“Meshuggeneh”
We were checking out at Walmart last night after dinner. The woman who was ringing up our order was lightly conversing with my husband and family. She was commenting on something the previous lady in line had said before leaving with her new goodies. The lady at the register said to us, “What would my rabbi think about that?” Without missing a beat, Tony said, “He’d likely think it would be Meshuggeneh.”
The woman looked with surprised delight, but apparently made the quick judgement that we were not Jewish. “Yes, you’re right. But how do you know what that means?” “Because we have a number of Jewish friends and colleagues,” Tony replied, and in moments he and our son Tamas were both singing a few lines from Fiddler on the Roof to that woman’s amazement and joy.
The word “Meshuggah” is defined by the Free Dictionary like this: “Adj. 1. meshugga – senseless; crazy. meshuga, meshugge, meshuggeneh, meshuggener. Yiddish – a dialect of High German including some Hebrew and other words; spoken in Europe as a vernacular by many Jews; written in the Hebrew script.” It’s use was perfectly suited for the occasion, and the exchanged clearly lifted the spirits of that woman — who doesn’t know us, and we did not know her save for those few minutes at a register.
There are times when the right words – including lyrical words – can bring joy, inspiration, comfort, or insight to others. Words can harm, and words can heal.
As trade publishers, it is never our intent to harm another, quite the opposite is true.
Journalism and trade journalism are relatives, but they are not precisely the same thing.
There is journalism for a cause, so-called agenda journalism. Many in media try their hands at that, and to a degree, in as much as we advocate for this or that as a means of advancing manufactured housing in an editorial way, it would be fair to say that MHProNews and MHLivingNews have an agenda too. Every genuine trade media is a kind of de facto advocate for their respective cause or industry.
Ours agenda is out in the open. We want to see manufactured housing advance. Everything else, as my spouse might say, are details and commentary. During an affordable housing crisis, when the industry has done as much as 5 to 6 times higher levels of new manufactured home sales in the past, why isn’t the industry doing much better today?
Day by day, article by article, we strive to provide insights that address those kinds of opportunities and concerns.
Life can take surprising turns.
Neither Tony nor I imagined at the start of our studies and early careers that the course on our lives would bring us into manufactured housing.
My training was in medicine, and I’d been certified here in the U.S., and in a European nation, and my motherland too. Tony began his years of college studies in history, with a journalism scholarship, and a minor in business. As a medical scientist, I strive to look at things clinically. Tony uses decades of hands-on industry involvement in retail, communities, with lenders and producers, all aided by the lens of his education and other life experiences.
We naturally influence each other, as we aim to inform (and be informed by) you and the thousands of industry professionals, investors, and researchers who will check in today to read this among the total of 6.7 pages they will read on average before they go.
Depending on the time of year, and what’s going on in the industry, page views per reader can go as high as 9 per visit.
But even our most recent third-party data demonstrates that our readers are twice as engaged as the average mainstream media news site (by comparison, mainstream news gets about 3.3 page views per reader). Wow, we have double the engagement – or more – than mainstream news readers get. Our sincere thank you to all who make that possible.
Webalizer and Alexa are among the sources of our traffic insights, and third-party data tells us that no other trade publication even comes close to us in the manufactured housing trade media field. Again, thank you. By the way, it was a challenge from George Allen who suggested that we generate this third-party data report. We listen to a wide range of readers, and often respond to, readers comments, though not always instantly.
There are a handful of bigger websites than ours in what Tony likes to fondly call MHVille or HUDVille. But no one even comes close in MH trade media websites, or apparently in published MH media too. These are facts. No one else in MH media even bothers to share their trade site or readership data. NOTE: It’s not how many of what you print, it is what gets read that counts.
That’s one of several ways that third-party data comes in handy.
Why are we successful, and have a MH Professional audience as wide and deep as we do?
Fair questions.
First, we provide professional services to the industry, so we aren’t sitting in some ivory tower. We know factory-crafted homes from the ground up. Tony began award-winning, record-setting work in MH retail in the 1980s. He later shifted to working with lenders on remarketing, and then with land-lease MH Communities (MHC) and producers. In the industry’s trade media, it’s unlikely that anyone in MH history has interviewed more people than we have: actual manufactured home owners, numerous industry professionals, experts, and others who touch or connect with manufactured and modular home building.
Next, we curate topics that ought to have meaning for you, industry professionals, investors, policy advocates, and other kinds of researchers. Thus, it should be no surprise when a number of articles here get over ten thousand hits or more in their first month online on MHProNews. Millions of page-views in a year can yield the kind of statistics that generated the following factoid.
The industry needs inspiration as well as fair warnings, and de facto morality tales. We are guided day-by-day with input from industry readers from across the range of businesses of all sizes. The Daily Business News gathers input from a variety of sources, including:
- insights and interactions with members and staffs of trade associations,
- the federal government,
- state or local officials,
- mainstream media,
- experts in various fields, and much more.
