The Masthead

After 3 days in Texas, flying in last night over the nighttime skies of Chicagoland was an amazingly thought provoking experience.  All cities are different, and while you may find Wal-Mart and McDonald’s here and there, every city and town has its unique flavors.

With another flight heading out West tonight, my ‘in depth’ report on the TMHA meeting  that soon to wed DJ and Company put on will need to wait until this time next week.

Briefly for now, the gals and guys of Texas absolutely know how to hold an annual meeting that is informative, fun and uplifting.  A great mix of social, informational, business building, political updates and discussions that no doubt are part of the mix that makes the Lone Star state rank so high in the manufactured housing shipments and sales stats.

The Dominate Your Local Market seminar went well, and I’ll ask all of you who asked me for a copy to be patient until next week so I can sort through all those business cards, emails, etc..  For those readers who are planning on going to Nancy Geer and Company’s NYHousing meeting in October, we will present Dominate there too.  I certainly hope you will have as many take aways as the good folks in Texas thoughtfully said they received.

Indiana – IMHA – your MHMSM.com program will be different: “How to Attract More Customers with Good Credit” will be the theme of my presentation for you there.

We also are working up a fine set of speakers for the Louisville Show in 2012!  Other than introductions, my plan is to let others do the talking, while I sit back and soak up what sales, management, marketing and finance pros have to share that will drive more business for 2012.  We have a particular item that I think could end up BIG news, that I’m told will be rolled out at Louisville in 2012.  The price is right, folks, so please be there!  I came in the snow to Louisville this past January and 970 other MHPros that did too seemed to feel like it was a great way to start off the new year.

Without letting the cat out of the bag, I have to say that Texans think big.  I heard some news that I’m just dying to share, because there needs to be a broad industry discussion on key topics.

What I will share is that Texans are talking about big issues, in their board meetings and in public sessions.

Stay tuned to learn why Texans have confidence that inspired me, and IMHO, that we all need to be inspired by, so that we take all the action that is needed to protect and promote our great industry.

It was a pleasure to be back in Tejas ‘The Friendly State,” and I look forward to sharing some photos and reports about the TMHA annual meeting, beyond the one we have already published about Joe Garcia’s address in yesterday’s Daily Business News.

For all who made it happen, and to all who were so kind as to say hello while I was in Fort Worth, hat’s off! # #

It is said that the origin for the following maxim was Scottish born James Kelly;

“Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.”

As an industry, if we have been fooled more than once, so that translates into shame on us.  Let’s stop fooling ourselves, and take the shame of having a poor image off of ourselves and our customers.

 

Besides the fact that we ought to be first choice housing for millions of potential home buyers, let’s look at just one of the many routinely lost opportunities for our Industry.

“Affordable housing” programs abound coast to coast.  Why is factory building – especially HUD Code manufactured homes – so seldom considered for what could be hundreds of millions (potentially billions) in annual contracts?  Some of the answers are:

• Image issues with public officials and the public at large.
• Outdated stereotypes.
• Education.
• Poor media engagement.
• Industry training (or a lack thereof).

Why do we settle for bread crumbs when we could be growing our market share and sales and doing very well?  We will dig into that below.

MODs and (vs.) HUDs.

We did a Daily Business News (DBN) last week that described modular construction as a media darling.

http://www.mhmarketingsalesmanagement.com/blogs/daily-business-news/modulars-media-darlings-but-panelizers-have-hotter-stats/

Yet HUD Code production still produces more homes that modular construction.

As we showcased in an earlier article (see link below), we should avoid MOD and HUD builders, marketers and sales people working against each other.  Factory-builders need to clarify and support the value of all factory building!  Imagine if the auto industry suddenly disowned entry level cars?  We need residential style MODs and HUDs as we do entry level HUD Code models.  We need modular producers to band with HUD Code builders in an effort to build image, and thus build overall acceptance and understanding to grow the number of sales for all of factory built home construction.

http://www.mhmarketingsalesmanagement.com/featured-articles/august-2010/891-builders-of-mods-and-huds-can-they-get-along

Image and Marketing Campaign plan update

It is easy to moan and groan, but we are believers that you don’t point out a problem without proposing a solution!  The MH Alliance/Phoenix Project continues to draw new parties and inquires.  One common question is, where do we find the power point on the MHProNews.com website?

