MHMSM.com presents Factory Built Housing Industry News at Noon with Erin Patla.
Coming up, Keeping Assisted-living Patients in Their Homes
But first…these stories:
Riverview Homes, Inc. Is Named a Major Event Sponsor
Vandergrift, PA (PR.com). The Relay For Life is the primary local fund raising activity of the American Cancer Society. The Relay offers everyone in the local community an opportunity to participate in the fight against cancer. The Apollo, Pennsylvania Relay For Life is now 15 years old after completing its 2010 campaign. Over the 15-year history of the Apollo event, local teams have raised more than $2 million towards the cure of cancer. “Riverview Homes has been involved in Relay for years, but behind the scenes,” explains Robert Fanelli, President of Riverview Homes. “My wife Kim has been an active fundraiser, and each year Riverview’s involvement got a little bigger until this year when we made the step up to a major event sponsor. We are proud to be part of this great event and we are thankful for the recognition.”
Riverview Homes, Inc. is a builder of modular and manufactured homes serving Western Pennsylvania since 1970. Learn more about Riverview Homes at riverviewhomesinc.com.
In Market News [July 19, 2010]: Buffett
warned Obama U.S. economy only halfway
back
President Barack Obama heard a sobering message from Warren Buffett at the White House last week. The President was quoted in news reports as saying: “I’ll tell you exactly what Warren Buffett said. He said, ‘We went through a wrenching recession. And so we have not fully recovered. We’re about 40, 50 percent back. But we’ve still got a long way to go.'” Buffett specifically used the example of the U.S. housing market, noting 1.2 million new homes were built on average per year in the United States, according to historic trends. That number soared above 2 million during the property bubble, but construction activity has since collapsed. Now we’re soaking up excess inventory.
Palm Harbor Homes announced it will provide an online, real-time webcast and rebroadcast of its conference call on Wednesday, July 21, covering results for the first quarter of fiscal 2010, which will be released the preceding day. The live broadcast of Palm Harbor Homes’ quarterly conference call will be available online at palmharbor.com on July 21, 2010, beginning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The online replay will be available at approximately 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time and continue for 30 days.
Consumer sentiment and disappointing bank earnings sent stocks sharply lower Friday, erasing gains for the week. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 261 points, or 2.5 percent. Manufactured housing stocks slid down with the market. Some of the biggest losers were Beazer Homes and Meritage Homes, both down more than six percent; and UMH Properties, Sun Corp., Skyline, Palm Harbor and Cavco, all down more than four percent.
“Up next, Keeping Assisted-living patients in their homes”
But first, this podcast of News at Noon is sponsored in part by: Tap into Excellence, your ONE-STOP Resource for the Manufactured Housing Industry, the Leader in Land Lease Communities information!
Tap into Excellence – on the Web at CommunityDASHinvestor.com or call 317-346-7156.
“And now, back to the news…”
Keeping Assisted-living Patients in Their
Homes
A Meriden, CT construction company has developed a prefab home addition it hopes will help it weather the home-building bust and help homeowners keep their loved ones out of nursing homes.
Called PALS [one word, then spell It out], P-A-L-S, the Practical Assisted Living Structures are wheelchair-accessible bathroom-and-bedroom modules that can be attached to or removed from any house in one week. The modules, which Rockfall Co. sells for $55,000, are meant primarily for the disabled, whether they’re elderly relatives or young war veterans.
Before the implosion of the housing market, Rockfall mostly sold prefabricated modular homes. These days, the company has shifted toward renovations and modifications such as PALS.
Rockfall’s new product, which the company plans to patent and, by next year, sell nationally, comes at a time when more Americans are facing the prospect of life in long-term institutional care.
In the next 15 years, as baby boomers grow older and average life spans continue to get longer, Connecticut will see a 40 percent increase in residents over 65; by 2030, America’s over-65 population will roughly double, according to state and national studies. Some of these people could eventually be forced into nursing homes to receive government-paid care and services.
PALS are targeted at people who have access to a home and at least $55,000 in assets.
“Right now, when you run out of money, the government gives you a choice — you go to a debtor’s prison, and you get your medical treatment, or you’re left out to die,” said Rockfall CEO Henry Racki, referring to convalescent homes. “Many people go to nursing homes because they don’t have a handicapped bathroom and a first-floor bedroom facility. We’re looking to give people a better alternative….”
Institutional long-term care also is draining the state budget. The same Connecticut study projected that the state’s estimated $3.4 billion increase in annual costs over the next 15 years could be cut down by $900 million through a massive shift toward non-institutional care.
Rockfall is not alone in the immediate assisted-living construction market. Indiana-based Next Door Garage Apartments (motto: “Now mom can live next door!”) builds handicapped-accessible living quarters inside empty two-car garages in 10 days.
“This is [also] ideal for disabled veterans,” said Al Church, a Vietnam veteran. “When a family goes down to Walter Reed [hospital] and recognizes their kid’s coming home, and now he’s a double amputee, triple amputee, and he’s not going to go upstairs anymore to the second floor, they could design this and have it in by the time he’s out of rehab.”
Rockfall plans to begin aggressively marketing its product in Connecticut in September.
Joe Stango, the founder of Dora’s Hope, a Connecticut organization that advocates for choice-centered Medicaid, said PALS could represent a real breakthrough, especially if Medicaid is reformed.
“What most people, middle-class folks, don’t realize is that they are susceptible to the issues and problems that Medicaid brings to the table,” Stango said. “If the system doesn’t change, things like PALS are still going to be significant; but if it does change, PALS is going to be a home run.”
“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!”