It is axiomatic that businesses are opened or sustained, and investments are made with the goal of making profits. That said, there are obviously ethical and legal vs. unethical or illegal ways of earning money or making profits.
This report will outline how more ethical profits can be earned by ‘white hat’ manufactured home professionals and investors.
The affordable housing crisis, plus the data and reports that flow from that growing problem ought to be a magnet for potentially significant opportunities for manufactured housing. Depending on the source considered, some 7 million affordable housing units are needed on the lower side of the estimates, with others pointing to data that says some 8+ million total housing units are needed in the U.S. That data ought to be a magnet for manufactured housing success.
But the reality is different than the potential. The final 2019 year end data is in. Total production and shipments are down year over year in 2019 vs. 2018. A snapshot on why the manufactured housing industry is underperforming by a variety of measures are found from the report linked below.
To be profitable in this industry a few points must be clearly understood.
- Zoning and placement are barriers for the industry that are widely reported. There is little doubt about the reality of zoning/placement concerns.
- Access to more competitive financing options is another problem that is widely reported.
- Image and public perception issues are a third issue that exists.
- The irony is that the first two bullets already have federal laws that exist precisely to address those problems. The third and this fourth bullet should reflect the need for a new post-production focused effort. Because Zoning/Placement, Financing and Image/Public Perception are issues that occur after the home is produced or built.
Those four bullets have a snapshot that flow from the hub report linked below.
Ideally, if every state had a combination of about 10 total retailers, communities or others in manufactured housing that teamed up, many of those issues could be addressed at the state level. A smaller number could accomplish it in a local market area. While national trends matter, what matters most to a given business is what’s happening for that business and/or in that local market.
Furthermore, there are laws that exist that could help unravel the tangled web of manufactured housing’ purported corruption. If you haven’t already grasped those concerns over corruption, see the two ‘read hot’ (and red hot) reports from tips and related data linked below.
Manufactured housing professionals know that they are ultimately responsible for their own marketing. That said, if ‘white hat’ businesses – those that care about customer satisfaction and doing the business in the right way – teamed up, costs could be shared that could rapidly set them apart from the ‘black hats’ of the manufactured home industry.
Read the reports linked from this report. If you are interested in exploring doing more business that is ethically earned with a high degree of customer satisfaction, contact us.
One of several keys in being sustainably successful in manufactured housing is arguably to create a bright line distinction between black hat behavior in the industry and white hat businesses. Think about the parallel with the automotive industry. It was increasingly suffering in its image because the shopping experience was widely seen as unappealing. Companies like CarMax and others created no hassle no haggle pricing. That is an example of a bright line distinction that made CarMax a big success.
The practice that CarMax and other pioneered allowed other car dealers to push back with messages like this: “For example, we strongly suggest that you don’t buy from a no-haggle dealer if the car’s price is a lot more than the figure you’d pay at a traditional dealer. Yes, not having to haggle for a car is a benefit, and some shoppers are willing to pay extra just so they don’t have to negotiate,” per Auto Trader.
The point is that the atmosphere in the automotive industry is arguably better than it was a decade or so ago. In a sense, both the no-haggle dealers and the more traditional dealers each ended up with some benefit by making an issue out of a problem that was overall hurting the new car dealer’s image.
White hat (ethical, customer service minded):
- communities,
- retailers,
- producers (HUD Code builders),
- developers, real estate agents and others could benefit from the correct approach to manufactured housing.
To learn more check out this link or contact me via email or the phone number below. If you send a message, make sure you put the words “White Hat Inquiry” in the subject line to help us spot your message in our volume of email.
To be successful, someone must stand out from the crowd. If you are going to stand out, why not do so in a positive way? In the long run, that makes the most sense.
For manufactured housing, it is less about the sales experience – which is a factor, don’t misunderstand – than it is about the perception by the vast majority of housing prospects that they simply aren’t interested in a manufactured home.
It is self-evident that it will take something new and different to make that happen. Again, reach out to learn more.
There’s work to be done. Working together with others of good will, we can get it done and do it profitably with honor. Most people can win so long as people of good will do what they can, while avoiding feeding the monster as much as they can. If a mad dog bites your hand, you don’t keep feeding it that way, do you? Don’t feed the hands that bite your interests.
History reminds us that are numerous opportunities to turn lemons into lemonade by doing what’s right. That’s jujitsu in a nutshell. That’s what the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. did. That’s what George Washington did. White hats in MHVille can do so in our era by making a bright line distinctions between themselves and the black hats that currently hold sway over much in manufactured housing.
There is always more to come, but that’s it for now in this chapter of manufactured housing “Industry News, Tips and Views Pros Can Use,” © 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 MHLivingNews.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.
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.
Dominating Your Local Market, The Manufactured Housing Revolution