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September 2011 Vol. 2 No. 12

Featured Articles September 2011

Featured Articles for Vol. 2, No.12, 2011
Alphabetically by Category

COMMUNITIES

Edward 'Eddie' Hicks – Manufactured Home Communities
• Filling vacant Manufactured Home Community homesites

Chrissy Jackson – Land Lease Community Management
• Guidelines for Living – Topics from Enforcement to Guests

FINANCE

Dave Shanklin – Manufactured Housing Industry Financing
• West Coast Heat Wave fires up Manufactured Home Buyers

GENERAL INDUSTRY/COMMENTARY

Suzanne Felber – Lifestyling
• Finding Joy in Factory Built Housing

L.A. 'Tony' Kovach – Industry Commentary
• Measuring Results

George Porter – Installations
• Aikido Anchoring

Dan Rinzema – Industry Commentary
• Will an MLS ever work for our Industry? Part 2 of 2

INSPIRATION/PEOPLE SKILLS

Tim Connor – Motivation & Inspiration
• Detours

Tracey C. Jones – Manufactured Housing Business Success
• Is Your AAA Rating at Risk?

Zig Ziglar – Motivation & Inspiration
• ZigOn Survival Tactics

LEGAL

Nadeen Green – Legal, Fair Housing
• Fair Housing – It's for the Birds – Part 1

MANAGEMENT

Tim Connor – Management
• Strategic Planning vs Strategic doing

MARKETING

Beth Monicatti Blank – Marketing and Advertising
• Advertising on a budget for Small Businesses

Derrick Hachey - Marketing and Lead Handling
• Best Practices on Leading Handling

SALES

Tim Connor – Sales
• Why People Challenge Price

Mark Hunter – Sales
• What is your customer's Price Tolerance Ratiot?

Mike Moore – Sales
• Manufactured Housing new home Retailing

Advertising on a budget for Small Businesses

by Beth Monicatti Blank

Many small businesses can't afford a mass advertising campaign. However, there are still ways that small businesses can work within their budgets to generate publicity for themselves and create a stronger

Detours

Tim Connor, CSP

Have you ever taken a vacation or been on a road trip with a certain destination in your plans when suddenly you decided to take a detour, not due to construction but out of a whim?

Over the years I have thought about many of the wonderful experiences I have had that

Strategic planning vs. strategic doing

by Tim Connor, CSP

Strategic planning is a vital management function. Over the years I have worked with a number of corporations facilitating their strategic planning events as well as following up on their commitments and actions that were driven by these plans. Strategic planning is not a substitute for strategic DOING i.e. everyone doing the right things (what) in the right way (how). Strategic DOING is successfully and profitably connecting products/services to customer's

Why people challenge price

by Tim Connor

In every sales training program I conduct whether one of my public sales boot camps or a custom in-house seminar the question always comes up again and again and again… How do we overcome price objections or price resistance?

I can't answer this complex question in 300 words but what I can do is

Finding Joy in Factory Built Housing

by Suzanne Felber

Any "foodies" who read this will understand my joy this week. I've been able to spend some time in the kitchen with Chef Joanne Bondy, Executive Chef of the Old Hickory Steakhouse at the Gaylord Texan, and frequent guest chef at the James Beard House in NYC. Watching her in the kitchen and getting to sample some of her creations is pure joy - it's not food, it's an

Fair Housing – It’s for the Birds - Part 1

by Nadeen Green

Whether you have had a long career in the manufactured housing industry, or if you are a newcomer, you would be well advised not to be an Ostrich. Hiding from the realities of fair housing, or pretending the law doesn’t really matter or apply to you, is not smart.

As it hides its head, an ostrich almost always has its rear end in

Best Practices for Lead Handling

by Derrick Hatchey

It’s imperative that your organization has a sound process for handling all leads that come in, no matter the source. For this article I’d like to focus on some steps that must be included in that process to have best results from leads that are generated over the Internet.

Internet shoppers have a different attitude about

Filling Vacant Manufactured Home Community Homesites,

the bane of some community owners

by Eddie Hicks

In many areas, there are either an insufficient number of local retailers who are willing and interested in the placement of new/used homes in land lease communities, or they lack the skill levels to sell prospective buyers on the many advantages of land lease community living: typically they only sell homes for land-home placement, with long term

What is Your Customer’s Price Tolerance Ratio?

by Mark Hunter

Every customer has a price range where they are willing to make a decision without any further thinking. I refer to this as the Price Tolerance Ratio – also known as the PTR.

