It has been several weeks since our last Industry Update email newsletter has been published, but it’s not for a lack of news, that is for sure.  To that end, there will be two early-June editions, the first dealing with community (park) closures news and the second will be a wrap up of industry news in general.
 
ANNOUCEMENT.
 
We are very pleased to welcome Scott Mullens to Commonwealth Real Estate Services as our newest Property Manager / Account Executive.   Scott has a successful track record in the manufactured housing and banking industries and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience that will certainly prove to be beneficial to our clients and our residents.  Most recently Scott has been with 21st Mortgage Corporation as the Remarketing Manager for the six Western states.  Before joining 21st Mortgage Scott was a Field Service Representative for Conseco Finance and later Chase Home Finance.  Scott also spent from 2000-2003 as a business development manager and branch manager for Electra Credit Union.  I met Scott when he joined Bergen Acceptance Corporation financing manufactured homes in 1995.  Scott has his Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from Chaminade University of Honolulu.
 
We at Commonwealth have become very familiar with Scott over the years as he has represented many lenders with repossessed manufactured homes in Commonwealth-managed communities.  Throughout our relationship with Scott, even though we have represented opposing sides that at times could have resulted in an adversarial relationship, we have found Scott to always be honest, reasonable and cooperative.  When you work with someone for many years under those conditions and maintain mutual respect it says a lot about that person’s character.  Through our dealings with Scott he has earned the respect of Adam, Melisa and I along with many of you.  Add to that the many industry contacts he has around the Pacific Northwest and his addition brings yet more diverse experience to a Commonwealth staff already deep in talent and experience.
 
NEWS.
 
It is easy to become exhausted by the constant news relating to manufactured home community closures in Washington and Oregon.  And as the red-hot real estate market continues, it appears builders will target some manufactured housing communities as a source of development land.  The city of Wilsonville, Oregon (a Portland suburb) so far has successfully defended their ordinance that makes it ridiculously expensive to close a community, and Bend, Oregon has just passed a similar ordinance.  Communities continue to close all around Seattle and Portland, and the Idaho legislature is threatening to introduce legislation aimed and curbing this trend in Boise and surrounding areas. 
 
What does this mean for us?  From a purely selfish standpoint, community closures are bad for business at Commonwealth Real Estate Services, as we are not only the grim-reaper of closures but we also are losing long term fee management clients.  But the other side is that land owners have the right to do what they want with their land and government should not intervene so quickly before the issues are debated and the decision makers are educated to clearly understand the ramifications of their actions.  This is NOT just a manufactured housing problem it’s a land use problem.  Adequate affordable housing is not purely our responsibility it is a societal need that remains unfulfilled regardless of what we do.  I could go on for hours, and we are very sympathetic to the plight of manufactured home owners who are forced to move their homes in order to make way for re-development, but a resolution to the issue has not been reached, and so far few people seem to consider building replacement “mobile home parks” for these people a legitimate option.  Yet the more you study the situation, doesn’t that make perfect sense? 
 
More to follow--- 

Greg Harmon - President
Commonwealth Real Estate Services
E-mail: greg@cwres.com
Telephone 503.244.2300 Ext. 101