The Answer is, you don’t.  We have learned that those who go through the GoToMeeting understand the power point better than those who don’t.  To save everyone time and avoid misunderstanding, we try to schedule weekly or every other week GoMeetings (webinar limited to a maximum of 15) for this purpose.

But let’s bullet point some keys to the program.  The designers of the program, which has had input from MH pros from coast to coast, looked at the following issues, and provided solutions that address the following challenges:

• Image & education
• Attracting more credit worthy prospective home buyers
• Protect MH Lenders and Consumers against serious losses
• Re-marketing for home owners, chattel lenders and other industry professionals
• State/region specific marketing and sales enhancement
• Coaching/training inside the industry (best practices)
• Targeted marketing for upscale, mid-level and entry-level manufactured (or modular) home prospects.
• Assistance for existing manufactured housing associations in lobbying public officials on industry related topics
• Positive mainstream media engagement

You can see what others leaders and professionals say who have attended the MH Alliance/Phoenix Project power point here.

You can schedule your free attendance by placing MH Alliance/Phoenix Project in your subject line with an email to me at tony@mhmsm.com.

Let’s end the shame on us, with a smart, money making, cost effective approach that will deal with our issues in a 21st century manner.  (Secret: a creative way to pay for this plan is one of the most complimented parts of the program)

George F. Allen’s Retirement and related transitions

As a pair of last newsy tidbits, award winning and now Hall of Fame member George F. Allen will soon be announcing details of his retirement and business units transition plans.  We won’t steal his thunder, so stay tuned for more once he makes his announcement.

Wolves, Sheep, Sheepdogs and Denial – 9.11 related thoughts.

Please check this item above out, submitted by a bank president to us for the Inspiration blog.  Pass it onto your friends. # #

Right or wrong – left, center or right – we are all influenced by the media.  We may like or dislike someone in part because of how the media portrayal of that person has ‘shaped’ them in our minds.

The same thing happens with housing.  The public may like or dislike something or someone based on the media portrayal that has taken place.  In politics, we may find ourselves siding for or against a person, not because we like or dislike their political views, but rather because “the media” says this or that person is ‘unelectable.’   Thus sometimes better qualified candidates get tarnished, and poorer ones get advanced, because of how the media relentlessly shapes a candidates image in the public’s mind.

In a similar manner, the media portrayal of manufactured housing has doubtlessly influenced your employees. It may even influence you, in fact, it is a given.  You act or react to the media and how they shape (or misshape) the perception of what we do for a living.

Let me tell you straight up, the relentless negative stream that tends to come from the media on our homes costs our homeowners and your company money.  If your company is publicly traded, this costs your stockholders a fortune.  How, why?

• This is a deep topic, worthy of a white paper, but let me simply share a few quick examples before moving on to the rest of this column’s post.

• When your employees are using the wrong terminology, calling a manufactured home a ‘mobile home’ or the ‘T’ word (tr- -l-r), your firm is going down the wrong path.

• When your employees are thinking of a HUD Code home as being inferior to conventional housing, your firm is going down the wrong path.

• If your staff are not true believers, how can they be effective with prospects who are discerning, have interest but also have concerns?

Employees, managers or owners who think ill of manufactured housing, or who think of our Industry’s products as second class houses are arguably not able to do a good job selling or communicating to anyone who isn’t already ‘sold.’  People on the fence – those who often have cash or good credit and friends with good credit and cash – will look elsewhere, and you may never know it or know why.

