Clayton Homes and their lending practices is mentioned by the Seattle Times in their Associated Press (AP) news report about another Berkshire Hathaway mortgage brand that the Department of Justice described as a ‘record settlement’ for ‘racially discriminatory’ ‘redlining’ in several states by another Berkshire Hathaway (BRK) owned HomeServices financing brand, Trident Mortgage Company. Are these similar claims in conventional …

Before digging into insights from the Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance, Inc., Plaintiff, vs. Cesar Flores, et al, Defendants Case NO. C-09-312, the following background is useful. Since shortly after publishing the Manufactured Home Living News (MHLivingNews) report on “The Case Against Clayton Homes” on 5.28.2020, that report has had hundreds of thousands of hits from readers, and has routinely been …

As numbers of affordable housing advocates know, Texas is the number one state in the U.S. for the production and shipments of new HUD Code manufactured homes. Texas is the second largest state in geographic size and in population. What happens in Texas has an impact on the rest of the nation. So, what recently occurred in their major party …

On 9.7.2021, HousingWire’s editor Sarah Wheeler authorized and published an opinion column (op-ed) by Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) CEO Lesli Gooch at this link here. This MHLivingNews editorial viewpoint will lay out several facts that shed light on why manufactured housing is underperforming during an affordable housing crisis. We’ll begin with the point that Wheeler agreed to publish a response …

“Consumers reported losing more than $5.8 billion to fraud in 2021, a 70% increase over the prior year, the Federal Trade Commission [FTC] said Tuesday. Almost 2.8 million people filed a fraud complaint, an annual record.” So reported CNBC on 2.22.2022. When you do the math, the average scam was for about $2071.43. When millions have been victimized by fraudulent …

During a well-documented affordable housing crisis, manufactured housing has finally risen beyond the 100,000 new homes produced threshold in 2021. The last time the manufactured home industry collectively produced over 100,000 homes was in 2006, when 117,373 new HUD Code manufactured homes were produced. A look at the most recent state and national level manufactured home production and shipment data …

Professor James A. Schmitz Jr.’s formal comments letter to the Department of Justice (DoJ) include the following observations: “monopolies inflict harm in many ways. These include: A. Monopolies sabotage and destroy markets. They typically destroy substitutes for their products, often those that would be purchased by low-income households; B. Monopolies also use their weapons to manipulate and sabotage public institutions …

Preface. As a disclosure, this writer has spent about half of my adult life living in manufactured homes. From Texas to Wisconsin, Illinois to Oklahoma, I’ve owned and lived in several HUD Code manufactured homes I was happy to have my friends and colleagues come to visit. I’ve also spent numbers of nights in later model mobile homes (late 1960s …

A possible tidal shift is underway in America. It is the battle over the future of the American Dream, as will be unpacked from the facts, evidence and viewpoints that follow. In the wake of 4-decade high inflation, a largely open southern border, foreign policy disasters in Ukraine and Afghanistan, domestic policy woes in fuel, food, housing, automotive, and more …

“Forget what they told you. If you want the truth, follow the money,” said author Roxanne Bland. On the one hand, the American Dream is alive, with numbers making their case in favor of that belief. On the other hand, millions believe the American Dream is under attack and that access to that idealistic dream is limited and uneven at …

Then, there are those who may already own a manufactured home but are living in a land lease community that has fallen into the hands of a so-called “predatory” manufactured home community operator. Some possible examples are shown below. What follow those linked reports is what Jefferson Public Radio reported out of Oregon. A takeaway hint. Whatever someone’s beliefs or …

The Denver Post, NPR, New Yorker, Time, and years of other regional or national news media have periodically told the troubling story about affordable manufactured home community living gone awry. So, the latest report below from the Los Angeles Times (LA Times) is hardly a first, but it does add an interesting wrinkle to the tale that all affordable housing …

“In short, depreciation in manufactured homes are neither inevitable nor is it necessarily a tragedy if it does occur. What’s needed are the facts and a good plan. With the right information, you can make a housing decision or investment that will yield a host of potential benefits, from lifestyle advantages to financial ones, less stress and beyond.” So said …

The Associated Press (AP) reported that “The British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted Wednesday of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by the American millionaire Jeffrey Epstein. The [jury] verdict capped a monthlong trial featuring sordid accounts of the sexual exploitation of girls as young as 14, told by four women who described being abused as teens in the …

500-word Executive Summary. Decades of third-party research from the late 20th century and throughout the 21st century demonstrate that HUD Code manufactured homes are the most proven form of affordable housing in U.S. history. Nevertheless, concerns and confusion about manufactured homes and industry brands exists. Evidence and applied common-sense suggest that several brand-related concerns are valid. Mainstream media reports often …