{"id":812,"date":"2010-08-21T13:00:15","date_gmt":"2010-08-21T18:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mhmarketingsalesmanagement.com\/blogs\/tonykovach\/?p=812"},"modified":"2010-08-21T13:41:45","modified_gmt":"2010-08-21T18:41:45","slug":"elephants-in-the-room-and-manufactured-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.manufacturedhomepronews.com\/masthead\/elephants-in-the-room-and-manufactured-housing\/","title":{"rendered":"Elephants in the Room and Manufactured Housing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Warning<\/strong>: This blog post is not for the faint of heart or for those who think they can skim and get it all.\u00a0 As an Industry Pro, directly or indirectly, this impacts YOU every day.<\/p><div id=\"manuf-3556389695\" class=\"manuf-content manuf-entity-placement\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3870480136270376\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3870480136270376\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"\" \ndata-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>In a recent conversation with George F. Allen, I mentioned a discussion topic that Finmark&#8217;s Dick Ernst and I shared in preparation for our <strong><em>INdustry in Focus<\/em><\/strong> interview with Dick about manufactured home financing.\u00a0 During that conversation, Mr. Ernst used the memorable phrase, <strong><em>&#8220;elephants in the room.&#8221;<\/em><\/strong> Specifically, we spoke about the challenges that lenders and home owners face when resale time comes<em>.\u00a0 &#8220;That&#8217;s the elephant in the room, Tony, that we as an industry need to deal with.&#8221;<\/em> was the gist of Dick&#8217;s revealing statement.<\/p>\n<p>The president of a manufactured housing finance company and the senior VP of yet another lender I&#8217;ve recently spoken with concur.<\/p>\n<p>As George and I spoke, he commented on the customer or secondary (resale) market side with<em>, &#8220;I was going to say, you&#8217;re right, that is the second elephant in the room.\u00a0 This is an important topic, Tony. Maybe you should consider doing a Linkedin or blog post on it.&#8221;<\/em> GFA being correct, I agreed.\u00a0 As a result of that advice, a lively Linkedin MHC group discussion has begun&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>So here I am suggesting to an Industry pro like yourself that we need to take a long, hard look at how to change this avoidable and troubling dynamic.\u00a0 We need a process that allows an MH customer or finance company to exit at least as easily from their manufactured home asset as someone might from a conventional stick built house.<\/p>\n<p>Why?<\/p>\n<p>Because as long as we have <strong><em>elephants in the room<\/em><\/strong>, those pachyderms will be pushing out of the room customers, investors, lenders, public officials and a whole host of opportunities that we otherwise would deserve!\u00a0 We can be:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Selling more homes.<\/li>\n<li>Have happier manufactured home owners.<\/li>\n<li>Get more MH referrals.<\/li>\n<li>Enjoy more, better, happier&#8230;these are some of the rewards for solving the &#8216;problem pachyderms&#8217; issue!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The bottom line is you can make more money long term, and so can the Industry, once we face and fix this plaguing problem.<\/p>\n<p>Yet some &#8211; perhaps many &#8211; who will read this may knee jerk in opposition.\u00a0 Why?<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s take a look&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>VMF and 21st stated in the MHI Summer Meeting with FHA officials that when they take in a repossession, they wholesale that repo 65% of the time.\u00a0 Other lenders in the room were nodding or made sounds that indicated that Berkshire Hathaway affiliates are not alone.\u00a0 Now they may make this <em>&#8216;work,&#8217;<\/em> <strong>but at what cost?<\/strong> Higher rates on manufactured homes than conventional housing are certainly among the sad consequences.<\/p>\n<p>Less lending availability is another avoidable consequence!<\/p>\n<p>Why has the FHA set such a high bar on finance companies who will be doing FHA Title I loans?\u00a0 Because of past industry losses in financing.<\/p>\n<p>Why do the GSEs hesitate to lend on MH chattel, in spite of the Duty to Serve mandate from Congress?\u00a0 Because of past industry losses in financing.<\/p>\n<p>Why are so many MH communities doing in house financing?\u00a0 To the tune of billions of dollars?