Infinity

Infinity is the name of an eclectic publisher I wrote for back in the 90s.  The columns I did were generally political or economic in nature, and had a unique spin.  The publisher liked them and they said their readers did too.  But not unlike the Manufactured Home Merchandiser Magazine and so many other publications, they are now but a vapor in the mist.  What I liked about Infinity was that while they were primarily a left-of-center type publication, they were willing to share my own eclectic mix of some traditional and yet modern thoughts on topics from the money system to politics, the Constitution, etc.

This is a round about way of saying, it is good to know multiple sides of a serious topic or issue.

When the new format for MHMSM.com – MHProNews.com – comes out later this month, you will see both CNN and FoxNews feeds on it.  Those of you who follow our Daily Business News know that we source topics from ‘all sides’ of the political spectrum.  Part of the reason is that we are sent tips from people who share an interest in factory built housing, but whose politics or views run the gamut from ‘left to center to right.’

Barbara Boxer

I’m not particularly a Barbara Boxer fan, but she is an example of a story that we did recently based on an OpEd piece that was emailed into us (you can too at our iReportMHNewsTips@MHMSM.com or one of our staff email addresses). Here is the link to the Boxer story, in case you missed it.

You may agree or disagree that Boxer’s bill could help (or harm) manufactured housing or the public in general, but we are news media and this was a legitimate news item of interest to our Industry.

Pat Buchanan

I confess I find Pat Buchanan to be interesting.  He is painted as ultra conservative by the left of center media.  But some conservatives often don’t quite know quite what to do with Pat either, because he is not an ‘amen’ kind of man.  As a friend of mine pointed out, Buchanan is as willing to go after George W. Bush as he is Barack Obama.  As another Buchanan follower (and reportedly a friend of Buchanan’s) said, he has a set of operating principles he adheres to, and those help guide his thoughts for or against a person’s position, policy or politics.

Here is a sample below of pure Buchanan. Try not to jump to conclusions until you’ve read it all, he has a surprise in here for you.  The topic deals with U. S. manufacturing, jobs, our economy – in short: factors that influence our day to day businesses and lives:

“Why don’t we make things here anymore?” is the wail.

Answer: We don’t make things here anymore because it is cheaper to make them abroad and ship them back.

With an economy of $14 trillion, we may still be the best market in the world to sell into. But we are also among the most expensive markets in the world in which to produce.

Why is that? Again, the answer is simple.

U.S. wages are higher than they are almost anywhere else. Our health, safety and environmental laws are among the most stringent. Our affirmative action demands are the most exacting, except possibly for those of Malaysia and South Africa.

Does the cost of production here in America alone explain the decline in manufacturing and stagnation of workers’ wages?

No. For since the Revolution, America has had a standard of living that has been the envy of the world. From the Civil War through the 1920s, as we became the greatest manufacturing power the world had ever seen, our workers enjoyed pay and benefits that were unmatched anywhere.

Yet our exports in those decades were double our imports, and our trade surpluses annually added 4 percent to the gross national product. How did we do it?

We taxed the products of foreign factories and workers and used the revenue to finance the government. We imposed tariffs of up to 40 percent on foreign goods entering our market and used the tariff money to keep taxes low in the United States.

We made foreigners pay a price to get their products into our market and made them pay to help finance our government. We put our own country and people first… (Pat Buchanan, Human Events magazine)

This thinking so cuts against the grain of the ‘free trade’ crowd.  Most Democrats and Republicans alike have made Free Trade almost a mantra, but has it accomplished what it promised?  Think about it, or sound off if you already have.

Doug Gorman and an example worth sharing

Doug is an adviser, a colleague and a friend.  We can agree to disagree and still be friends.  More often than not, I find Doug’s views as a manufactured and modular home retailer, association member and super involved-in-industry issues gent interesting and helpful.  He shared an fine experience on how he is personally dealing with the Dodd-Frank issue:

http://www.mhmarketingsalesmanagement.com/blogs/industryvoices/retailer-plans-meetings-to-effect-positive-dodd-frank-change/

If I were someone at MHI or a state association, I’d certainly want this article held up as an example of what we’d want owners/members doing to advance the good name of factory built homes and how we can impact our elected officials in a positive fashion.

