De Nile. A place, a state of mind, a state of being? (Yes, you have heard it before.)
As I sat in or outside the intensive care room at the hospital recently (accidental overdose of a loved one), I thought, this was a tough way for any one to be shocked out of their denial. Pain medication addiction, of someone very close to me, had been difficult for me to watch also.
Alone with my thoughts I occasionally shifted into thinking of the problems in our MH Industry. I could not help but draw a correlation between the denial of the addict and the seemingly lack of awareness or denial that I have picked up on in discussions among many community owners over the past several years. Community owners seeming unwillingness to look inward at how maybe our management styles and practices have led to the poor living conditions in many properties. Is it not possible that some of those dower conditions that our residents live in (and move out of) have contributed to our industry being on the verge of life support? Did we have to hit rock bottom to be shifted out of our denial and in to these new realities?
Not withstanding the region, the group, the size of the portfolio, etc. the conversations seem to gravitate to: When will the Chattel Lenders come back, the manufactures make homes with floors that hold up to the wet conditions under them and doors and fixtures that last longer than a few short years without falling off or wearing out? When the Dealers get the financing, will they hire sales people, this time, with warm smiles AND consultative selling styles, but WITHOUT the alligator shoes and creative penning of credit apps?
Denial? Maybe. Seldom do I hear, collectively, community owners or operations managers discussing the poor living conditions and sub-standard quality of life that many MH Community residents (our customers) endure in large numbers, if not most, of the Family Communities around the country. Now of course there are always the exceptions out there. I know some of you apply good On-Site management techniques and practices that create “Clean, Quiet, Safe, Crime and Drug Free” communities to which I believe every community owner/operator should espouse.
In a recent broad-ranging, free-wheeling discussion with a national community operator, we tried to hazard a guess as to what percentage of the communities across the country were in many ways sub-standard. You know, the obvious things such as; clutter, junk piles besides homes or on overgrown vacant lots, cars on blocks or parked haphazardly on the grass at the back of homes, etc. Then there are the less obvious such as: parents who live in fear of the crime or drug dealers, or worse, the drugs that all too easily end up in the hands of their children. We are talking about, “Curb Appeal” or … more truthfully, the lack thereof??
We opined (like Bill O’Reilly) that maybe 80% of the family communities around the country are poorly managed, causing these “Communities or Neighborhoods” to continue to look more like “Trailer Parks and Courts.”
As an “Industry” of community owner/operators should we stay in DENIAL and bemoan the loss of chattel financing as the Death Nell to our businesses? Or, instead break our addiction to the “Good Old Days” of fast talking salespeople, weak lender underwriting requirements and our “lean” sub-standard on-site management practices??
Most community owners and operators are bright, intelligent and highly skilled! But, did we focus that talent too much on acquisition and too little on delivery of “Safe, Clean, Quiet, Crime Free and Drug Free communities into which Dealers could sell and on which Chattel Lenders could make less risky loans? In other words, could we as operators not shoulder more of the blame and therefore responsibly move forward and provide a better quality of life for our residents?
Should we consider like the auto industry setting up a “Certified Community” standard”? Then perhaps, again the manufacturers will find lenders and bond funds for us and bring them to our doorsteps! We must emerge from our denial and prove that we are making better choices and taking the steps in recovery to deliver on our end. “Safe, Clean, Quiet, Crime Free and Drug Free!”
Now the question begs, “How do we create these highly appealing communities with the great curb appeal?”
I hear the complaints from owner/operators about community residents and how difficult they are to manage. After all, they are not renters, they are “Home Buyers!” Yes, 20 years ago, I also thought the same. “What a great business! Renting land to home owners.” However, when I was new in the business and with the help of others, I learned to shift my way of thinking.
Maybe it was because I was raised in a less affluent, blue color part of town AND yet lived in a clean, quiet and safe environment that my desire since I got into this industry has always been to re-create these conditions in our communities.
Acceptance? Yes, the next step in recovery! Years ago I accepted that we are in the business of renting land to homebuyers who, for the most part, see themselves in transition and therefore retain their “Renter Mentality”. When we begin managing the actual “Residents we have” rather than the “Residents we wished we had” we can then create systems to drive behavior change in our communities. Personally, I created years ago systems that accomplish just that. Systems that I used to help acquire and manage 21 communities, 3,100 home sites and more recently, over 700 community owned homes.
I was asked to speak and share my concepts and systems to a group of over 300 new and seasoned community owners and investors three years ago, at an industry function in Orlando, Florida. Afterwards, I received many requests to provide others with what I had created and help them achieve similar results. So, I began doing just that.
The following is my response recently to a comment from one of my new clients:
Hi Mary, When you say that the people in South Alabama are “not motivated,” that may appear to be the case.
However ….. that is no different than I have heard from many of my clients over the years before we started working together and they began using my on-site management system at their communities. Whether in Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, North Carolina, Michigan, South Carolina or ‘Anywhere’ USA community owner/operators, who once thought the same, have learned otherwise using my systems and consulting.
Here is why? I remind them of this: All things and people are affected by universal laws of physics, in this case … Newton’s Law of Inertia. This is what you are facing in reality. “An object in motion tends to stay in motion but conversely an object AT REST tends to STAY at rest. We all have, from time to time, the “tendency’ to forget that there are the two parts of Newton’s Observations.
Success in management, sales and family affairs is simply (or not so simply) a matter of overcoming “Inertia.” Without understanding these principles of inertia, we would have never put a man on the moon. You have a tall heavy object on a launch pad and without “overcoming inertia” by applying “THRUST” there the Apollo rocket would stay.
Now the reality is that we apply different versions of “Thrust” to people than we do to rocket ships. That’s why I created “The Complete On-Site Manager” and “Mobile Home Gold”.
Sorry, I wish I could sugar coat it but, “it is, what it is.” You have a several choices to make. Stay where you are at with your business, create your own ideas to generate forward movement or … you can harness the systems that I have created over the last 17 years of Community Ownership.
Here is what my systems and consulting can help you to accomplish:
Collecting 100% of the collectible rent each month, creating 100% curb appeal in your community, get your manager to manage and your maintenance person to pick up litter and cut grass, rehab homes faster and for less money, finding investors to fund homes, homes to buy at discount and of course “making the phone ring and converting callers to buyers to residents” and the hard part … “Etc.”
Mary, Instead of having your current goal to move just 5 homes per year into your community (with 50 vacancies) how about this? Find out how many people are moving from someplace (apts., homes, etc.) to “somewhere” within a 30 or 45 minute drive of your Community each month. Then commit to getting 25% of those moves that are happening anyway, into your community.
Using my systems you can “Create 100% curb appeal in the next 30 days in your community.” I will help you move away from denial and into action.
Impossible?? So was getting a man on the moon!
Michael Power
To receive your free copy of my article, “Creating 100% Curb Appeal In The Next 30 Days” or for more Information on my Systems and Consulting just email a request to: Michael@MobileHomeParkDepot.com
Note: Michael is available for consulting, turnaround or infill projects, and has available for purchase a sophisticated and comprehensive (yet turnkey) On-Site management system for putting communities on “Auto-Pilot” while driving issues as discussed in this article.
Michael Power
mobilehomeparkdepot.com
