Manufactured Housing Life

If you haven't toured a Solitaire Home lately, you are missing out. This company became part of the Cavco family, and their new, fresh approach to factory-built housing is refreshing. They still have the quality construction the company was founded upon, but their interiors have a new makeover that will compete with the best site-built homes at a fraction of the cost. 

The Yesterday by Clayton Homes

Manufactured Housing is trending! It is amazing that there is such an affordable housing shortage, but people are slowly understanding the value this type of housing offers.

Here are a few Lifestyled homes that we have staged in the last few months - let us know what you think!

The Pinnacle by Palm Harbor Homes

Happy Holidays - may all your dreams come true. 

 

From our homes to yours - Happy Valentines Day!

Mobile Homes. Trailers. Trailer Parks. Call them what you want, but as an industry, people are beginning to realize that our homes could be the solution for the affordable housing crisis. Our homes are beautiful, well designed, eco-friendly and yes, affordable. 

As an industry, we are very fortunate to have national groups like The Manufactured Housing Institute, and state organizations like The Texas Manufactured Housing Association that are advocates for the industry. We are so used to going to their conferences every year, 2020 felt like I missed a year in school, and I can't wait to get back to the education and conferences these groups offer.

With the huge labor and material shortages that we are experiencing, manufacturers are literally out of homes, but it looks like there are more homes finally becoming available. If you are thinking about buying a manufactured home, start your process early to make sure that your dream home will be ready when you are.

Was going through old posts and found this one:

I've seen Elvis and he was in Tunica, Mississippi this week at the South Central Manufactured Housing Show. Not only was his nearby home Graceland designated a Historical site that week but he was there in the flesh to welcome people to the show.

I was chosen to do the interiors for 5 homes built by Patriot Homes of Alabama for the Manufactured Housing Show and I had a blast! The weather held out and for the first time that I can remember we had no rain.

With all of the news coverage about the Rebuilding of the Gulf Coast, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with a team consisting of Architect John Carricarte, Marketing Guru Sam Weidner and the Patriot Homes group. They were able to showcase homes that were ideal to fit into existing neighborhoods that were ravaged by Hurricane Katrina as well as homes that would fit into many neighborhoods in that region.

Such fun times!

It's hard to believe that's it's been 10 years since Katrina set her eye on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. So much of the media was focused on New Orleans, but the entire Gulf Coast especially in Mississippi has yet to fully recover from her wrath.
When it became obvious that here was going to be extensive loss of housing , the Manufactured Housing Institute and the manufactured housing community sprung into action to make sue that people would have a place to live that was safe.
A few years after the storm MHI's magazine: Modern Homes had an article written by Lifestylist® Suzanne Felber with photography by Lisa Stewart Photography that shared what progress had been made, and what an important part of the rebuilding process manufactured housing played.
You can read a copy of the article here.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July

This Ultimate Lifestylist tries to stay organized, but with as busy as we have been it's not easy.

The last few weeks have been super busy trying to get all of my photos and files organized on my computer so I'm ready for all of the new images I hope to take at some of the Fall factory shows.

It's been a wonderful trip down memory lane as I looked at some of teh homes we designed for Patriot Homes, and I'm proud to say that most of those homes would be show stoppers now, even more than 10 years after they were debuted.

Trends vs trendy is always something to consider when you are buying a new home - will you love those brown walls after you have lived with them for 10 years or will you wish you had gone with something more neutral?  Time will tell.

We are so looking forward to being a part of the 23rd annual International Networking Roundtable that is hosted by George Allen and GFA Management.

I can't believe it's right around the corner! If you would like to be a part of this historical event, contact them at communityinvestor@sbcglobal.net

As a Lifestylist®, I love to decorate for the holidays. It doesn't have to big a huge expense or time challenge - just bringing out the things you love and creating new memories makes that special day one to remember.

This is a home that we LifeStyled for Patriot Homes back in 2002 - where has the time gone! It was at the Tunica show, and I love that Patriot always let me merchandise our homes to show lifestyle, including holidays and special events.

The home was their least expensive model, but we reminded people that every home is a place where the new owners can create their own special memories.

Happy Easter from all of us at The Lifestylist Brands and American Housing Advocates.

There is a reason Texas is so strong in factory built home  sales - they have a great organization that makes sure that the facts get out to their members and consumers. We got this press release today:

TMHA is pleased to announce our newest member resource with today’s launching of our Owner-Finance Resource webpage.

We have long known a portion of our membership has engaged in some form of individual lending.  Typically this is referred to as “owner-financing.”  Admittedly lending operations were never simple, but the complexity and education needed in the new regulatory environment has had an exponential impact on the demands of any would be lender, especially smaller owner-finance lenders.

The cry for help, education, resources, and direction is a common request we hear these days.  The high turnout at TMHA’s Dodd-Frank Implementation Workshop further demonstrated the demand in our industry for more help and more education.

Today we are launching a new, completely dedicated resource page focused on owner-finance lending.  In conjunction with the webpage launch we are publishing three new articles below in what we expect to be the first three installments of an on-going series of articles dedicated to this area.