\u00a0 Because it is almost a necessity, due to past industry losses in financing.<\/p>\n<p>Why does Ken Rishel and company teach community operators and retailers how to raise the capital and do legally compliant &#8216;captive chattel financing?&#8217;\u00a0 Because there aren&#8217;t enough MH chattel lenders available without doing it in house.\u00a0 I\u2019d bet that Ken would also ad that because doing it in house is a profit center of it&#8217;s own&#8230;<strong>when it is done right!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Now, please don&#8217;t shoot the messenger for reporting what you already know.<\/p>\n<p>The only way to deal with the <strong><em>elephant in the room <\/em><\/strong>that no one wants to touch is to look closely at the various dynamics and then do what it takes. If we as a manufactured housing professional, company or as an Industry want to climb out of the Industry\u2019s financing limiting doldrums, we better deal with the issues head on!<\/p>\n<p>When a MHIndustry lender is wholesaling off repo inventory 2 times out of 3, that means that some out there are &#8216;getting a good deal.&#8217;\u00a0 But the &#8216;good deal&#8217; to a community, retailer or wholesaler means a lender took a beating.\u00a0 When the lender takes enough beatings, they may say, ENOUGH!\u00a0 That leads to the skittish behavior of FHA and The GSEs on this subject.\u00a0 Those losses on repos cause other financial institutions and potential lenders to look warily at the manufactured housing product, because Conseco\/Greentree is not ancient history to them.<\/p>\n<p>Now please don&#8217;t misread this.<\/p>\n<p>For example, the government agencies have Congressional mandates.\u00a0 They should serve manufactured housing as the law requires, period, end of story!\u00a0 <strong>In my world and yours, if Congress passes a law, <em>we obey.<\/em><\/strong> If you don\u2019t like it, you work to change it. But if you and I simply fail to obey a law, then we get fined, prosecuted, jailed, or strung up.\u00a0 I say, <strong>the GSEs and FHA should do as Congress mandated<\/strong>.\u00a0 They should do so broadly, rapidly and effectively.\u00a0\u00a0 These agencies should find the solution to the <em>elephants in the room<\/em> issue as part of the implementation of the legislation that Congress created and the president signed into law.<\/p>\n<p>This means that the FHA and the GSEs should find a way to make the programs sustainable and work long term.<\/p>\n<p>We in the Industry, if we are smart, should help them.<\/p>\n<p>That is what MHI and those Industry leaders were trying to do in DC a few weeks ago, trying to shed light with Vicki Bott and other FHA and HUD officials on ways to make their program work.\u00a0 Because a sustainable program is a win for everyone!<\/p>\n<p>But let\u2019s go back to those who can&#8217;t resist doing that wholesale deal on a repo.<\/p>\n<p>And let\u2019s go back to those lenders who shed their inventory at bargain basement rates.<\/p>\n<p>Knowingly or not, each are contributing to the long term history in the financing\/resale realm that has plagued our Industry, those <em>elephants in the room.<\/em><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p>Before writing this,<em> <\/em>I also spoke with a wholesale repo buyer, who effectively said:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;If they are going to sell me a home at these prices, why would I say no?&#8221; <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p>I admit, that has to be tempting.\u00a0 But a number of points come up in analyzing this long term, and you can think of them as well or better than I.<\/p>\n<p>Now, please note, the wholesale buyer has learned how to move that inventory.\u00a0 So why can&#8217;t the lender do the same?<em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p>I spoke with a long term MH lender, who effectively said:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;I have x homes and x millions tied up in inventory in just the x market.\u00a0 The regulators are checking our files right now.\u00a0 We want to continue to do MH lending.\u00a0 But every time a &#8216;park&#8217; (his term) bills me for lot rent, every time a park fails to help resell a home at retail, every time a home sits and sits instead of resells for a good price, every time I have to move a home in order to get it sold, it puts that much more pressure on our manufactured home financing program.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p>Do we need to lose another lender(s) before we learn our lesson?\u00a0 Hello?