marketing

[Denise]

Hello again Chrissy! I am still diligently working toward getting this community 100% occupied. I came here in January and we were at 40% and now seven months later we are up to about 50%. This is still unacceptable for the owner who had hoped to be at 100% by now. He has had this community for about five years now and has not gotten past 40% with any of the previous managers. I still meet with all of the dealers witnin a fifty mile radius each and every week, and I have flyers out everywhere you can imagine. We have a great rebate program for the salespeople in the industry as well as a resident referral program. The general consensus from area dealers is that the industry is on a down swing due to the lenders being harder on potential new home buyers. I am in Louisiana and there are a few lenders that are not even making loans for manufactured homes at all anymore. People are walking away from them so much that they just won't take the risk. I am determined to fill this great community up and would appreciate your input. Thank you for your time. Denise

[rmurray]

Your attitude is just great....your owner would be a fool to run you off...keep up the good work...
Unfortunately for you the industry is changiong...I think it would be very hard indeed to fill a park in an area where there is cheap land available...With mortgage finance a consumer can buy 20K worth of land and have a lower payment than the home only payment in your park...not to mention the rent...

Your owner should be happy to increase his market share...Few parks in areas with cheap land have in the last 2 years...Keep up your good work..if you have increased the occupancy rate in the last few months...you are doing great...

There are a few lenders that have special financing for upscale parks...SouthTrust comes to mind...They have a special in park rate for home onlys in approved parks that is as good as or better than current mortgage rates...but the park has to be approved...there is only 1 approved park in our area with scores of exisiting parks...This park stays full..You might check with the regional manager for SouthTrust...It would be very nice if you could offer a discounted interest rate to your customers..

[charlotte b]

Have you considered contacting the lenders and asking for a copy of their wholesale list? You could bid on a home and if you get it you could fit it up. Put a sensible price on it. !0% down with a sensible percentage rate. You would have a nice home for sale for a lot less than a new one. Do you think your boss would go for it? You never know until you ask him.