FACTORY BUILT HOMES DEFINITIONS Many types of structures are built in the factory and designed for longterm residential use. In the case of manufactured and modular homes, units are built in a factory, transported to the site and installed. In panelized and pre-cut homes, essentially flat subassemblies (factory-built panels or factory-cut building materials) are transported to the site and assembled. The different types of factory-built housing are summarized as follows:

Manufactured Homes : These are homes built entirely in the factory, transported to the site, and installed under a federal building code administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The Federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards (commonly known as the HUD Code) went into effect June 15, 1976. The federal standards regulate manufactured housing design and construction, strength and durability, transportability, fire resistance, energy efficiency and quality. The HUD Code also sets performance standards for the heating, plumbing, air conditioning, thermal and electrical systems. It is the only federally-regulated national building code. On-site additions, such as garages, decks and porches, often add to the attractiveness of manufactured homes and are built to local, state or regional building codes.

Modular Homes: These factory-built homes are built to the state, local or regional code where the home will be located. Modules are transported to the site and installed.

Panelized Homes: These are factory-built homes in which panels— a whole wall with windows, doors, wiring and outside siding— are transported to the site and assembled. The homes must meet state or local building codes where they are sited.

Pre-Cut Homes : This is the name for factory-built housing in which building materials are factory-cut to design specifications, transported to the site and assembled. Pre-cut homes include kit, log and dome homes. These homes must meet local, state or regional building codes.

Mobile Homes: This is the term used for manufactured homes produced prior to June 15, 1976, when the HUD Code went into effect. By 1970, these homes were built to voluntary industry standards that were eventually enforced by 45 of the 48 contiguous states.

CALIFORNIA : California is enacting an emergency regulation with immediate effect requiring the exterior of manufacture  homes that will be installed in designated Fire Hazard Severity Zone (FHSZ) to meet the exterior fire resistant design and construction requirements of the California Building Code. Manufactured housing installed in communities and parks is temporarily exempted. The same requirements already apply to all other residential construction. The emergency action could have a very costly impact on hundreds of homes currently in retail stock in California because requirements are triggered by the permit date for the installation not the manufacture date. California only had two initiatives on the ballot during the sparsely attended last election: Proposition 98 and Proposition 99. Prop 98 would have substantially curtailed the government’s ability to take private property under the power of eminent domain. It would also have prevented the government from taking property under the guise of price fixing regulation, by outlawing future rent control laws. Prop 99 was a watered down version of Prop 98, which lacked any protection from price fixing, and which only narrowly applied to certain owner occupied single family residences. The bottom line is that Prop 99 passed, and Prop 98 failed. The vote was approximately 39% for Prop 98 and 61% for Prop 99. This means the voters made a choice. Whether they made an informed choice is an open question. Backers of Prop 99 threw almost $12 million at defeating Prop 98. On the other hand, Prop 98 supporters (including the manufactured home community owners) raised about $6 million; a two to one margin which was difficult to overcome.

SOUTH CAROLINA - The South Carolina Legislature gave final approval to the Manufactured Housing Institute of South Carolina (MHISC) legislation allowing retailers to hire apprentice salespersons for a 120 day period. Apprentices will undergo background checks, but won’t have to have a bond, take the course and pass the test required by the state. Retailers will save money previously wasted on salespersons who didn’t work out.

OREGON - The Oregon Building Codes Division (BCD) reports that Oregon manufacturers purchased 835 HUD labels during the month of August 2008. This is an increase of 22 labels (+2.7%) compared to the 813 labels purchased during August 2007. BCD also reports that Oregon manufacturers purchased 4,802 HUD labels from January through the end of August of 2008. They report that 6,205 HUD labels were purchased during the same months of 2007. On a year-todate basis, this represents a decrease of 1,403 labels (-22.6%) during 2008.

MINNESOTA - The Minnesota Legislature passed a bill that allows non-complying manufactured homes to be moved into a manufactured home community prior to completing the necessary repair work before it is installed or occupied.

Work With What We Have :: Linda Lindholm 

People ask me, “Where do you see the manufactured housing industry in five years?” The truth is, I’m not good at making predictions. Yet, much of this edition of the newsletter is about just that: economic reports, legislative and regulatory reform, community operations, sales techniques and plans.

In a new book, Rules to Break & Laws to Follow, the authors discuss how financial planners at the Daimler Benz automobile manufacturing company in the early 1900s attempted to forecast the eventual world market for cars. After careful analysis, they predicted that in about 100 years time, there would be about one million cars in use worldwide. A bold prediction for the time, it nonetheless fell far short of the 700 million cars on the road in 2005. The planners had based their predictions around their current reality that had every car operated by a chauffeur and figured that the world population of chauffeurs would by 100 million which would dictate the number of cars in use. That’s the problem with making forecasts. It’s hard to unshackle our imagination from our current approaches, technologies and previous experiences. To survive and prosper, we have to be open to change.