There are phone calls, and then there are great calls. One of the latter this week was a pro who told me that the cartoon character Dilbert was his favorite management consultant.
Here is some of what Dilbert has to say about being in a “niche market.”
Cartoon credits: Dilbert.
I laughed reading these cartoon panels because we have a number of industry pros who are using the term “niche market” or similar terminology to describe manufactured housing.
Do they realize that when they say ‘niche market’ in a trillion dollar a year U.S. housing industry, that they’re admitting they are going after the crumbs instead of pulling up a chair for the great feast possible?
Credit: Flickr Creative Commons.
There is nobility in serving the poor, retired or working class. If that is all we could do as an industry, we should hold our heads high! Everyone deserves a good place to live.
But what’s the harm reaching out to the hundreds of millions who can afford to buy bigger, nicer homes, as well as serve the economically challenged?
Isn’t it logical to do ‘all of the above,’ – low, middle, high – instead of just some? The article linked at the end below gives 6 million reasons why we should be doing more than sub-70,000 annual new HUD Code manufactured home shipments this year.
Blinders! Head in the Sand!
There are times when I could laugh – or cry – at the amazingly experienced people in MH who seem to think that all we can do is sell our cheapest MH homes to souls who are difficult or unable to get credit qualified.
By contrast, we see some nicer 55+ MHCommunities – which may sell 6 figure manufactured homes on a land lease – selling to the middle class, or in some markets, selling MH to millionaires – so its doable.
Hello MHville managers and leaders? Are you really seeing the full picture, or just a narrow part?
When others in MH prove they can do X, why can’t more people in YOUR market believe they can do that too?
In fact, don’t be surprised if people in your state are doing now what some in your organization think can’t be done. That’s why we’ve said for years that all that is needed to advance MH is within our collective grasp.
Trying to hoard the pie, shrinks it. Sharing knowledge and resources to market and train sales pros for 21st century home selling, that is where growth for all will come to pass.
MH Lender Clarification
Before digging deeper, a clarification on the U.S. Bank exit from MH direct lending topic from Wednesday’s Masthead. Others ‘soon to be exiting the business’ reference in that column was not meant to suggest other MH lenders are getting ready to pull the plug. A close look at that post makes it clear we suggested that exits/consolidation would be builders and others. In fact, there is talk of one (or more) new lenders entering/growing their MH market presence.
If you missed the news, or need to reference those facts/comments – here it is:
http://mhpronews.com/blogs/tonykovach/bank-vault-door-closes-on-manufactured-housing-lender/
The lesson from the U.S. Bank exit is the same as any other MH exit from MHville that is avoidable. We must grow our collective new home business. We must collectively escape up. It can be done, is being done here and there already and is BEST done synergistically.
The Enemy is Us?
Proverbs 29:18 is translated by some this way, “Without prophetic vision, the people perish…”
Credit: Pogo.
We need to realize that without internal changes – within the ranks and leadership of our industry – we’ll only limp along. Yes, we’re five years into a recovery, but a tepid recovery in what Marty Lavin calls HUDville.
Without change, MH will continue to chase the crumbs that regulators, politicos, economics and market conditions will continue to make harder to to survive on, much less thrive upon.
Credits: MHProNews.
Your Masthead scribe has spoken to pros whose organization used to sell hundreds of homes a year; now they are down to a trickle. Why?
I hear the justifications for doing rentals in MHCs, and certainly understand the regulatory motivations (fear) for doing it. But isn’t it far better to sell homes – the classic MHC business model of owner occupancy vs. rentals – than lease manufactured homes? Can’t we get credit qualified buyers to move into ABC MHCommunity?
The MHCrossRoads
Intersections, crossroads and parking lots are the most dangerous places when driving.
But they’re also a necessary way of getting from where you are to where you want to be.
Drivers who understand the ‘rules of the road,’ traveling the highway together, can go faster and farther than those who drive solo on a lonely path.
Specific thoughts on the route forward is outlined in this column.
Credit Cartoon Clips.
The theme for L’ville 2015 is the Road to Success. We will flesh out more details for all those who attend the free related business building sessions at the 2015 Louisville Manufactured Housing Show. Traveling that road can be almost as much fun as laughing all the way to the bank. ##
(Related link – 6 million Reasons Manufactured Housing Sales Should Grow Now)
(Credit for unmarked images: Wikicommons and FlickrCreativeCommons respectively.)
