We wrap up some tests and this month with some off the record quotes about some of the news stories that we covered the week ending 8.30.2014. About the story of LandSea, a reportedly green Chinese industrialized housing firm coming to the U.S. with plans to invest $1 billion here in housing projects, this comment from a C-Suite level corporate leader.

“Will have to think on this. Dunno what to think...” about the implications of what this means to modular, pre-fab or manufactured home builders in the U.S.. Of course there were others who ran the gamut from thinking this is good news, to those being rather troubled by it.

The link to the LandSea story found in the Daily Business News (DBN) is below.

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/china-based-international-homebuilder-targets-u-s-with-10000000000-in-projects/

The MH energy saving makeover story was part of a storm of interest and reaction too. This may have been my favorite comment about the DBN format used this week which also saw potential positive from the MH energy makeover…

“I like the DBN’s items and it makes me think how we as an industry can use it more to our advantage. Maybe if I were to pick 8-10 newspapers and send a “share” with one each week for two months it would be interesting how much got “picked up” by the local press. I love the article on weatherization improvements…”

Very cool idea – influencing the influencers! We’ll be keen to hear how that goes, and FYI, we think this would be great for companies, associations and buyers groups to try in their market too. It could be done in minutes, and the impact in YOUR market could be important.

Next…

Technically, it wasn’t a story we covered at all (one of our deliberate Failure to Report decisions). But one person commented on a pair of fellows followed by a few hundred each, who must have been trying to get a rise out of the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) and by implication, me and MHProNews too.

Paraphrasing, ‘I like the analogy of the professional wresting tag team.’ There are some issues worth responding to, others frankly not. This failure to report incident from this week was a hoot to me, but a pro who called in said it was sad that people who claim to be leaders resort to such tactics to the detriment of those who follow them. Another said, ‘What do they have to show for their own efforts?’

C-Suite level Corporate comment about Tiny Houses, Subsidized Housing, Canadian Investors and LandSea too

“We [manufactured housing] have not invested in serious infrastructure. If the big boys [companies like the DBNs about the Canadians, Chinese, etc.] come with the money and expertise you will see a revolution in how housing is built in America. We are getting much poorer as a nation and the affordable housing needs are becoming greater. People will embrace new housing solutions. Hell you have people glamorizing homes under 200 square feet.”

I’m not even going to paraphrase one of the more interesting comments that came to us, from not one but two executives in China…

…at least not today.

Thanking Us, Thanking You

The most common comment of the week began or used the words “thank you,” followed by the specific item we were being thanked for. In fact, a number of stories we published as DBNs this week came as a result of news tips emailed in. Keep iReportMHNewsTips@mhmsm.com email address handy, it goes to our full team if I happen to be in on the road, in meetings, etc. Or you can always email latonyk@gmail.com, and please be patient for a response. Let me thank all of you who have connected on LinkedIn, sent endorsements, sent news tips, and of course I’m thanking our team and sponsors too.

FYI, LinkedIn tells us that you’ve made mine the #1 profile views in the Industry for the last 90 days. Wow…thanks.

For those who ask, is there value to being published? Ya think?

Those who are doing articles, interviews or even guest columns on our sites are getting noticed. Speaking of Interviews, if you’ve not read the three popular A Cup of Coffee with... from this month yet, here they are, in no specific order:

http://www.MHProNews.com/home/featured-articles/august-2014/138-general-manufactured-housing-industry-topics/8053–a-cup-of-coffee-with-paul-bradley

http://www.MHProNews.com/home/featured-articles/august-2014/138-general-manufactured-housing-industry-topics/8047–a-cup-of-coffee-with-tim-connor

http://www.MHProNews.com/home/featured-articles/august-2014/138-general-manufactured-housing-industry-topics/8052–a-second-cup-of-coffee-withbill-matchneer

September’s interview will be A Cup of Coffee with…Sheila Dey, the Executive Director of the powerhouse WMA, which informed sources tell us is one of the top 5 associations in the nation for budget, impact and influence. Don’t miss it!

Connecting the Dots for Manufactured Housing

As noted about a week ago, we decided to do a test with the Daily Business News items. Some were a little longer than normal, or had adding in some links or other information that helps ‘connect the dots’ as to more precisely what the meaning is for manufactured housing.

