As reported last week the industry rumor has proved to be true.  Fleetwood Enterprises has sold the bulk of its retail home sales division, Fleetwood Retail Corp. to industry giant Clayton Homes.  Add this to the recent announcement that Clayton is purchasing Karsten Homes and we clearly have a company in this industry that quickly has become an industry powerhouse.  The press release is below:
 
Fleetwood Reports Definitive Agreement Reached to Exit Retail Business
- PR Newswire

With Clayton now owning and controlling brand names Clayton, Oakwood, Golden West, Marlette (Shult), Crest and Karsten, plus financing arms 21st Mortgage and Vanderbilt Mortgage, industry participants and Wall Street will be watching closely to see how this effects competitors and consumers.  We have never experienced a time when one corporate entity controlled such a large portion of the manufactured housing industry, so it’s difficult to predict how well this will work out and who will survive the consolidations. 

In other news, the closure of manufactured home communities around the nation is getting a lot of attention from local and state governmental agencies.  In Oregon and Washington publicity has been surprisingly effective in bringing attention to the plight of homeowners affected by closures.  Politicians are lining up to meet with industry leaders to see what needs to be done.  A “fix” includes proposed amendments to pending legislation in Oregon which could give a qualified individual whose manufactured home is being involuntarily moved a tax credit, possibly up to as much as $10,000.  Other help may include tax incentives for the community owner who sells the community to the residents, and some much needed leniency in allowing older homes to be placed in other MH communities that have vacant spaces and would welcome those older homes. 

The demand for land has created a buying frenzy by developers starving for property to develop, and many are looking at manufactured home communities as a source of land.  Commonwealth is carefully studying this issue and is determined to be a leader in developing a reasonable solution to this phenomenon, addressing equally the plight of the residents and their lienholders, and the rights of the land owners.  Stay tuned…
 

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