Industry Happenings

Residents at Mountainside Park, a 52-unit retirement community raised $1.9 million for the purchase of their Camden, Maine community. With real estate prices continuing to outpace wage growth in the state, manufactured home ownership remains one of the few affordable options for workforce and entry-level housing. ROC USA worked with homeowners and the community to facilitate the sale, turning the community into the state’s 10th resident-owned community.

Clayton Homes, a Tennessee-based builder of site-built and off-site built homes, has installed a 200 kilowatt solar carport system at its Sulphur Springs, Texas, home building facility. Installed by Solar One, the new solar panel system will allow the company to offset 30 to 40% of the facility’s on-demand electricity use with renewable energy, while providing shade for its team members’ vehicles.

The Marshall Village Board unanimously approved an amendment to the local ordinance, allowing mobile home owners to request exceptions to a rule that prohibits the relocation of buildings older than 20 years. Owners can move mobile homes to an existing mobile home community in Marshall, Wisc. However, Marshall’s only community is Evergreen Village. Under the rewritten ordinance, an exception process will allow the village to consider mobile home relocation requests on a case-by-case basis.

LCI Industries announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Lippert Components, Inc. has completed the previously announced acquisition of Curt Group for approximately $340 million. Headquartered in Eau Claire, Wisc., Curt is a leading manufacturer and distributor of branded aftermarket towing products and truck accessories. It maintains a product portfolio comprised of thousands of SKUs including hitches, towing electricals, ball mounts, and cargo management components.

The Sitka Planning Commission voted 3-2 to change the general code to allow tiny houses and tiny houses on chassis in mobile home and manufactured home parks. The vote was the result of an action plan, first proposed in 2018, directing the commission to review zoning codes to see which ones could be changed to enable tiny homes as a potential affordable housing option.

Manufactured Housing Properties Inc. acquired ARC manufactured housing communities in December 2019. Five communities in the portfolio account for 187-pads in Lexington, S.C. This was the company’s fifth 2019 acquisition. It owns and operates 1,134 lots across 18 manufactured housing communities and is actively seeking to expand its portfolio.

360 Risk Management, Inc., a full-service commercial insurance agency in Northville, Mich., has formed a strategic partnership with Kristin Gargano and Community Risk Solutions of Commerce Township, Mich. CRS specializes in insurance and risk management programs and consulting services designed specifically for the manufactured housing industry.

Universal Forest Products, Inc. reorganized its operations and now operates as UFP Industries. Not just a forest products or wood company anymore, the company has evolved from a lumber wholesaler to a mixed materials manufacturer and solutions-provider serving thousands of business customers. UFP Industries has approximately 170 locations and 14,000 employees around the world.

Orix Corporation USA, the U.S. and Latin America business hub for Tokyo-based Orix Corp., acquired Hunt Real Estate Capital, LLC, a subsidiary of Hunt Companies, Inc. Orix USA will combine Hunt Real Estate Capital with its two real estate capital brands, Lancaster Pollard and Red Capital Group, to form a full-service entity with the goal of emerging as a top-tier national commercial real estate lender.

Flagsh ip Com mu n ities, a n Erlanger, Ky.-based owner and developer of manufactured housing communities, has acquired its second community in Paducah, Ky. The community, Southwood Pointe, sits on 13 acres and its 75 home lots are currently 75% occupied.

JCF Housements has selected Fayetteville-Lincoln County for its southern manufacturing facility. The company’s capital investment is estimated at $10 million and will create 250 jobs over the next 12 to 18 months. The company will operate from an 80,000-square-foot facility.

Klein Group purchased a 23-pad mobile home park on Vancouver Island for $1.23 million. The sale price was $100,000 above the community’s assessed value.

K2 Insurance Services, a subsidiary of Aegis General Insurance Agency, has partnered with Homesite Underwriting Managers, the program business unit of Homesite Insurance Group. Bob Kimmel, president »

Photo courtesy of ELS Properties.

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and CEO of K2, said Homesite’s record of success and innovative focus within the residential property market will allow Aegis General to continue its growth trajectory and industry-leading profitability within the manufactured home and affordable-housing insurance sectors.

Homeowners in Fox Hill Lane Mobile Home Park recently purchased their 39-unit manufactured home community, making it New Hampshire’s 132nd resident-owned community. Homeowners, backed by training and technical assistance from the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, organized and formed Fox Hill Cooperative Inc. to facilitate the purchase. The cooperative negotiated with owner Joyce Fisher and reached agreement on a $725,000 purchase price.

S2A Modular, creator of GreenLux luxury residences and commercial buildings, has launched a nationwide search for locations to build eight “mega factory” facilities that will drive positive economic impact for regions, cities, and municipalities. GreenLux homes come equipped with a rechargeable home battery system, patented graphene solar panels from FreeVolt Solar, smart appliances, and other cutting-edge components with a patented mobile app platform that controls the entire ecosystem.

Green Courte Partners, LLC has opened its fourth investment fund, Green Courte Real Estate Partners IV, LLC. The group also acquired its 11th land-lease community, Highland Manor, a 382-site all-age community located in Independence, Mo., approximately 13.5 miles east of Kansas City.

The Woodland Park Planning Commission is discussing amendments to the zoning code regarding single-family uses in multifamily zones. Planning Director Sally Riley went over the proposed timeline for amending the code before a moratorium against these kinds of projects ends in mid-July. A final draft of the ordinance was set to be presented at a joint work session with the Woodland Park City Council. The draft ordinance aligns the definitions for “manufactured HUD homes,” “modular factory-built residential structures,” “mobile homes,” and “mobile home or manufactured HUD home parks” with Colorado definitions. It also adds definitions for “single-family dwelling or residence” and “recreational park trailers”.