Knowing your customer’s PTR is critical. I believe it is one of the major obstacles salespeople fail to

Guidelines for Living: topics from Enforcement to Guests

by Chrissy Jackson

Enforcement. How will the Community Manager enforce the Guidelines? If there
are state statutes in place, it is easy to simply refer to them. If there are not, the
Community Manager needs to approach this section with care. Consistency is the key
to good enforcement policies. However, when writing this section of the Guidelines try
not to paint a corner that the Community Manager cannot get out of without creating an
exception to the Guidelines. For example, if the Guidelines state that each Resident

Is Your Triple ‘A’ Rating at Risk?

by Tracey C. Jones

A dear friend and I were discussing the importance of branding, not just to businesses, but to every individual. Personal branding is, in effect, how your character, reputation and deeds are recorded. It’s what makes you distinctly you, as a person, as a professional, and as a member of our social collective.

Manufactured Housing New Home Retailing

by Mike Moore

The line at Disneyland is a 1 hour 45 minutes wait and the line keeps growing. It grows because the people in line anticipate the enjoyment of the ride. The Apple store is crowded and the Genius Bar is by appointment or a 30 to 45 minute wait but people flock to them because they love their ownership experience even more than the buying experience. People wait in line everyday for products like coffee at Starbucks that they feel enhance their life.

Measuring Results

by L. A. 'Tony' Kovach

At the end of the day, as business owners, execs and managers, we need measurements for results. For a business, the measures may include units closed, profits and customer satisfaction.

How do you turn around in a:

Aikido Anchoring

by George Porter

Aikido is one of the most sophisticated martial arts. It is used only in self-defense and uses the force of the attacker to create the power to subdue the opponent. The techniques provide effective defense against an unprovoked attack by one or even several adversaries. The art is thousands of years old and is very efficient.

Will an MLS ever work for our Industry?

(Part 2 of 2)

by Dan Rinzema

In Part 1 we examined the difficulties and obstacles that prevent our industry from fully embracing the residential R/E MLS. (If you haven’t read part 1, you can find it here)

In Part 2 we’ll look at why we’ve not been successful in developing and implementing our own MLS. We'll also examine another alternative that may provide us with many of the benefits of an MLS without all the burdens.

West Coast Heat Wave Fires Up Manufactured Home Buyers

by Dave Shanklin

The West Coast heat wave has fired up buyers this year. According to a leading MH appraiser in Northern California, sales are up dramatically.

This appraiser reports that his orders have increased from a record-low of only five appraisal orders for August 2010 to 30 orders for same month this year. That’s an increase of 600%.

ZigOn Survival Tactics

by Zig Ziglar

The giraffe is the largest mammal that gives birth while standing up. I don't speak "giraffe," but I can imagine what the baby giraffe must think when he bounces on the ground from that great height. He just left warm, cushioned quarters in which all his needs, comforts and security were provided. Now he finds himself bouncing off (comparatively speaking) hard, cold, unwelcoming ground.

Daily Business News Briefs

Village Updates Definitions

TheDailyReview of Towanda, Pennsylvania reports the Waverly Village Trustees in Tioga County, just across the border in New York, updated their definition of manufactured and modular homes. The previous legal definition written in 1988 for “mobile home” was a portable structure on wheels, but intended for long-term living. The new definition sta...

24 May 2012

Mass. Real Estate Market Improves Slightly

BostonGlobe reports for the first time in seven months, prices for single-family homes in Massachusetts rose modestly, 1.1%, as the median price hit $275,000 in April, according to Boston real estate company Warren Group. The number of single-family homes sold in April rose almost 22 percent over April 2011, marking the third consecutive month of...

24 May 2012

NationalMortgageNews says there were 2.4 million homes for sale at the end of the first quarter, 20 percent fewer than a year ago, which has helped stabilize prices for now. However, the 2.2 million homes in the process of foreclosure, and another 1.7 million homes where the owners are three or more payments behind may [...]...

24 May 2012

OriginationNews says the Census Bureau reports new home sales rose 3.3 percent in April following a 7.3 percent drop in March. MHProNews.com has learned sales of new single-family homes rose to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 343,000 in April from a 332,000 mark in March, besting Wall Street analysts who had predicted 330,000 to [...]...