\u00a0 If we are the \u2018survivors\u2019 of the Great MH Lending Meltdown that started around the turn of the century, who needs coffee?<em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p>Now all of these are actual or paraphrased comments from real people who didn&#8217;t ask to be named for obvious reasons, and each one is revealing.<\/p>\n<p>To the future potential of the MHIndustry, these viewpoints and their implications are chilling.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s imagine for a moment, that FHFA, in the aftermath of the tidal wave of comments they received last month, relented.\u00a0 Let\u2019s say they put a program in place that really met the intent of Congress in the Duty to Serve legislative provisions.\u00a0 Let\u2019s further imagine that FHA modified their threshold for Title I lenders, lowering the amount and making more capital thereby available to the Industry.<\/p>\n<p>Then let\u2019s image that nothing has changed about the resale\/remarketing issue.\u00a0 What would eventually happen?<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019d take their lumps for a while, then go back to Congress and understandably say, <em>\u201cwe told you so!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>So now ladies and gents, we better tackle this once and for all.\u00a0 We should not only work on Congress and these agencies to get the financing we need, but also work with them to make sure that repos don\u2019t result in big losses.<\/p>\n<p>That is just long term, common sense.<\/p>\n<p>That said, one gent told me recently that in our Industry long term may be 10 minutes to 10 days.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve got the end of the month coming up, and have to get this deal done!\u201d\u00a0 Oye, vez.\u00a0 We have to think 10 weeks, 10 months and 10 years ahead too.\u00a0 A dozen years have gone by since we sank from nearly 373,000 shipments to under 50,000 last year.\u00a0 We are inching up this year, and that is good.\u00a0 It reminds us that we can grow again.\u00a0 But if we don\u2019t buckle down and do ALL that it takes, we will have a shorter and shallower bubble than we had in the roaring 90s.<\/p>\n<p>Or, we can <strong>have the best years the Industry<\/strong> has ever had<em>.\u00a0 The choice is in our hands.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Let us shift gears and briefly look at an example that may lead to a solution.<\/p>\n<p>Back in the late 80s (and again in the early 2000s), I was in a leadership role of \u00a0a successful resale programs for various manufactured housing lenders.\u00a0 We:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>set up a structured approach that reduced their losses, accelerated their resale time line and got assets back on the books at prices that were close to new \u2018repo fighter\u2019 home prices then.<\/li>\n<li>There were legal and systemic limits that kept us from selling repos for even more, but I am here to say, we could have sold those homes for more money had the financing system allowed for it.<\/li>\n<li>We didn&#8217;t buy repos ourselves, meaning we didn&#8217;t compete against the lenders repos with our own inventory, as to me that seemed like a conflict of interest.<\/li>\n<li>Our team did repo sales for lenders, period!\u00a0 We got paid commissions, and we earned a lot of those.\u00a0 We also received got paid some spiffs and other incentives, all above board, that were part of our agreement.<\/li>\n<li>We looked at issues and we dealt with them in the best fashion possible to control costs for lenders and limit their losses.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_813\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-813\" style=\"width: 258px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-813\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mhmarketingsalesmanagement.com\/blogs\/tonykovach\/elephants-in-the-room-and-manufactured-housing\/80s_article_collage_2010-08-21_1250\/\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-813\" title=\"Late 80s_MH Industry Article_collage_2010-08-21_1250\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mhmarketingsalesmanagement.com\/blogs\/tonykovach\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/80s_Article_collage_2010-08-21_1250.png\" alt=\"Late 80s_MH Industry Article_collage\" width=\"258\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.manufacturedhomepronews.com\/masthead\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/80s_Article_collage_2010-08-21_1250.png 258w, https:\/\/www.manufacturedhomepronews.com\/masthead\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/80s_Article_collage_2010-08-21_1250-97x125.png 97w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 258px) 100vw, 258px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-813\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Late 80s MH Industry Article collage, recounted results helping lenders save money on repos.