments Connected Closing Equities Tickers
Some of these firms invest in manufactured housing, or are otherwise connected, but may do other forms of investing or business activities too.
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- NOTE: The chart below includes the Canadian stock, ECN, which purchased Triad Financial Services, a manufactured home industry lender
- NOTE: Drew changed its name and trading symbol at the end of 2016 to Lippert (LCII).
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Winter 2019…
Berkshire Hathaway is the parent company to Clayton Homes, 21st Mortgage, Vanderbilt Mortgage and other factory built housing industry suppliers.
· LCI Industries, Patrick, UFPI, and LP each are suppliers to the manufactured housing industry, among others.
· AMG, CG, and TAVFX have investments in manufactured housing related businesses. For insights from third-parties and clients about our publisher, click here.
Enjoy these ‘blast from the past’ comments.
MHProNews. MHProNews – previously a.k.a. MHMSM.com – has now celebrated our tenth anniversary.
Learn more about our evolutionary journey as the industry’s leading trade media, at the report linked below.
· For expert manufactured housing business development or other professional services, click here.
· To sign up in seconds for our industry leading emailed headline news updates, click here.
Disclosure. MHProNews holds no positions in the stocks in this report.
(Image credits and information are as shown above, and when provided by third parties, are shared under fair use guidelines.)
Submitted by Soheyla Kovach, co-managing member of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC and co-founder for MHProNews.com, and MHLivingNews.com.
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