Manufactured Housing Communities of Oregon (MHCO) is holding its Annual Conference October 18-20 at the Valley River Inn in Eugene, Oregon.  This event is a productive and educational series of meetings and workshops designed specifically for manufactured home community owners, operators and managers.  The event begins with a golf tournament Monday, October 18th at Riveridge Golf Course followed by a welcoming dinner featuring Keynote Speaker Rep. Karen Minnis (R), Speaker of Oregon’s House of Representatives.  Tuesday, October 19th a buffet breakfast, general membership meeting and legislative update kicks-off the conference at 8:00 am followed by two full days of educational seminars and exhibitor presentations.  For information and a registration packet contact MHCO at 503-391-4496 or toll free at 1-800-488-6426.

Manufactured Housing Communities of Washington (MHCW) holds it’s next Committee and Board Meeting on October 20-21, 2004 a the Best Western Fife Hotel & Conference Center, 5700 Pacific Highway E., Fife, Washington.  These meetings are always fun, helpful, educational and informative.   For more information and registration information please contact MHCW at 1-800-345-5608.

The Oregon Manufactured Housing Association (OMHA) is holding its 36th Annual Meeting on Friday, September 17, 2004 from 6:30-9:00 pm on the Willamette Queen Riverboat in Salem, Oregon.  This fun evening and river cruise promises no speakers and no speeches, just a great dinner and socializing with industry friends.  For registration information contact OMHA at 1-503-364-2470.

Brett Pierce, formerly of Conseco Finance and HC Mortgage in Chehalis has announced his plans to launch a new company, Home Choice Mortgage in Olympia, Washington.  Brett, a longtime and respected industry veteran promises fast, efficient loan processing and a wide variety of manufactured home financing products for our customers.  Home Choice Mortgage is still getting organized, with official licensing and opening anticipated in the next few weeks.  Home Choice Mortgage can be reached at 360-754-2567, fax 360-754-4249.

CU Factory Built Lending is up and running.  Their first month in business out West didn’t set any land-speed records, but Bill Strunk said he is pleased with the progress they’re making, loves the support he is getting from headquarters and expects loan volume to increase quickly.  Contact CU Factory Built Lending toll free at 1-866-595-7228.

Origen Financial, Inc. got out their checkbook last week and recruited quite an impressive group of marketing and sales professionals away from Chase Manufactured Housing.  Jim Bramlage, Don Scarmuzzi, Kevin Brady, Jerry Plumlee and Wayne Carpenter have all joined Origen according to a press release published on Quicken.com.  While it was disappointing to see Chase exit manufactured housing it is encouraging to see Origen invest in their future by hiring these people.  Clearly, Origen is here to stay and has made quite a statement by adding this talented group to their company.

Business wise, this year has been about as exciting as watching grass grow.  We have experienced improvement in such areas as Southern Oregon and the Puget Sound, but most other areas would best be described as “flat”.  We are looking for the influx of new financing sources to stir up competition and drive down interest rates but the results of that evolution has yet to materialize.  It may be too soon to feel their effect, but I have heard of more manufactured home loan approvals coming in at single-digit interest rates, which is always good news to us in the land-lease community management business.

Thank you for taking a few moments to read this Industry Update. 

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