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It wasn&#8217;t perfect, but it worked a lot better for those MH lender clients than they had elsewhere in that state.\u00a0 We know this because they said so, and backed it up by bringing us ever increasing levels of inventory, and then asked us to expand into different markets in other states.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_814\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-814\" style=\"width: 249px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-814\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mhmarketingsalesmanagement.com\/blogs\/tonykovach\/elephants-in-the-room-and-manufactured-housing\/foremost_insurance_kudos_letter_to_our_repo_retail_center_2010-08-21_1255\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-814\" title=\"Foremost_Insurance_Kudos_Letter_to_our_Repo_Retail_Center_2010-08-21_1255\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mhmarketingsalesmanagement.com\/blogs\/tonykovach\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Foremost_Insurance_Kudos_Letter_to_our_Repo_Retail_Center_2010-08-21_1255.png\" alt=\"Foremost_Insurance_Kudos_Letter_to_our_Repo_Retail_Center\" width=\"249\" height=\"282\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.manufacturedhomepronews.com\/masthead\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Foremost_Insurance_Kudos_Letter_to_our_Repo_Retail_Center_2010-08-21_1255.png 357w, https:\/\/www.manufacturedhomepronews.com\/masthead\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Foremost_Insurance_Kudos_Letter_to_our_Repo_Retail_Center_2010-08-21_1255-110x125.png 110w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 249px) 100vw, 249px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-814\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Foremost Insurance Kudos Letter to our Repo Retail Center<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>That was then.\u00a0 Maybe there are similar efforts out there now, but:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>where are they now?<\/li>\n<li>If they are out there, why are key MHIndustry lenders still wholesaling 65% of the time?<\/li>\n<li>If they aren\u2019t out there, why aren\u2019t MHIndustry lenders creating a program that works for all long term?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Ladies and gents, <strong><em>this isn&#8217;t rocket science.<\/em><\/strong> This is about discipline, solution orientation and will power.\u00a0 Other industries face this issue and make it work.<\/p>\n<h2><strong><em>We&#8230;<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2><strong><em>Can&#8230;<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2><strong><em>Too<\/em><\/strong><em>!<\/em><\/h2>\n<p>I don&#8217;t quote sources unless they wish or agree to be quoted or have spoken in public.\u00a0 So\u00a0 privately to me or via posted comments, I am hereby inviting industry members to comment on the <em>elephants in the room.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Please share your experiences and viewpoints.\u00a0 Please agree or disagree.<\/p>\n<p>Heck, <strong><em>let&#8217;s have a debate here if you want to<\/em><\/strong>, that is what posted comments are for too.<\/p>\n<p>We as MH professionals, companies and as an Industry have to move the resale\/re-marketing subject ahead.<\/p>\n<p>We don&#8217;t need endless meetings and another task force that later disbands, for whatever reasons.\u00a0 I am not criticizing anyone, but I am challenging every stake holder to think this through and resolve it for the long term benefit of all involved.<\/p>\n<p>Some MHCommunity operators do a good job at this.\u00a0 If they can, others can too.<\/p>\n<p>How do you solve a big problem?\u00a0 You face it squarely and deal with it honestly.<\/p>\n<p>How do you eat an elephant?\u00a0 One proverbial bite at a time. # #<\/p>\n<p>_________<\/p>\n<p>End Note: <em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p>A few <strong><em>The Masthead<\/em><\/strong> blog posts ago, I touched on this topic lightly.\u00a0 It was part of the broader subject of what are our Industry&#8217;s strengths and weaknesses are.\u00a0 That post referenced how we could be doing 200,000 to 800,000+ new annual manufactured home shipments a year!