Your own views and experiences are welcome on Industry Voices. Remember, these are Guest Columns (letters to the editor, OpEd) on issues that relate to the systems built (factory built) housing industry. Your name appears at the end of an Industry Voices column.

Be a part of the Industry turn around and conversation. # #

There are times when discussions and lobbying with regulators may reach an impasse.  If the matter is serious, for example, involving very costly matters, what can be done when such an impasse occurs?

In theory, the options are many.  They can include lining up public or elected officials support.  Engaging the executive (governor,  president etc.), waiting for the next election cycle and hoping for support from future elected officials.

Positive, constructive engagement should always be the preferred course of action.

But when all else fails, you can do what the NAHB and other businesses successfully did.  Take legal action and sue the regulators.

Recent victories by businesses re: Dodd-Frank and the NAHB re: the EPA using legal action with federal regulators are linked above.

Legal action has it’s obvious costs.  But sometimes, there may not be any other viable alternative.

Manufactured Housing Daily Business News stories can provoke thought, suggest solutions or may point out overlooked opportunities.

Among the potentially useful news items in recent days was a program designed to improve small community’s water systems.

When it comes to news, tips and views you can use, thank you for counting on us. thanks for sharing your news tips too.  ##

I think it was Bob Dylan’s third album that had the lyrics, Oh The Times They Are a-Changin‘. This is as true today as it was when Dylan first sang it.

I’ve spoken this past week with 4 well placed manufactured housing finance pros, not counting emails from others. While each had a unique take, one thing they seem to agree on, we could boil down to a message Marty Lavin has already put into print.

Wall Street knows our Industry well. They know our statistics. They know our loan performance results (or the lack thereof). They are not about to be ‘fooled’ again.

No more Greenseco.

Don’t shoot the messenger, please, but one gent told me that it was ‘easy money’ that filled manufactured housing communities. That easy money is gone. We now need to attract credit worthy customers to communities and retail centers, as we shared recently in The Cutting Edge in online marketing and sales blog.

Accomplishing that requires making real, positive changes.

I’m inviting more and more Industry lenders and other Industry business and association leader’s to sound off in our Industry Voices guest blog. We need more people sharing their ideas – perhaps YOUR ideas – on what is necessary to turn business performance and thus industry performance around.

Because it is a foolish dream to think that easy Greenseco style money is returning. Those doing owner-financing can make loans to 550-590 credit score customers if they want to, but the Feds, Wall Street and savvy investors will make sure the Greenseco fiasco won’t be repeated. These pros tell me that anyone who tells you something different is mistaken or is selling something.

Now about writing. Professionals are busy, I understand that, and some just don’t have the desire to write in the first place. But until large segments of the Industry understand the imperative to change, we are going to continue our downward slide.

You need to hear these pros who speak to me address you in their own words. That is the ideal. That is what the Industry Voices guest blog is all about. Until more leaders take the time to write, I will do my best to share with you what they and other industry professionals share with me.

Monopoly money from Greensceco is gone. The FHA has also said they won’t take it in the shorts again at a semi-private DC meeting last year. Loans have to perform.

When a repossession occurs, Industry pros have to step up to the plate and help the lender out. Lenders tell me that those who do, will be remembered. They also say, that those who don’t will also be remembered. Now why is this important? Are lenders looking for a free ride?

MH chattel lenders are very willing to pay a reasonable commission and true costs to facilitate a sale. What they can’t do is continue to lose 50% or more on a loan when a repossession occurs. How can professionals seriously want more financing, when some treat lenders at repo time so badly?

We need to help lenders exit from a repossession in the normal way that it happens in the normal real estate world.  Taking care of our Industry lenders is taking care of the present and future life-blood of our Industry.

