Scaring professionals is never the point in our news stories or OpEds. In fact, my gripe about some writers or speakers is that all too often their commentary pointed out problems without proposing sound – or any – solutions. Problems exist, but they are often opportunities in disguise once solved. News is news, but in …
In recent years regulatory impact has forced our industry into pretzel-like contortions. Consider the challenges faced by manufactured home communities. When options – such as "buy-here, pay-here" "captive finance" are tried, the ever growing cost of regulatory compliance threatens those methods. While a number of states have de minimus exemptions, not so with the Feds. …
Tom Cruise did a movie a number of years ago, with 'cocktails and dreams' being the theme of a pub the fictional entrepreneurial bar tender wanted to open. While Cruise won't be present, dozens of the leading lights from the RV and Manufactured Housing industries will be at the 2013 induction ceremonies, which will include …
Hot July nights and even hotter days have yielded to August and the frenzy of back to school and so much more. Manufactured housing is still on a general two year uptick in new home shipments. As you will see in some of our August Featured Articles, while there are still plenty of challenges to …
1) – Introduction and background. Let's set the stage for what I sincerely hope will be an important dialogue within our industry. I've seen estimates that there are some 5 to 9 billion dollars worth of captive finance paper created by manufactured home professionals, mostly in the land lease community side of the industry. Much …
I had to smile to myself about an incident from a few months ago. I'd started a discussion on LinkedIn about re-branding single section homes “The CuBe Home,” a name that Lifestyle Factory Homes, LLC has the copyright. Some where poking fun at the re-branding concept, others clearly got it. The reason for the quiet …
Manufactured housing home owners and professionals may be catching some breaks in the recent reports coming out of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This is good, because those owners and we industry pros deserve it. That said, the situation is still in flux and in an ideal world, we'd see the CFPB continue on this …
What does it take to get manufactured housing to advance? What follows are 4 quick looks at very different aspects of how manufactured housing is already 'Roaring Ahead' and how we can continue to fuel the two year rise of new home shipments. 400% growth Imagine if the traffic at your manufactured home sales center …
Stop and think for a moment. What do we get paid for, really? Isn't it for solutions? Let's imagine a school teacher. What are they paid for, if not to 'solve' the need to educate? What does a doctor get paid for, if not for the need to cure the sick or maintain better health? …
It seems that some are insistent on focusing on division vs. unity at a time when unity is so valuable. Part of this is due to 'divide and conquer' style strategies. The question for this column is simple. What is the biggest fish that we need to fry? What are our top priorities as an …
