The 30-Year Journey To Community Unity, Advanced Advocacy

A Chronological List of National Meetings by Community Owners, Operators

“Control your own destiny or someone else will.”

—Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric

by George Allen, CPM Emeritus, MHM-Master

Today’s land lease communities enjoy national unity (i.e. knowing who the “players” are!) if only marginal advances in advocacy. How did we get to this positive yet questionable state of affairs? Well, the historical record extends back over 30 years (1992-2022) and is as straightforward as it gets.

In 1992, using the 500-name portfolio list from the Allen Report, the first International Networking Roundtable of manufactured home community owners and operators occurred in April in Clearwater Beach, Fla., with about 100 people present. One forward-looking plan to achieve unity and establish advocacy for the unique income-producing property type was to host a future meeting to that end.

That process took 16 months to reach fruition. But when volunteer owners and operators met for a strategic planning meeting on Aug. 31, 1993, participants made progress on several fronts, naming an industry steering committee, drafting a mission statement, and identifying objectives for the “manufactured home community industry.” What happened during the next 2 ½ years is best told in the pages of “The First 20 Years” authored by a former MHI staffer, the late Bruce Savage.

Who was present at the first and subsequent meetings of the committee – and where are they today? · Randy Rowe, founder of Hometown American and Green Courte Partners is still active in this and other real estate asset classes. · Gary McDaniel, ROC Properties and Chateau

Communities, a REIT. Later YES! Communities is now retired and is a 2014 inductee to the RV/

MH Hall of Fame. · Jim Granges is a property management operations executive for Gary McDaniel. · Tom Horner, Jr., owner of Horner & Associates in

Kansas, is now deceased. · Martin Newby, now retired owner and operator of Newby Management, a fee-based management firm in Florida. · Kamal Shouhayib is founder and owner and operator of Choice Properties in Michigan. · Lynwood Wellhausen, now retired, was an executive property manager in Michigan. · Marty Lavin, now retired, was a community owner and financier in Maine. · Eugene Landy, founder and owner of UMH Properties, Inc., a REIT, remains active in the business and was inducted into the RV/MH Hall of Fame in 2022. · Brian Fannon, CPM®, community owner and consultant largely responsible for West Michigan’s

Oaks of Rockford, was inducted into the RV/MH

Hall of Fame in 2003. · Ed Zemanis owner of Zeman Homes, in Chicago.

Two and a half years later, following much discussion, MHI created the National Communities Council, NCC, which later became a division of the institute as a unifier and advocate for manufactured home communities nationwide!

But that’s not the end of the 30 years story! »

He started in 1967 with one park and now operates Stardust Hills, a manufactured home community with potential for over 1500 lots. For more than fifty years, Don Gedert has owned and operated manufactured home communities in Putnam County, Indiana. In 1985, he bought Stardust Hills out of bankruptcy in a partnership with 27 businessmen. The subdivision had less than 100 homes. Don bought out 25 of his partners in January 1990. His wife, Kay, refused to sell her shares. Prior to his work at Stardust Hills, Mr. Gedert owned and operated Ottawa Park in Greencastle, Indiana. Ottawa Park is a traditional mobile home park with individually owned homes and monthly lot rent. When the Gederts bought the mobile home park in 1967, it had 54 lots and monthly lot rent of $30 - $35. They developed the property to 150 lots with monthly lot rent of $100-$125 when they sold the business in 2003.

In Stardust Hills, homeowners own their deeded lots on recorded plats in the subdivision. Stardust currently has almost 400 occupied homes, among them some neighbors who have lived in the community since the 1980s and 1990s. Most were installed over the last thirty years, utilizing both single and multi-section manufactured homes. “The opportunity for people to put their own home on land they own is what makes Stardust Hills unique,” says Mr. Gedert. That has been the appeal for homeowners and the foundation for the ongoing growth and success of the community. As the neighborhood matured and demand for larger homes increased, Gedert created and sold packages of a modular home, lot, and attached garage, all included for one affordable payment.

With over fifty years in the housing industry, Mr. Gedert has experienced many market highs and lows. From interest rates of 21% to the housing bust of 2008, Gedert has persevered. To maintain the quality and home values of Stardust Hills, Gedert bought many distressed homes and rehabbed the properties. As a result, the homes in the subdivision are selling for record prices today. They compete well with site-built homes.

At 85 years old, Mr. Gedert is starting to consider retirement. Undeveloped sections of the subdivision are available for purchase. The subdivision could be purchased in its entirety when the right buyer comes along. “There’s a horse for every rider,” says Gedert, ever the salesman.

TOWN OF CLOVERDALE

Utilities

The waste-water collection system within the subdivision is maintained by the town. Capacity of the treatment plants operates at 97% efficiency on a daily basis and has additional capacity available for new development. The water system throughout, tapped into an underground lake, provides an abundance of water capacity that is also maintained by the town and also includes fire hydrants.

Roads

After installation, paved areas within fifty feet of the right of way are controlled and maintained by the town. The town receives state of Indiana road tax money that funds roadway maintenance.

Stardust HOA

An existing HOA provides 51 acres of common ground, maintenance for five lakes, a large clubhouse, pool, and playground area that is currently limited to the subdivision as platted. NEW development will have the discretion of joining with or abstaining from this current homeowners association.