MLS

Lenders and home owners need a re-marketing tool. Lack of cost-effective re-marketing is one key factor that is killing our Industry’s opportunities for growth.

In theory, the Industry already has a Multiple Listing System (MLS) type system, as Data Comp’s Dan Rinzema points out in an article by him in our upcoming September issue. What most may not realize is that other efforts at creating an MLS system are looming on the horizon. There are plenty of tools out there such as Manufactured Home Source, MHVillage to list and sell homes. New competitors to these well know firms have been created and will soon or already have been unveiled.

As an AZ retailer I spoke with recently said, what we now have (MHV-MLX) is so underutilized it may as well not exist. I’ve certainly spoken with others who say the similarly from their part of the country. While I understand the point the AZ retailer made, where we disagreed was the following.  The lack of use of the MLS we have doesn’t make it bad, it simply means that any MLS system must be promoted, promoted and promoted again until it becomes second nature for our industry to use.

Because change doesn’t happen without someone ‘selling’ or promoting the change. That will take some time, money and a long term commitment on the part of those promoting an MLS.

What we should all realize is that an MLS is critical.  Green Courte Partners Randy Rowe’s keynote speech last year correctly called for it as part of a 5 point plan for Industry recovery.

Lending and MLS are just two factors, there are more that need addressing if we are to attain our potential.

Without solid, positive change, we will see more and more industry members die out. That is not fear mongering, that is a statistical fact! Think about the dramatic fall of so many manufacturers, retailers and a growing number of manufactured home communities with high vacancies, more of which are in forbearance or foreclosure.

Two Words

Long before launching the MHMSM.com – MHProNews.com – online trade media, I published an article in the Merchandiser Magazine that we later reprinted here. Two Words explained just why I think the INDUSTRY will survive!

But will you and your company make it?  Will you be part of the bright future some housing experts like Dr. David Funk or Chuck Shinn predict?

In the body or in a business, pain is a call for change.  The Industry’s survival doesn’t mean you and your business will make it. A struggling factory, lender, retailer or community’s business pain is a clear message telling business leaders to change.

The rich and famous companies can always find the capital and ways to adapt. It is the mom and pop to mid-sized players that need to find creative ways to adapt and grow. If not, they will follow the bulk of the MH Retailer base who have already vanished in the last 12 years.

Herpes or owning the typical MHC?

A successful professional told me recently they would rather have a case of herpes than own the typical manufactured home community today. Those are strong words! They came from a community owner. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t believe in the industry, quite the opposite! He believes the typical community will (paraphrasing) turn back into a pasture or will become a big box store.

This community operator admitted there will be exceptions, but without good marketing, professional management/ selling, resident satisfaction, attracting good credit customers, we will see more communities fail.

Change must happen.

Not just problems, let’s talk SOLUTIONS.

I don’t believe in talking about problems without proposing solutions. In concert with MH execs and business owners from coast to coast, we developed a plan that can make a difference. This plan can work for the single location mom and pop plus all businesses that are larger.  They key is involving pros who care enough to do what it takes. You can read the comments from those who have seen the MH Alliance/Phoenix Plan here.

For your own sake, please set aside the time to take a seriuos look at this plan. Once you have seen it, if you have a better one, one that deals with the realities of the Industry, propose it.

But until you’ve seen what it took months to craft, you are in no position to judge its merits. All you can do is think about what others have said, including more than one who opposed it, UNTIL they SAW for the MH Alliance/Phoenix Plan themselves start to finish.

I’m not Dr. ML King or any of the great orator’s – past or present – who will give you a soul stirring speech that will make you want to cheer, charge ahead and give your all. I’m a fellow who goes to his desk, day by day, the same as you do.

But I believe in our Industry and its potential future. We have a great product. We can be proud of it, especially when we back it up with great professional service. We need more than just an image and marketing campaign. We need a campaign that is tailored to fit YOUR market (not a one size fits all).