23 May 2012

Housing Stocks Close Mixed, but Skyline Justifies its Name

CNNMoney reports the Dow Jones Industrial Average, after brushing with 12,325.00 during the day, climbed back in the last half hour to close at 12,496.15, losing a mere 6.66 points, -0.05%. The weakness in tech stocks and fears of Greece leaving the Eurozone fueled investors’ fears. The Nasdaq gained +0.39 percent to 2,850.12, while the [...]...

23 May 2012

In 1970, 30 years after Sears ceased offering prefabricated housing, Shelter-Kit of Tilton, New Hampshire began offering small homes and cabins that could be assembled by aspiring homeowners with no construction experience. MarketWatch tells MHProNews.com customers can choose from a wide variety of options in designing their home, including...

23 May 2012

Forbes reports on the heels of Universal Forest Products, Inc. (UFPI) strong first quarter 2012 results, whereby Q1 2011 showed a loss of -0.19 per share to first quarter 2012 return of +0.21 per share, and the recent acquisition of MSR Forest Products LLC, Zacks issued a #1 Rank (Strong Buy) for the stock. Zacks [...]...

23 May 2012

BellehavenPatch tells MHProNews.com Fairfax County, Virginia is considering developing the North Hill site in Hybla Valley into an MHC for 67 homes and a greenspace. Meanwhile, AHP Virginia LLC has a counter proposal that would involve building apartments on the site, housing 204 families, nine percent of which would be targeted to low-income...

23 May 2012

Philadelphia Airport Building Modular Housing

DelcoNewsNetwork tells MHProNews.com Tinicum Township officials, as part of a $23 million efficiency upgrade at Philadelphia International Airport, approved a land waiver request to build a 791 square foot modular building near the UPS facility on Hog Island Road. The building would house UPS workers moving from a facility at Ridley Park. The...

23 May 2012

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) says reports from across the country show existing home sales edged up 3.4 percent April over March, 2012 for every region of the country. While the increase is a positive sign, the seasonally-adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 4.62 million home sales, just below January’s pace of 4.63 million, remains...

23 May 2012

Improved Housing Market Bolsters Many U.S. Stocks

CNNMoney reports the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 12,575.00 during the day but settled down to 12,502.81, -0.01%, -1.67 points as the day’s trading ended. The rise of sales of existing homes boosted the market, but a downgrade of Japan and a weak global market tempered that news. The Nasdaq dropped -0.29 percent to 2,839.08, [...]...

22 May 2012

Featured Articles and Reports - May 2012 Vol. 3 No. 8

Prev Next Page:

Everything Old is New Again

by Katy Weldon Something amazing is happening to older mobile and manufactured homes in certain areas of California. They are in demand! Mobile and manufactured homes built in the 1970’s and 1980’s... Read more

MARKETING

Your Attention Please

by Jeff Templeton A recent study found that the average American sees approximately 1600 advertisements a day. In a single day! Those ads are seen online, in newspapers, magazines, billboards, TV,... Read more

MARKETING

Featured Articles May 2012

Featured Articles and Reports for Vol. 3, No. 8, 2012 Alphabetically by Category COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT & FAIR HOUSING (LEGAL) • “What’s in a Name?” by Nadeen Green, JD The fact that you are reading MHProNews.com to... Read more

index

Creating a Budget

by Chrissy Jackson Simply put, a budget is a tool. When effectively used, this tool can enable you to have a manufactured home land lease community that is financially sound. A... Read more

COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT & FAIR HOUSING (LEGAL)

“What’s in a Name?”

by Nadeen Green, JD The fact that you are reading MHProNews.com to gain insight into the manufactured housing industry shows that you are engaged and embracing the world of online information... Read more

COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT & FAIR HOUSING (LEGAL)

Terms of Engagement

by Andrew Peters It’s easy for professionals in the housing industry to forget just how extensive the language of mortgage lending can be. We’re often quickly reminded, however, when we try... Read more

FINANCING

Promissory Notes How to take, buy or create a Note, then sell it for cash

by John Merchant, JD Many manufactured home communities and some MH retailers have – over the years – created their own notes. The following is an outline of the things and... Read more

FINANCING

While Waiting on The Supreme Court: What is happening to Health Care Cost…

by Kurt D. Kelley, J.D. For the last six months, I’ve served on The Woodlands, Texas Chamber of Commerce Health Care Program Committee. These efforts culminated on April 27th with a... Read more