After 55 years in the manufacturing home business, it’s TIME.

This offers a unique opportunity to pursue the next growing sales program for the manufactured housing industry. By taking our base products, installing them on its unique lot and garnishing it with all kinds of options, this opportunity provides the buyer assurance to all the pieces of the pie for them and the potential lenders. These lenders offer twenty and thirty-year complete landhome financing. Located just thirty minutes west of Indianapolis International Airport, only forty-five minutes to a down-town Indy Colts game, and just south of Interstate 70 off of US 231, this opportunity offers easy access to other areas for work and play. And, Indiana is VERY conservative and one of the few states with cash in the bank.

FOR SALE

Parcel 1

Will have 233 individual lots with town water and sewer on the proposed road cuts already installed. This number could increase by platting what was to be a par 3 golf course. Converting eight (8) proposed fairways into building lots and a roadway, this parcel has 12 ready-tobuild lots that face Lazy Bones Way.

Parcel 2

Drawn to have 190 individual lots with town water and sewer installed and road cuts, this area also features a variety of wooded areas and a limited number of lake-front lots (the largest lakes within Stardust Hills).

Parcel 3

Has 176 acres and 535 proposed lots and three lakes to be built. Topography maps are available for this parcel and may be redrawn with large home sites, but fewer of them and is also zoned for single family homes.

Parcel 4

Is 16 +/- acres that is drawn for 51 duplex, two-family homes. Could easily be gated and kept separate. Has water and sewer alongside road cuts.

Parcel 5

This area could be rezoned commercial. It is on the south side of Stardust Road (County Road 925 South) and has Town of Cloverdale water and sewer available at the road. Included is a three office unit with ample gravel parking and show space. Up and running with water, sewer, and new heat pump unit.

Sam Karozos, Broker t 317.588.1340 c 317.371.0128 skarozos@bradleyco.com

www.bradleyco.com | www.horriganlandgroup.com

Community-Owned Home Condition Rating: Excellent Market Value: $67,468 Community-Owned Home Condition Rating: Fair Market Value: $41,259 Community-Owned Home Condition Rating: Good Market Value: $56,835

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What Happened Next?

The HUD-Code manufactured housing industry went on a roller coaster ride that affected community unity and advocacy. Specifically, new manufactured home production experienced a brief renaissance in the late 1990s with 1998 production peaking at 372,843 units and crashing to 49,789 units by 2009.

How did this state of affairs affect unity and advocacy? No one knew who was going to survive this trauma if anyone. Chattel capital lenders left the industry en masse, about 10,000 independent (street) retailers closed down, and community owners/operators found themselves “on their own” when it came to marketing and selling homes, as well as installing and seller-financing on-site.

No one had any answers for solving this new era paradigm shift. But there were four separate and independent attempts to unify players and encourage self-advocacy. On Feb. 27, 2008, at Fountainview, a community in Tampa, Fla., more than 100 community owners and operators met for a day and agreed on five strategies and actions: · Emphasis on political influence · Need for a national MH brand advertising campaign · Improved value proposition for homeowners/site lessees in communities · Improved customer satisfaction · Education on how to seller-finance home sales on-site in communities

These five measures, for the next couple of years, played important roles in the community business plans.

Then exactly one year later, another 100 industry executives convened at the RV/MH Heritage Foundation’s Hall of Fame facility in Elkhart, Ind., to agree on a new home design favoring in-community placement and sale. Later that same year, the new design was labeled as the “Community Series Home.” That year and thereafter marked the beginning of the slow turnaround in manufactured housing production and marked an increase in the volume of new HUD-Code homes going directly into communities, up from 15 to more than 40 percent.

At the Networking Roundtable in 2010, Randy Rowe presented his “Five Point Market Share Recovery Plan” – an apt summary of where we’d been and where we needed to go: · Better home warranties to help sell more new homes · Chattel financing matters.

Expect regulatory oversight · Economic security ensured with long-term leases and reasonable site rent · A multiple listing service for the industry, not yet available at the time but needed in communities · A national marketing campaign

Like the action areas identified two years earlier in Florida, these measures became watchwords among community owners and operators nationwide. SECO is Born

In 2011, SECO, originally the Southeast Community Owners event, began the 11-year route to national prominence. Its existence has been impressive in growth and overcoming of adversity (e.g. the Virtual gatherings in 2020 and 2021). In this industry observer’s opinion, SECO’s presence has been every bit as historic as the earlier industry gatherings. While the industry and realty asset class has achieved levels of unity and advocacy since, there remained the need for a routine national venue intended for open presentation and discussion of ideas and asset class issues. SECO has been addressing that serious shortfall as part of its annual program.

So this is where we are today. With measures of unity and advocacy in place, for the industry and realty asset class, we continue to need open and public discussion of our shortfalls, including the continued lack of a national advertising campaign. Yes, we’ve come a long long way in 30 years, but what will the next 30 years hold for manufacturers and communities? MHV

George Allen has owned and fee-managed land-lease communities since 1978. He’s a former MHI Industry Person of the Year and a member of the RV/ MH Hall of Fame. He has been designated a Certified Property Manager-Emeritus and a Manufactured Housing Manager-Master. He’s also a senior consultant and staff writer with EducateMHC. Allen can be reached at (317) 346-7156 and gfa7156@aol.com.