Be it the shorter versions of the DBNs that Matthew Silver normally does for us, or a longer ‘connect the dots’ version of the DBNs we did this week while Matthew was taking a well earned vacation, these stories, combined with our featured articles, other blogs, reports and news are reasons why we say a minimum of 15 minutes a day is what a serious professional has to invest. We know that thousands of you are doing that already, if you are one, thank you!

These are living cases of “knowledge is potential power.”  My thanks to those who are using RSS feds to our site, to those who are having their team members sign up for our eblast or encouraging them to read, know and grow daily.

Agonizing, Insightful August Ending

If you’ve wondered why MH isn’t doing more,
look no further than some of these stories!

Here is the line up, for the DBN test we’ve done the past 8 days, sans the stock reports. FYI, many of these articles quickly jumped into the top 1% of all the articles being read on MHProNews. Because thousands of articles are accessed on our site monthly, being in the top 1% of articles means thousands of pageviews on that specific items is of interest to you and/or your MH colleagues, researchers, investors and aficionados of MH.

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/inc-names-mancamp-provider-reliant-asset-management-3rd-fastest-growing-private-business/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/judge-says-mh-class-action-lawsuit-heading-for-trial/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/allegations-of-flooded-fixed-flipped-mobile-homes-hit-state-international-news/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/freddie-macs-new-manufactured-housing-finance-program-orignated-by-walker-dunlop/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/canadians-investing-large-in-u-s-housing-markets/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/manufactured-home-community-rent-control-on-public-meeting-agenda/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/new-york-times-reports-long-island-mobile-home-park-resales-command-1-million/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/tv-ad-buys-down-online-digital-media-up-marketers-say/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/what-recovery-unemployed-ask-federal-reserve-at-posh-jackson-hole-conference/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/nimby-leading-loss-of-affordable-housing-county-buys-mhc-to-close-it/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/heckaman-homes-a-with-bbb-celebrates-45-years-and-20000-systems-built-homes/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/cnbc-says-5-to-6-million-renting-should-own-affordability-credit-access-rates-price/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/mobile-home-energy-makeover-contest-winner-timely-tips/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/canadian-housing-experts-divided-soft-landing-or-continued-house-price-growth/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/boomers-are-zoomers-kevin-clayton-says-in-latest-pr-image-campaign-announcement/

(Yes, that’s Ivanka Trump on the right)

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/triangle-investor-doubles-manufactured-home-community-portfolio-buying-4-mhcs/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/rand-ghayads-huffpo-oped-questions-dodd-frank-factor-in-lower-u-s-employment/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/china-based-international-homebuilder-targets-u-s-with-10000000000-in-projects/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/investorplace-says-sell-amg-gfig-and-taxi/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/wctrib-says-improvements-appreciated-by-manufactured-home-community-residents/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/nahb-and-mharr-agree-even-1000-price-increase-reduces-potential-home-buyers/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/1000000000-property-damage-in-north-bay-earthquake-most-manufactured-homes-survive/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/robert-bob-wolf-passes-r-i-p/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/silvar-president-tonna-says-internet-education-key-for-todays-home-buyers/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/big-houses-soar-mh-snore/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/all-parks-alliance-for-change-lobbying-congress-opposing-minnesota-community-owners-support-for-a-floor-vote-on-the-preserving-access-to-manufactured-housing-act-hr1779/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/residential-eyesores-to-be-renovated-with-federallocal-tax-dollars-for-affordable-housing/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/affordable-housing-irony-hundreds-on-wilco-waiting-list-near-mh-production-centers/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/from-moscow-with-love-lawsuit-advances-against-manufactured-home-community-owner/

http://www.MHProNews.com/blogs/daily-business-news/cfpb-whats-the-difference-between-being-pre-qualified-and-pre-approved-for-a-loan/

And to help connect more dots…

MH Death and Disaster, the Other Image Campaign

One caller this week said, “Tony, when you look around and see what’s available in manufactured housing industry publishing, it is obvious why your platforms are #1.”  My reply, this is only possible because we have so many supporters, writers and others who make this platform and our public-focused sister site at MHLivingNews.com a reality. It’s team work!

The New Sizzling September Issue with new featured articles Goes Live within 72 Hours!

Looking forward to seeing you back here on the Masthead,  and on the pages of MHProNews and ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com. Thanks for making us #1 in both categories with your visits, shares and support. ##

(Image Credits are found embedded in the images and on each of the respective pages, linked above).

By L. A. “Tony” Kovach