MHI
CAS and MHVillage.com
Team Up to Strengthen Resale Market for Existing
Manufactured Homes
Arlington,Va., Oct. 26, 2005 – In support
of its strategic goal to “Improve the Resale
Market,” the MHI Board of Directors at its
annual meeting in Orlando in September unanimously
endorsed MHVillage.com
as a national multiple listing service (MLS) for
the existing homes market. The primary drivers for
this decision were:
1. The clear and urgent need for the industry to
move toward a “MLS” system to organize,
professionalize, and revitalize the resale market
in manufactured home communities;
2. The willingness of MHVillage.com
to offer free listing privileges to MHI and state
association members;
3. The leadership position of MHVillage.com
with over 11,000 manufactured home listings and
traffic of over 7,000 visitors per day;
4. The commitment of MHVillage.com
to attract, integrate, and aggregate existing and
future local MLSs throughout the country; and
5. The tight integration and data sharing between
MHVillage and the new MHI Community Attributes System
(CAS) Web site, www.mhicas.org.
The MHI CAS and MHVillage.com
Web sites share the same database of listings, closed
sales transactions, and unrestricted community attributes.
When a home listing is added or a sale is reported
at MHVillage.com,
that information is immediately available on that
community’s CAS record at the MHI CAS Web
site. In addition, the positive, consumer- oriented,
and unrestricted information collected and used
on the MHI CAS site is made available for potential
buyers searching for homes and community information
at MHVillage.com.
Any community registered with the MHI CAS can promote
their community and link their Web site to MHVillage.com.
Now a potential buyer/resident searching for homes
can click on an MHVillage.com
listing and be immediately taken to that community’s
Web site for more information.
Currently over 17,000 communities are registered
at MHI CAS. Some of the photos and information is
dated so community owners are being encouraged to
register and update their information so that potential
residents can see the latest and most positive information.
Community owners also benefit since up-to-date CAS
information now gives lenders the confidence to
make favorable and well-informed lending decisions
in their communities.
The industry’s largest lenders are already
supporting both the MHI CAS and MHVillage.com.
Most list their repossessed homes on MHVillage,
while several provide monthly reports of closed
sales transactions to the MHI CAS. Many are encouraging
community owners to register their communities on
MHI CAS as the lenders integrate the CAS into their
loan approval process.
MHVillage.com
has committed to work with MHI to organize, strengthen,
and revitalize the resale market by helping to move
it toward a real estate-like MLS marketplace. MHVillage.com
is working to aggregate the listings of existing
and future local manufactured homes MLSs into a
national consumer-oriented MLS site. The result
will be a stable resale market, more efficient sales
transactions, fewer repossessions, higher resale
values, better support for new home sales, greater
value for consumers, and a much improved public
image.
To register and update your community at no cost
on the MHI CAS, visit www.mhicas.org.
To list your homes on the MHI-endorsed national
MLS, go to www.MHVillage.com.