Yes, we have typos, as detractors like to note, but we also bring the industry’s most read, most discussed, and hardest-hitting articles. Tony says, “chaff and wheat.” Keep the good grain, please pardon any keystroke or autocorrection-caused glitch. Please pardon as needed, and keep in mind that for me, English is my third language. Keep in mind too that we are doing more articles than all others combined between doing other services for various members of the industry.
We’re not aiming for the politically correct. We call it as we see it, but not for the sake of mere clickbait.
We are willing to expose what is necessary – the underlying factors that are holding our great industry back from achieving its potential for solving the massive, and growing affordable housing crisis.
We are willing to name-names, and point fingers, when there is evidence to make a claim.
We are evidence- and principle-based writers, with analysis informed by decades of hands-on experience in manufactured housing.
We’re mindful that every article gets read by thousands, many of whom will make decisions about manufactured housing related issues.
When third-party researchers, the federal government, others in mainstream media read, cite or quote our work, that all says something. When certain voices in MHVille attack us (usually, quietly), that says something too. When the naysayers won’t debate publicly, that definitely tells you something’s amiss. If they thought the facts were on their side, why not discuss them publicly?
Doing anything less than giving you actionable insights based upon reality – when during this U.S. affordable housing crisis our potential as an industry could be 5 to 10 times more business – could debatably be called Meshuggeneh.
If you want to sign up for our industry leading headline news, delivered twice weekly, you can sign up in seconds at this link here or after the end of this article.
That said, let’s dive into this week’s tops headlines.
What’s New on the Masthead
S 2155, Manufactured Housing,“Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act” Back Story
What’s New from MHARR
Montgomery Confirmed as HUD Assistant Secretary
What’s New on MHLivingNews
FICO Credit Scores, Debt-to-Income (DTI) Ratios, Financing, Housing, and Manufactured Home Loans
https://www.manufacturedhomelivingnews.com/fico-credit-scores-debt-to-income-dti-ratios-financing-housing-and-manufactured-home-loans/
What’s New on the Daily Business News
Saturday 6.2.2018
7 Surprising Keys to Unlock Manufactured Housing Industry Sales Success
7 Surprising Keys to Unlock Manufactured Housing Industry Sales Success
Friday 6.1.2018
Rollohome, Creating 60,000 Factory-Built Homes in 2 Years
Google, Tech, Manufactured Housing, and Political Power
Thursday 5.31.2018
Tariffs! Or Trade Tool? Markets Rocked, Manufactured Housing Industry Stock Updates
Cavco Industries (CVCO) Insights, Financial Update, Fiscal 2018 Fourth Quarter. Year End Results
Cavco Industries (CVCO) Insights, Financial Update, Fiscal 2018 Fourth Quarter. Year End Results
Understanding the Modern Realities of MHVille – Winners, Losers, Profits, and Loss
Understanding the Modern Realities of MHVille – Winners, Losers, Profits, and Loss
Wednesday 5.30.2018
Tariffs Designed to Defend American Tech, Peter Navarro Video, Plus MH Market Updates
NAR’s Lawrence Yun Raises Alarm for New Housing Crisis, MH Import?
NAR’s Lawrence Yun Raises Alarm for New Housing Crisis, MH Import?
George Allen Blasts MHI, NCC Ignoring Own, Spencer Roane, SECO, COBA7, Tom Lackey Controversies
George Allen Blasts MHI, NCC Ignoring Own, Spencer Roane, SECO, COBA7, Tom Lackey Controversies
Tuesday 5.29.2018
FEDs, AGs, Law, Weaponized Gov’t – Business Risk, and Defense
FEDs, AGs, Law, Weaponized Gov’t – Business Risk, and Defense
Emerging Building, Construction Technologies Poised to Disrupt Housing, Developing, and More
Emerging Building, Construction Technologies Poised to Disrupt Housing, Developing, and More
Monday 5.28.2018
Attorney General Sues Manufactured Home, Modular Housing Company, and owner Stanley Hall
Attorney General Sues Manufactured Home, Modular Housing Company, and owner Stanley Hall
High-Rise Manufactured Home Stackable Towers, Compete with Modular/PreFabs, Density at Lower Cost
High-Rise Manufactured Home Stackable Towers, Compete with Modular/PreFabs, Density at Lower Cost
Memorial Day – 60 Second Video, Honoring the Fallen Who Preserved Freedom
Memorial Day – 60 Second Video, Honoring the Fallen Who Preserved Freedom
Sunday 5.27.2018
And that’s all she wrote, with a little help from that other guy, during the week that was.
We’ll have some hot topics tomorrow, and beyond. The new issue of Featured Articles and Interviews for June will likely be up by Friday. If you and your team aren’t already among the thousands who read our twice-weekly headline industry news updates, click here or sign up free in seconds via the link below. Our headline news style emails are far more open-and-read than similar mainstream media news, again, per third party analysis. “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (Headline news, analysis, and commentary.)
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