Greeting the Wolf with Shotgun in Hand

I was talking to a member on the phone recently and he asked, “DJ, when is your ‘interim’ going to actually be an interim?” I simply had to laugh and politely remind him the association is and will always be full time. The most we can hope for during interim years is for something less than the 90-hour work weeks the Texas legislative session brings every other year. I had to laugh again at this ludicrous thought when I recently landed in Austin at 12:45 a.m. back from a quick trip to Washington, DC.

But there are no complaints here. When I ask members how business is and they give the positive response: “busy,” I always respond, “Busy is good.” The same is true for our association.

Our industry is also busy right now. Over the past several months we have seen an ever-so-slight improvement over previous years, but improvement is improvement. After three years we welcome a return to “busy.”

This year Texas’ national market share in shipments has been approximately 20 percent. In 2012 one out of every five manufactured homes sold was sold in Texas.

It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway – God Bless Texas.

Of course, everything is not bright rays of summer sunshine. This is depicted by the imagery of our front cover and the efforts underway that demand so much time and so many additional resources.

To read the article referenced in the image above, click the image or click here.

Before I go into the details and describe the issues and threats on our horizon, I want to acknowledge it is not my intent to scare the ever-living-life out of you. Our membership is diverse and we have differing levels of risk aversion. From a credibility standpoint TMHA does not want to be a “boy who cried wolf.” However, we also refuse to be oblivious.

There are ominous clouds on our horizon, and we don’t know how these potential storms will play out. New laws and regulations take years to become a business reality and still years more to be challenged and legally tested. The trouble is these new laws and regulations resulted from a pendulum swing caused by the subprime meltdown. With this significant slant, the penalties are far from toothless. I suggest one’s attitude toward future risk should be determined, in part, by the level of volume and personal money at stake in these regulated markets.

Mindful of the axiom, “Las Vegas is not built on winners,” we must remember the purpose of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. It is not their goal to allow lenient or flexible regulatory enforcement. Case in point: the CFPB already has a consumer complaint hotline and has dedicated a portion of its website for consumer complaints. The question I have is, “How does one know if the person being complained about broke any rules if the rules are not written?” And yet, this seemingly obvious logic did not get in the way of the CFPB from establishing a hotline first thing out of the gate.

So, whether you are hoping for the most defensible, fortified position in light of the new regulatory developments or you are betting true enforcement will never actually materialize, the reality is there are federal threats heading our direction. In this edition, we explore this and other key issues relevant to TMHA and your business.

The issues and dangers are perceived by TMHA’s Executive Board, Board of Directors, our national organization, MHI, and others in our industry as posing a significant risk to our Texas market and our national market. At TMHA’s Third Quarter Board of Directors meeting, it was inescapably clear that inaction at this critical time was not only too risky but too costly.

Therefore, TMHA pledged both efforts and financial resources over the next 12 months to join forces with MHI and others to navigate us through these treacherous waters

The possible successes of our efforts are unknown at this point. Regardless, I fear we will not come out unscathed.

Fundamentally, we first must learn if the regulatory powers care about this area of the housing industry. If so, do they trust us enough to make the changes we advocate? Both of these questions must be answered “yes” in order for us to have a fighting chance. Otherwise their massive regulatory locomotive will run over us.

I can assure you, any potential losses will not be for lack of effort, time, money or passion. Personally, I’m optimistic. We are an industry in unquestionable demand serving good consumers in an industry we passionately believe in. We will succeed, adapt, and thrive regardless of any final rules or regulations.

I recognize there are some who criticize our efforts. Some will continue to deem us another “boy who cried wolf.” To those critics I simply say, if it turns out we are the boy who cried wolf, at least know we did everything in our power to be ready. And, if the wolf actually does show up, we greeted him head on…shotgun in hand. ##

By D. J. Pendleton, J.D. Executive Director, Texas Manufactured Housing Association (TMHA) 505 W. 14th Street, Austin, Texas 78701 512-459-1221

(Editor's Note: The Texas Manufactured Housing Association, Chairman of the Board, Ronnie Richards, who is VP of Marketing at manufacturer and retailer American Homestar, spelled out in detail the concerns DJ's article is referring to, see Ronnie's well documented article here. These are among the reasons why association membership is more important than ever before in our Industry. To find your state, community or national association, click here. To paraphrase Ben Franklin, we will either hang together, or hang separately.

Information on the TMHA's annual event is at this link here. The dates are Sunday, August 19, 2012 – Tuesday, August 21, 2012)