 

For more information about the Texas Manufactured Housing Association you can visit their website or email them at: info@texasmha.com

The Louisville Manufactured Housing Show was held this week, and hundreds of manufactured housing buyers attended the event that had 48 homes showcasing what's new in home design.

It motivated me to revisit the homes that Lifestylist Design had merchandised for Patriot Homes over the years and I came across this one. It's the perfect example of timeless design, or even deign ahead of it's time. Drapery panels instead of fussy valances? Yes. High flat ceilings? Yes again. Soft muted colors accented by fabrics and accessories? Exactly what we are seeing today. Believe it or not, this was a home that was shown 8 years ago!

This is a perfect example why great design will never go out of style. When looking for your new home look for ideas that aren't trendy but are something you want to live with for a long time. By adding color in items that can easily be replaced like fabric, furniture and accessories you'll always be in style.

2013 was a great year for the Lifestylist Brands. We were honored to be asked to speak at some large national conferences, new clients joined our family and we continued to be more active in social media.

Flipagram is an app that lets you choose photos that you used in Instargam and make a flip book movie out of them.

Take a look at our Flipagram movie and see some of the people, events and places that made 2013 a year to remember.

Happy Holidays from all of us at The Lifestylist Brands. May your holidays be bright and beautiful, and 2014 be a year of love, laughter and compassion.

All of us at The Lifestylist Brands would like to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. May it be filled with family, friends, love and great food!

When I trademarked the term Lifestylist® over 10 years ago I had no idea what I was in for. I thought by registering the name and going through the proper channels I'd be protected - unfortunately it wasn't that easy. You have to constantly monitor all of the media that is out there and be the  intellectual property cop which can be very time consuming, but the only way to protect what you have built. I've found that some people honestly didn't know that Lifestylist is a trademarked term and will remove their usage of it, but there are others who insist on getting lawyers involved.

Through all of this I've become increasingly more aware that there are some really stellar, ethical bloggers out there that really know their stuff and share great information and then well... there are others. Today I noticed a tweet from someone I follow and respect - Courtney Price of Courtney Price Design and sure enough it was full of great information that every blogger needs to be aware of.

Her article on Copyright Issues for Bloggers shows how to do the right thing - she contacted Susan and William from the House of Brinson about an online class they gave on copyrights,  got quotes and permission to use their photography and credited them in the article. Blogging should be about celebrating all of us - not just your own domain.

We teamed up at the beginning of our Lifestylist journey with Lisa Stewart of Lisa Stewart Photography so we would have the photos we need to tell our story with. I have a photography page at the top of my blog that credits her and states all photos are copyrighted.

Words to the wise: if you don't own the rights to a photo, got permission in writing to use it or took it yourself, don't use it. This is becoming an issue that more photographers and writers are taking seriously and winning in the battles that make it to court.

If you don't know if a term or service is trademarked you can go to the USPTO website, do a trademark search and anything that has been filed will be shown as well as who the owner is.

If you haven't discovered them already, be sure to visit The House of Brinson and Courtney Price Design to see examples of how to share ideas and make a house a home beautifully.

If you think mobile homes sit on blocks and that a mobile home park is undesirable, you haven't seen this beautiful home. The exterior is deceiving - what looks ordinary from the street is extraordinary when you walk and side and see all of the spectacular views and renovations that have been made to the home.

For more thoughts on the value of factory built housing and why it's so important to choose the right person to market your home visit our Lifestylist site. For more photos and information on purchasing the home visit celebrity Realtor Madison Hildebrand's site - The Malibu Life. The photo above is compliments of Mr. Hildebrand.

What a busy Summer! Not only are factory built homes selling as fast as the manufacturers can build them. mainstream media is finally saying positive things about our industry instead of talking about "trailer parks" and "mobile homes".  Even as Moore Oklahoma braced for some of the worst tornadoes in history, factory built housing held it's own and in some areas withstood the winds even better than the site built homes in the area did.

This Fall there are going to be lots of places to share all of this good news as well as learning about better ways to show and sell factory built homes. Lifestylist® Suzanne Felber is thrilled to have been asked to speak at the 22nd International Networking Roundtable for Land Lease Communities in Bloomingdale, Illinois September 18 - 20th and also at the Southeast Community Owners Symposium in Forsyth, GA October 8 - 10th.

Not only will these be great networking opportunities, but they will also be the places to tour new homes that are specifically designed for land lease communities, and to learn about important trends in our industry from the experts in their fields.

Click on the links above for more information, or feel free to contact us at: answers@lifestylist.com for more information.  Se you there!

I'm always amazed at the quality of life Yes! Communities offer to their residents. I was in Oklahoma City redesigning a clubhouse for them at their Timberland community, and even though it was a hot day there were a group of kids playing basketball on the sports court, people were enjoying the pool, and lots of kids playing in their front yards and enjoying the playground.  Residents were dropping in to the clubhouse asking when they could reserve the space for their personal use - the list was filling up quickly!

There are so many discussions going on about kids being parked in front of their computers and not being active -that definitely wasn't the case at Timberland. There was lots for them to do, and they were taking advantage of those opportunities.

Land lease communities offer a wonderful quality of life. Being able to live in a community with features such as pools, sports courts, beaches, mountain views and other lifestyle options means that there is always something to do!