We need a plan that will get to the heart of what is wrong with our struggling industry (some say, failing) business model. That is what the MH Alliance/Phoenix Plan is all about – getting to the root causes of issues while giving us a tool to market and sell more homes through image building.

Associations and Leadership

I considered doing my blog today with a focus on associations, because I’ve seen and received more ‘anti-association’ messages of late. I may share excerpts from those comments in a future post. But I will cut to the chase and say my firm belief as before, we need manufactured housing industry associations. We need association leaders giving their best to move us ahead, not warring and feuding and watching our industry cycle down.

Many association pros are most assuredly doing their best to advance us. I salute all those who do!

One lender told me this week that as much as he enjoys going to MHI meetings, we need platforms like MHMSM.com to get the message out to the masses of Industry pros. Too few people can or do attend an MHI meeting, he said. There has to be a way to inform, inspire and improve greater numbers of MH professionals. The way to do that is the internet, and thanks to our sponsors, writers and readers like you, we are already doing it here.

The Imperative for real, positive Change

By implementing a plan for positive change, we can capitalize on the market changes that should favor manufactured housing.

 

If we do, we can become the dominant form of new U.S. housing construction, not second or third choice in housing. Dylan said it, Oh, The Times They Are a Changin’ – will you join the movement for positive change? ##

 

 

by L. A. “Tony” Kovach
Connect with me on LinkedIn
http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach

It was not long after this weekend’s “The Emperor has no Clothes” was posted that the questions started coming in. Among the more popular ones: ‘who is Michael Barnabas?’ ‘What does he do?’ ‘Which part of the Industry? ‘ And so on.

Among the calls/emails comes the question, is Barnabas my wife? Soheyla Kovach’s name is at the top of the blog post. But the answer is, no. The person who submitted a blog post’s name is at the end of that particular posting.

Soheyla’s login was also used to post Marty Lavin’s last column:

The WordPress blog software simply has this as a feature, that the person who logged in/posted – their name can appear.  This has nothing to do with authorship.

So please do not read more into it than that fact. This is a good example of how a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing, and how assuming – playing ‘Dick Tracy’ – can get someone into trouble.

Barnabas has been submitting articles to us for about half a year. Go to MHMSM.com main page and put his name on the search tool near the top right.  You’ll find a lot of columns.

Let me reply to those who ask, who is Barnabas, that my own wife doesn’t know. I trust my wife.

So as a news publisher, just as I would protect a source on a news tip that wants to be anonymous, so too I will protect this person as a source.  Because this person IS a source to us.

We don’t have to look beyond George F. Allen’s “MH Ronin” columnist (who is also writing anonymously, or under a pen name) to recall that there is a long, time honored tradition in America and beyond of such writing.  Some of our founding draft documents in America – and the writing opposed to them – was done at one point in time without the person writing being named.

Having now stated that I won’t reveal this person, let me share the wisdom of this position in the real world of manufactured housing, and you will see why writers and publishers have long done this in America and beyond.

For discussion’s sake, what if Barnabas was:

1. An MHI staff person, or a key MHI member?
2. A MHARR staff person, or a key MHARR member?
3. Was an employee (senior management) of:

• a HUD Code manufacturer
• an industry lender
• a public official who knows our Industry
• a community operator
• retailer, supplier, insurance company, etc.

I hope this what if helps make the point.  Sometimes people may feel the need to stay behind the scenes in order to get something done.  That does not mean we agree or disagree, just stating the realities of the issue.

Barnabas does what he/she does for his/her own reasons. It may be a scenario like the above, or a different one. Most assuredly, this person is involved with our Industry.

To put this in context. We have had a number of news items submitted anonymously. We have had anonymous comments posted. So long as bad language is avoided, and no legal or ethical lines are crossed, we allow it. We put a strong disclaimer on the end of this Barnabas column, which was just a restatement of our periodically published editorial policy.