\u00a0 Not someday,<strong> right now.<\/strong> If you missed that prior post due to vacations or whatever, you might want to read or re-read it.<\/p>\n<p>I was thinking back to the repo glut of the late 90&#8217;s and early 2000&#8217;s.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Do we miss selling 372,000+ homes a year?<\/li>\n<li>Do we miss having full communities?<\/li>\n<li>Do we miss building new MHCs or fee simple developments?<\/li>\n<li>Do we want factories that are at or near capacity?<\/li>\n<li>Do we miss having more retailers?<\/li>\n<li>Do we miss more lenders, vendors&#8230;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Please read, or re-read this blog post linked below.\u00a0 It outlines the path for MHIndustry\u00a0 business growth today.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mhmarketingsalesmanagement.com\/blogs\/tonykovach\/manufactured-housing-industry-growth-potential\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.mhmarketingsalesmanagement.com\/blogs\/tonykovach\/manufactured-housing-industry-growth-potential\/<\/a> # #<\/p>\n<p>_________<em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p>L.A. &#8216;Tony&#8217; Kovach, MHM<\/p>\n<p>Publisher, MH Marketer and The Masthead blogger<\/p>\n<p>Manufactured Home Marketing Sales Management trade journal at www.MHMarketingSalesManagement.com aka www.MHMSM.com<\/p>\n<p>tony@mhmsm.com<\/p>\n<p>847-730-3692<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elephants in the Room and Manufactured Housing<\/p>\n<p>Warning: This blog post is not for the faint of heart or for those who think they can skim and get it all.  As an Industry Pro, directly or indirectly, this impacts YOU every day.<\/p>\n<p>In a recent conversation with George F. Allen, I mentioned a discussion topic that Finmark&#8217;s Dick Ernst and I shared in preparation for our INdustry in Focus interview with Dick about manufactured home financing.  During that conversation, Mr. Ernst used the memorable phrase, &#8220;elephants in the room.&#8221; Specifically, we spoke about the challenges that lenders and home owners face when resale time comes.  &#8220;That&#8217;s the elephant in the room, Tony, that we as an industry need to deal with.&#8221; was the gist of Dick&#8217;s revealing statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5073],"tags":[452,451,372,436,447,354,448,382,107,5,454,165,164,431,453,8,430,450,449,6,28],"class_list":["post-812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-analysis","tag-21st-century-mortgage","tag-berkshire-hathaway","tag-congress","tag-dick-ernst","tag-fha","tag-fhfa","tag-gse","tag-gses","tag-ken-rishel","tag-l-a-tony-kovach","tag-manufactured-home-chattel-loans","tag-manufactured-home-financing","tag-manufactured-housing-financing","tag-manufactured-housing-industry-growth-potential","tag-manufactured-housing-lending","tag-mhi","tag-mhm-manufactured-home-marketing-sales-management-trade-journal","tag-vanderbilt-mortgage","tag-vicki-bott","tag-www-mhmarketingsalesmanagement-com","tag-www-mhmsm-com"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Elephants in the Room and Manufactured Housing - Masthead L. A. &#039;Tony&#039; Kovach<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manufacturedhomepronews.com\/masthead\/elephants-in-the-room-and-manufactured-housing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Elephants in the Room and Manufactured Housing - Masthead L. A. &#039;Tony&#039; Kovach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Elephants in the Room and Manufactured Housing  Warning: This blog post is not for the faint of heart or for those who think they can skim and get it all. As an Industry Pro, directly or indirectly, this impacts YOU every day.  In a recent conversation with George F. Allen, I mentioned a discussion topic that Finmark&#039;s Dick Ernst and I shared in preparation for our INdustry in Focus interview with Dick about manufactured home financing. During that conversation, Mr. Ernst used the memorable phrase, &quot;elephants in the room.&quot; Specifically, we spoke about the challenges that lenders and home owners face when resale time comes. &quot;That&#039;s the elephant in the room, Tony, that we as an industry need to deal with.&quot; was the gist of Dick&#039;s revealing statement.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.manufacturedhomepronews.com\/masthead\/elephants-in-the-room-and-manufactured-housing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Masthead L. 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