SECO22 Marks Return to In-Person Event for Community Owners

TThe SECO National Conference of Community Owners announced recently the return to an in-person format for the annual SECO Conference.

This year’s event, taking place from October 3 - 6, 2022, will welcome community owners and managers from all over the country to Stone

Mountain Park in Atlanta.

Back to Tradition for SECO

The event’s website bills itself as being for “anyone who owns or has an interest in the health and operation of manufactured home communities.”

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SECO20 and SECO21 were the organization’s first two years operating as a virtual event. With two years of virtual success in their back pocket, SECO is returning to an in-person format to kindle networking relationships between community owners and other industry professionals.

“SECO has always been about making personal connections and fostering education with small to mid-size community owners and managers,” SECO Co-Founder and organizer Spencer Roane said.

“We are thrilled to be back in Atlanta this year to continue the tradition in-person and share industry knowledge among fellow professionals,” he added.

What’s New in 2022 For SECO?

The 2022 event is set to host a number of new events and attractions while bringing back some all-time favorite sessions. This year’s educational programming is set to focus on management developments and challenges, community operations, management software and technology, and financing/valuation topics.

Notably, SECO22 will mark the return of on-site manufactured homes to the event for attendees to view.

Additionally, this year, attendees can take part in SECO’s first-ever golf tournament, attend three receptions for entertainment and networking, experience SECO’s first-ever live band at the event, and see the latest developments in industry manufacturing.

On the programming side of things, attendees will also welcome the return of Manager Monday, a day of programming dedicated to community management topics, as well as the networking roundtables.

For more information on SECO22 and to register today, visit secoconference.com. MHV

TThe RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, Ind., is celebrating multiple historic achievements in August, inducting 10 new honorees in its 50th year, as well as unveiling the much-anticipated Manufactured Housing Museum.

“This year's induction dinner guests will get a special treat as the grand opening of the 21,000 square foot

Manufactured Housing Museum will be taking place on the same day,” RV/MH Hall of Fame President Darryl

Searer said. “This museum winds through time from the industry's origins, through the present day, and finishing with tomorrow.”

The museum, Searer said, is highly educational on everything the industry has to offer and features an immersive and interactive experience that takes the Hall of Fame's new museum from being an attraction to a destination. »

Origins of the Hall of Fame

The RV/MH Hall of Fame was formed in 1972 by a group of industry magazine publishers, and during the ensuing years has been able to grow from a small library to a 40-acre campus featuring an RV Museum with 60 one-of-a-kind recreational vehicles, the new interactive manufactured housing museum, the world's largest industry library, a hall dedicated to Go-RVING, an exhibitor's hall, and the Hall of Fame. A 36,000 square foot convention hall is underway for the Northern Indiana Event Center, which already has a pair of halls providing 24,000 square feet of space, and a 250-unit multi-purpose rally/show site that also is a one million square foot parking lot with a 20,000 square foot climate-controlled pavilion at the center.

Induction Dinner Honorees David J. Carter Sr. - Supplier, Florida

In 1986, Dave Carter sold a lumber yard and an electrical supply business to concentrate on Dave Carter & Associates, supplying the electrical and building product needs of the manufactured housing industry. In three years he took DCA from a regional provider to a national supplier with a dozen distribution centers. In 1993 the business added plumbing products, diversified into RV in 2008, and helped rebuild the manufactured housing industry during its 15+ year recent era of growth. DCA was named MHI Supplier of the Year in 2011, and Dave Carter continues to advocate for affordable housing on the local, regional, and national levels.

Harry Karsten - Manufacturer, California

Harry Karsten built The Karsten Co. and Karsten Homes into a West Coast powerhouse. It was founded in 1995 and built its workforce to more than 700 people, including a couple hundred at the homebuilding facility at its plant near Mather Airport in Sacramento. »

A modern manufactured home in a Florida marina setting.

Jim Scoular donated generously to the museum in honor of his father Ralph, a 1998 RV/MH Hall of Fame inductee. The company expanded from California to other homebuilding sites in Albuquerque, N.M., Stayton, Ore., and Breckinridge, Texas. At the time it was purchased by Clayton in 2005, the facilities were putting out better than 1,700 homes a year in 14 states in the West and central United States.

Raylen Gritton - Dealer, California

Ray Gritton has been in the manufactured housing industry for more than 40 years. He started his first dealership in Modesto in the 1970s and has worked for large corporations in charge of hundreds of dealerships. He currently owns 13 locations in five states. Gritton has won multiple awards and has served on boards for state and national industry associations.

Tim Williams - Finance/Lender, Tennessee

Tim Williams had a long, productive, and diverse career in manufactured housing even prior to co-founding 21st Mortgage in 1995. As CEO of the organization, he has been instrumental in providing improved financing for affordable homes across the country as well as growing 21st into one of Knoxville's largest employers. In addition to his efforts in Tennessee, Williams has been a tireless advocate for manufactured housing in Washington, D.C., and nationwide.

Eugene W. Landy - Communities, New Jersey

Eugene Landy is a founder and current chairman of the board for UMH Properties, Inc., a publicly-owned REIT in the ownership and operation of manufactured home communities. He is a graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy as well as Yale Law School, where he served for many years on the board of advisors. UMH, now operated by Eugene’s son, Sam, has a portfolio of 127 manufactured home communities with about 24,000 developed homesites. These communities are located in New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Indiana, Michigan, Maryland, Alabama, and South Carolina. UMH also owns and operates one community in Florida through its joint venture with Nuveen Real Estate.

RV Inductees

Mark Ferkey - Dealer

Donald Gunden - Manufacturer

Veronica Hepp - Dealer

Lewis Shaum - Supplier

What Awaits Behind the Curtain of the New Scoular Museum?

A small group of industry professionals was able to get a sneak peek of the new Manufactured Housing Museum, an experience made possible by many individuals, most notably the museum’s namesake Jim Scoular, who donated to the effort in honor of his father, Ralph, who preceded him in the industry and as a member of the Hall of Fame.

The museum is a linear historical journey through time and into the future of manufactured housing, beginning with covered wagons on the American frontier and viewing the future of housing from a rather surprising vantage point.

The journey includes an appeal to all of the human senses, from crickets in the night to the aroma of fresh-cut grass, and a gentle breeze at your back. Veteran museum, zoo, and theme park designer Thomas Landgrebe left not a single trick on the table in the effort to create a remarkable experience in time and place.

“I appreciate so much what everyone who works here has done,” Jim Scoular, a South Dakota industry professional, said of the efforts in Elkhart, Ind. “It’s a dream come true for the industry, and it all comes back to the leadership here. It’s tremendous.”

With the addition of the new museum to complement its existing offerings, Searer said he anticipates annual visits to exceed 100,000. In the last 10 years the venue has matured from a hall, meeting space, and library valued at $500,000 to a much larger event space with two museums, a large outdoor rally site and pavilion, and the two museums now worth about $22 million.

“We’ve come a long way in a short period of time,” Searer said.

Among those who toured the hall in advance of its Aug. 15 opening was Joe Viglione, of Fairmont Homes, which donated the first modern home to the museum, jump starting subsequent donations and partnerships that have made the effort a success.

“This addition to the hall is a great thing for our industry,” said Kim Schultz-Rainford, who owns communities in Texas.

George Allen, a former community owner and consultant in manufactured housing, continues to write about industry advances and is a longtime supporter of the hall of fame.

“I have waited 44 years, the sum of my career, to see what I saw today,” Allen said following the sneak peek museum tour. “I am very impressed.” MHV

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