Rent control is a hot topic in the U.S. as well as in Canada. It is an issue for those in apartments or other forms of rental housing, as well as numbers living in manufactured home land lease communities. The CBC News video below spells out the challenge in multifamily housing, north of the border. It will help tee up …
Read More »Search Results for: Enhanced Preemption
Manufactured Home Community Leader Discusses – Manufactured Housing Insanity?
What follows below is a letter to the editor of MHLivingNews from a community resident-leader. It is worth mentioning that this person has lived and owned in conventional housing before moving into a manufactured home in a land-lease community. He loves his manufactured home, as he has said on his own blog. He enjoys the community, neighbors, and lifestyle. But …
Read More »Frank Rolfe Says “Why You Should Never Build A Mobile Home Park” – Seriously? Fact-Check and Analysis
There is no date on the article, but it appeared in a Google search on a topic that is relevant to the manufactured home industry and its current doldrums. Based upon its contents, it would appear to be less than 2 years old. The reason that this a good look at this article is important to current owners of …
Read More »Monopolization of American Dream, Telling the Inside Story of Home Ownership Gone Awry
Superficially, manufactured housing is an easy to understand product, service, and industry. It costs far more to build a house on site – so-called ‘stick building’ – then it does to build one in a factory and was permanently installed on a buyers preferred home site. It costs more to build apartments than it does a manufactured home community. The …
Read More »Discerning Quality, Value, Seller Ethics – Faithful Lifeway Homes, “Can I Bring My Cousin?”
It is important to get a balanced view of anything that involves a major decision. Here on MHLivingNews, we’ve done a mix of stories for years, spotlighting the good, the bad, and the misunderstood about all kinds of housing, including those homes built in a factory. How do you tell the difference between a proverbial ‘white hat’ company and …
Read More »“…Roll the Stone Away, Let the Guilty Pay, It’s Independence Day”
Songs can often capture ideas and emotions in poetic and transformative ways. Ballads by definition are songs that tell a story. The ballad that Gretchen Peters wrote that was performed by Martina McBride blends a range of symbols that brilliantly captures the story of an abused woman, as told through the eyes of her daughter. For the next few minutes, let’s …
Read More »GSMOL’s Michelle Smith’s Cautionary Tale and MHAction, Key Manufactured Home Insights, Revisited
“Follow the Money.” – a maxim used by journalists and investigators. “Sometimes the best place to hide is in plain sight.” – axiomatic expression used by numerous authors. ‘One should separate wheat from chaff.’ – Per Dictionary, to separate wheat from chaff means sort the valuable from the worthless, as in ‘I hope we’ll get a preview of …
Read More »Goodbye Trailer Houses and Mobile Homes – Happy 43rd Anniversary, HUD Code Manufactured Homes
We’ve done several serious reports in the last year or so that look deeper behind the often dark curtain to understand why manufactured homes – along with the mobile homes and trailer houses that preceded them – are so misunderstood. Today will be a bit different. 43 years ago, today is the official “birth” of HUD Code manufactured homes. …
Read More »MarketWatch says Amazon Selling New Homes for Under $20,000, Don’t Buy One Before Reading This
First, let’s make it clear that there are all kinds of reasonable and good housing options. This publication is broad-minded about all safe, legal, and legitimate housing options. That said, Amazon has made headlines recently with some of their kit homes. What are those? Kit housing has been around for about a century that we know about, because the …
Read More »Affordable Housing Needed, Corporate Corruption, and Manufactured Homes – Time to Get Federal Officials Fully Involved?
Imagine for the new few minutes that you are a detective trying to solve a mystery. Detectives look for clues and examine evidence. Investigators ought to be objective. Like a doctor seeking the cause for an ailment, there are tests, results, facts, and reason that should to be the drivers for solving any puzzle. Investigators ask questions, such as …
Read More »Ultimate Reporters, Researchers, Affordable Housing Advocates, or Shoppers 3’rd Party Research Reports on Mobile Homes, Manufactured Homes, and Modular Housing
Foreward. Susan M. Wachter, writing as Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said, “Most new homes in the United States are site-built to State and local codes, but an increasing number are “manufactured homes,” designed and constructed to meet the requirements of the preemptive Federal Manufactured Home Construction and …
Read More »Why is Seattle Dying? Affordable Housing, Misplaced Compassion, and Manufactured Homes
In just over three weeks, this video below entitled “Seattle is Dying” by KOMO, a local ABC TV affiliate there, has broken 2.1 million views. It is an hour-long and compelling documentary that ends with hope based upon some promising solutions. But it first lays out one troubling fact and example after another. Misplaced compassion is part of their …
Read More »Mobile Home Burns, Woman Dies, Details At Ten – Back Story of Mobile Home Fires, Regulatory Facts
Preface. Mistakes happen. People can learn from them, or not. Mature adults should ideally not allow themselves to be defined by errors – because everyone has their share of mistakes and ignorance. Rather, people of all ages and backgrounds are better defined by their behavior after an error has been uncovered. How is a mistake addressed? Is it swept …
Read More »Ed Speraw, Manufactured Home Owner “Hero”, dies at 81
“We as an independent manufactured home producer’s association have often worked successfully with resident groups, on issues of mutual interest. We don’t deal with community related issues directly. I believe that people of good will may agree or disagree on details, and still have mutual respect. Let me express my sincere condolences to those touched by the loss of Ed …
Read More »Former Manufactured Housing Institute President, Manufactured Home Owners, Urban Institute, and You
“During my time at MHI, I was often asked the same question, “What must happen for business to return – for manufactured housing to begin growing again? ” My stock answer would usually start with ‘financing’ and end with a general comment about the need to bring ‘value’ to our customers.” The person making that comment was Chris Stinebert. It …
Read More »