So Barnabas is getting no special treatment.

So long as I know something of a person submitting an article, and they stay within the rules of civility (no foul language), obvious legal and ethical boundaries, I would extend the same courtesy to you or others as needed.

 

Most adults know the cartoon character Dick Tracy. Who is Barnabas?  Trying to figure out who he/she is would be (to me anyway) a waste of time.

Far more valuable is the idea of discussing the contents.

Let’s not focus on the messenger, but the message.

Industry professionals are free to disagree, agree, parse the Barnabas commentary, whatever you want within the rules of civility and the established rules of legal and ethical commentary.

Post a comment, or submit your own Industry Voices guest post.  It can be on a topic Barnabas covered or another, so long as it has general industry interest and is not ‘advertorial’ in nature.

Please put Industry Voices in the subject line of any email to us for an article you wish to submit.

We as an industry have a lot to get done.  We are shrinking in size, when we should be growing like wild.  Let’s focus on issues, please, not on our editorial policies, which has often been stated.

Having expressed this, we are moving on to other things, thank you. ##

The number of sign ups for Tweets, Connections (Facebook and/or LinkedIn) for our twice weekly e-mailed news updates grows steadily. These are all great ways to stay up to date with what is happening in manufactured and modular housing, as we Tweet updates and have these other tools to help you ‘stay connected.’ Sign up for our emails on our Subscribe link from the home page, and near the top right, you can connect with our social media.

We are winding down on August, which unless the sky falls the last 10 days, readers like you will deliver yet another record month for total visitors. That said, you should know that we may have occasional bumps in the road in the days ahead, as we get ready to make the changes to implement MHProNews.com and our new website format. We will move to a larger server to handle the anticipated traffic.  We have thousands of pages online now, and thus tens of thousands of links.  That’s a ton of moving.  The process – I’m told by our IT department – is never as perfect as one would like.

So if you experience some broken links, etc. – please do let us know by sending an email with the link you wanted.  Just say ‘broken link’ in the subject line. Thank you!

The incoming “e-mail bag” overflows daily with comments, questions, tips and more. Our email service tells us my tony@mhmsm.com mail e-mail bag averages over 200 messages in and out daily – and those are the individual messages – not spam or email lists – in and out. So if we ever fail to respond in a timely fashion, please understand and do not hesitate to email – or call – again.

As August winds down, do read all of our feature articles from our fine writers, and download your favorites. September is just around the corner and we will have a new set of feature articles ready to inform, stimulate and educate.

Among the calls and messages this past week were ones from or dealing with state and national associations and related topics. Please do see the Cutting Edge blog for a very nice comment by Chad Carr and catch up on the national image and marketing campaign front.

The Daily Business News and Industry Voices have been getting more than their fair share of visitors too. But don’t overlook Words of Wisdom and the Inspiration blog. We certainly need Inspiration and some Wisdom these days.

I want to thank you and all who send news tips (please put News Tip in the Subject line of your email), thoughts, articles or who sponsor our work on the Industry’s behalf.

FYI, occasionally we get a ‘false tip’ or a message, or some ‘news’ about someone of such a personal nature that we simply find it inappropriate to publish. We do mostly hard news, some occasional ‘fun news’ items too, feature articles or views columns.

So while our Daily Business News items does report arrests and convictions that are Industry news, there is a logic to doing so. Who slept with who’s significant other – no matter how high up the food chain they may be – is really not a news story we think is for for us or our audience. We are not the Enquirer or some tabloid.

My apologies to those who love that sort of thing.

I have a few calls and emails that I would love to get into today, but we have a lot of work to do before the end of the day, so maybe next time. But do let me encourage you to take a good look at this past week’s manufactured and modular housing Daily Business News. There are some really good items there that you may use for your business, or that you or your association may find helpful with politicians and others.

Thanks again for signing up, logging in, reading and spreading the good word about the your one stop shop for Industry news, tips and views you can use – daily! # #