A model manufactured home is in the works on Franklin Street in Danville, Va., as part of a project to offer affordable housing for homebuyers. Officials hope to build four more of the homes that would be moved to the neighborhood, with one constructed at the corner of Beauregard and Franklin streets and three more at Lee and Beauregard streets.

DuraLife, a leading manufacturer of composite decking and railing, now offers the DuraLife Custom Length Program for its deck boards. The program offers custom-length boards for all DuraLife decking and dock profiles and colors. DuraLife’s unique polypropylene capped composite outperforms other composite and PVC decking, and the Step-Clip® hidden fastening system reduces install time by up to 50%.

Nicholas “Nick” Eli Bunn II, 50, who worked in residential remodeling, including for manufactured homes, died Friday, Dec. 20, 2019, at Kaiser Permanente Westside Medical Center in Hillsboro, Ore. He suffered a stroke on Nov. 22, 2015, and his death was the result of a recent illness. Mr. Bunn was born July 31, 1969, in McMinnville, Ore., to David Bunn and Judy (Milton) Mather. He was known for a vibrant smile that captivated and endeared him to everyone he met.

Hala Jawad, Radco president and industry veteran, died on Dec. 31, 2019. Mrs. Jawad had been a valued part of the Radco team for 19 years, where she was promoted to president in 2017. She was recognized for her excellent work with the Department of Housing and Community Development and Radco’s manufacturers. She also was a contributing member of the CMHI Board of Directors. MHV

by Patrick Revere

Todd Su, president and CEO of Advantage Homes in California, spent the early days of the coronavirus lockdown talking to news reporters and hopping myriad Zoom conferences.

He operates 13 retail stores throughout the state and continues to eye out-of-state expansion opportunities. Business slowed some with the implementation of coronavirus safety measures, but it didn’t halt. His days took on a different look and those changes may endure depending on how far COVID-19 spreads, and the timeliness of a vaccine.

“Unfortunately, even though we’re part of the essential business declaration, we just weren’t that comfortable keeping our sales centers open, for the safety of our employees and customers,” Su said. “We were mostly closing deals we’d already begun, working on serving those customers and finishing well. The new business was bound to ramp up before we were able to get back on the sales floor, though, and we took steps to prepare for that.”

With the corporate headquarters and main sales center in San Jose, the tech culture is rich.

“We have increased our Matterport 3D so people get that feel, and we’re writing deals that way,” Su said. “We have some of our sales associates using their phones and doing Facebook Live or FaceTime to walk people through, and that’s working as well.

“We’re encouraging more and more of this, doing weekly training with agents on how to conduct these remote transactions,” he said.

Su said development of remote sales structure will remain vital.

“We have to morph our industry a bit more to ‘subject to final viewing’ with most of the work done online with DocuSign and other tools,” he said. “This crisis could be six months, two years? We don’t really know. My feeling is this is going to last for a while, and we need to alleviate concern and create the most comfortable environment we can with the technology at our disposal.”

Steve Schaub, CEO of YES Communities, said the national organization with 215 properties and over 56,000 homesites, worked out a standard operating procedure to manage communities during the coronavirus crisis while maintaining compliance on varying state executive orders.

“We have signs on the doors that convey COVID-19 changes,” Schaub said. “We do have team members on site. With maintenance, we’re letting residents know we’re responding to emergency situations only, like HVAC isn’t working versus a door that’s not closing well, for instance.

“For emergencies, we have maintenance going in homes with proper PPE, like a mask and gloves. We ask residents to step into another room or even to go outside while the work is being done,” he said. “Our offices have staff, but much less than usual. We have no more than two staff members in our community offices at any given time, but we like most organizations have a large group working from home.”

Schaub said rent collection across the portfolio has only been off by a percentage point or two, and that operations for showing homes have been altered to keep business moving.

“We put a lockbox on the house and give people a timeframe when they can go in there and view the home, then follow up in an attempt to fill the home as effectively as possible. If we need to have someone else come through the home we change the code, sanitize the door handle and make sure the home is thoroughly cleaned for the next customer.”

He said Y ES Communities has continued to see good new business traffic.

“It’s not what it was before all of this coronavirus stuff started, but it’s much better than the first week or two of operating this way,” Schaub said. “People do continue to come and go — home buying plans haven’t changed that much.

All indoor common areas are closed, as well as gathering areas

like the pool, pickleball, shuffleboard, and playgrounds.

“The parts that we kept open are what we call ‘park light’, which really is a green space,” Schaub said. “We’re letting a parent get out there and kick or throw a ball with their kids, for instance. That’s not a problem at all, but we’re discouraging anything more than that and we really haven’t had any issue with it.”

Walking paths and dog parks also remain open, with signs that remind residents to maintain social distancing standards and to make sure they wash

their hands when they get back home.

“I always tell people in an emergency situation to look for the silver lining, and we do,” Schaub said. “We’ve performed what I would call remarkably well, and it shows the ability for us to weather the storm in the manufactured housing industry.”

Again, technology is at the forefront of weathering that storm.

“The ability to communicate with residents via the YES app has been a blessing to us,” Schaub said. “We can send notifications, emails, and receive resident communication through this technology… we’ve learned from other industries how to do that effectively.

“It’s changed the way we approach it forever. We can and should be able to show homes at 8 o’clock on a summer night using a self-guided tour on the prospect’s schedule and then come back to them with a sophisticated follow-up system,” he said. “This all comes into play, from drone flyovers to on-line leasing and bill pay. All this will help make the business better, even when we get through this pandemic and the economy has recovered.” MHV

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