Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/506676
MAY 2015 14 THE JOURNAL The New York Times Article Revisited BY FRANK ROLFE COMMUNITY CONSULTANT It's been a year since the New York Times ar- ticle came out about myself and Dave Reynolds. It created a firestorm of reaction inside the indus- try – much of which fell into one of two camps: 1) those who hated the way it portrayed the industry and 2) those who loved the way it portrayed the industry. I recently interviewed the writer, Gary Rivlin, to discuss what he learned from the reac- tions to the story, and his lessons learned were very telling. The industry is its own worst enemy on public relations Prior to the New York Times article, the only major media piece on the industry was the disas- trous December, 2012 Wall Street Journal article called "Tide Changes for Manufactured Housing". This article started with the bearish news that "shares of manufactured-housing companies were the big-ticket stocks for real-estate investors in re- cent years, faithfully posting double-digit annual returns. But now, some investors have soured on the sector". And it only went downhill from there, talking about the "falling fortunes of man- ufactured housing" (if you don't remember this ar- ticle, look it up on Google and give it a good read). So it was pretty amazing that, when the first positive article on the industry in two years comes out, people go berserk over trivial items, such as the author's use of the words "trailer park" and "mobile home park", instead of focusing on the big picture. The reason that the author used these terms is simple and beyond refute: if you want internet search engine optimization (which the New York Times does), you cannot use the term "manufactured housing" as there are virtu- ally no searches for those words on the internet. One industry "guru" that claimed to be horrified that anyone would use the words "mobile home" later crawled away when I pointed out that they use the words "mobile home" on their own website – apparently because they had also learned that you cannot use any other term for SEO. As Gary said "what's a manufactured home? I don't even know what that means." He said that he thinks the industry theory is "let's ban the word "trailer park". Let's fight the word "mobile home" and make the debate about changing the vernacular so everybody uses the word "manufactured home". It is another term that means nothing, I think." He then summarized his feelings with "I understand this is about changing the vocabulary, Yes, that stuff is really, really important to political debates in discussing something. I mean, that doesn't fool the bank, does it?" Of course, the Wall Street Journal article was sure to use only the words "manufactured home community" throughout, so I guess that made it better public relations for the industry? Perhaps people should look at the big picture, and thank anyone profusely who gives the industry a lift – regardless of what they call it. I think it's important to note that, since that arti- cle in March 2014, there has not been another major media article on the industry. Maybe peo- ple should have thought about trying to promote more positive articles than going after the author for hypocritical nonsense. We need to stop the charade on what is "affordable housing" and what is " lifestyle choice" Ever since the article came out, people have tried to tell me that it was one-sided and only cov- ered that niche of the industry that caters to af- fordable housing – and that there's a whole other side to the business that was left out. Well, here are the facts. To research the story, Gary lived in one of our communities for a week in Pontoon Beach, Illinois. That's where he got all of his sto- ries about the tenants and their opinions on the product. The community is called Holiday Man- ufactured Home Community, and you can look it up on Googlemaps at 4419 Horseshoe Lake Road. What's the first thing you notice from the aerial? That's right, it has a large private lake right in the center, with 50% of the lots being lake frontage. It also has a large office, free RV and boat park- ing area, paved roads, concrete curbs, two-car concrete parking pads – everything that every "lifestyle choice" operator has to offer. The homes are probably 90% from 1990 or newer, and the average car is probably a newish Honda. It has as good or better an appearance than 90% of the REIT properties I've toured. So let's cut the B.S. on the story being based on a certain niche. If it represented a niche, it would certainly be the upper part of the industry and not the lower. When the article came out, one industry "guru" made the statement that our communities are somehow lower in quality than the "lifestyle choice" operators. That's funny. We own a com- munity just around the corner from one owned by a REIT – and the two are identical. The only physical difference between our communities and those of the largest REITs (and I might add that our portfolio is now larger than UMH) is that we try to keep our costs reasonable so that we have a clear price advantage over traditional stick-built homes and apartments. The failure of many oper- ators to accomplish this is what the Wall Street Journal article was all about. In fact, if you really analyze it, the Wall Street Journal article repre- sented that perceived "upper niche" that basically offers the same product we do at twice the price. By contrast, Gary found at Pontoon Beach that "pretty much everyone I met was pretty happy. That is not only a compliment for you, that they were happy with the management. I think they were just sort of happy to keep their monthly rent really low, so they wouldn't have to work as hard or struggle for money every month." The only ex- ception to this, in my opinion, is ELS, which does a terrific job of catering to the highest end of the industry, and stands alone as the only true "lifestyle choice" operator, with a unique product and business model. Conclusion Hopefully, there will be another positive article on the industry in a major publication someday. And hopefully the industry will support it and pro- mote others to write similar pieces. That's the kind of proactive public relations we really need to advance our cause. To those who scared off other media sources: shame on you. Frank Rolfe has been a manufactured home community owner for al- most two decades, and currently ranks as part of the 10th largest com- munity owner in the United States, with more than 16,000 lots in 20 states in the Great Plains and Midwest. His books and courses on community acquisitions and management are the top-selling ones in the industry. To learn more about Frank's views on the manufactured home community industry visit www.MobileHomeUniversity.com. T J