What You Need To Know

Could a national site builder and a HUD-code manufacturer create another paradigm shift in attainable homeownership? By Chris Nicely, President, LANE Associates Let me begin with an important disclosure: I have no knowledge of any transaction, negotiation or acquisition involving the companies discussed in this article. This is not a prediction, and it is certainly not inside information. It is simply a “what if.” But after Berkshire Hathaway’s acquisition of Taylor Morrison,

By Chris Nicely, President, LANE Associates I did not grow up thinking I lived in a housing innovation. I simply thought I lived at 356 Loveman Avenue in Colonial Hills, Worthington, Ohio. My family moved there in 1957. It was a comfortable, two-story house, 3 beds, 1.5 baths, 1,176sqft, in a neighborhood filled with families participating in America’s expanding middle class. We had yards, sidewalks, schools and neighbors. To me, it was simply home. Only decades later did I d

Generated, Edited By Chris Nicely, President/CEO, LANE Associates Every summer, HousingWire's lead analyst Logan Mohtashami publishes a mid-year checklist of the data points that will decide how the second half of the year plays out. His latest, "Keys to the housing market for the rest of 2026," published June 20, lays out exactly what he'll be watching: pending sales, purchase applications, inventory, new listings, price cuts, the 10-year yield, and mortgage spreads. It's a

Berkshire Hathaway’s newest housing acquisition creates scale. Its greater opportunity may be connecting forms of housing that the factory-built industry has traditionally kept apart. Here is my take on the possibilities. By Chris NicelyPresident & CEO, LANE Associates, LLC Berkshire Hathaway’s acquisition of Taylor Morrison Home Corporation deserves attention for more than its $8.5 billion enterprise value. Completed on July 24, 2026, the transaction brings together one of t

Passing housing legislation is not the finish line. It is permission to begin. By Chris Nicely, President & CEO, LANE Associates, LLC The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act creates opportunities to remove barriers, modernize financing and expand the contribution of manufactured and factory-built housing. But legislation does not produce a single home. It does not open a single parcel, approve a single development, finance a single buyer or connect a single family with a safe an

By Chris Nicely, President & CEO, LANE Associates, LLC If you spend any time reading comments on local news, LinkedIn, Tic-Toc, FB, Instagram, about a manufactured home community, you'll see the same pattern play out. One bad experience - a lending problem, a poor-quality build from years ago, a run-down park with an absentee owner - gets held up as proof that the entire industry is a scam and shameful. Meanwhile, the family two counties over who closed on a beautiful, affo

Generated and Edited By Chris Nicely, President & CEO, LANE Associates US The profile of the American home buyer has shifted dramatically over the past two years - and if your marketing and sales approach hasn't shifted with it, you're likely spending time and money reaching the wrong audience the wrong way. Understanding not just “who” is buying today, but “how” each generation searches, researches, and ultimately decides, has become essential to competing in the factory-bui

Generated, Edited By Chris Nicely, President/CEO, LANE Associates Every summer, HousingWire's lead analyst Logan Mohtashami publishes a mid-year checklist of the data points that will decide how the second half of the year plays out. His latest, "Keys to the housing market for the rest of 2026," published June 20, lays out exactly what he'll be watching: pending sales, purchase applications, inventory, new listings, price cuts, the 10-year yield, and mortgage spreads. It's a

By Chris Nicely, President & CEO, LANE Associates Every successful business owner can point to a decision that changed everything. A new product line. A new sales strategy. A new market. A new technology. An acquisition. At the time, those decisions probably felt uncomfortable, even scary. They involved risk, uncertainty, and stepping away from what was familiar. Yet those moments often became the catalyst for growth. The challenge is that success itself can become a barrier

The single biggest obstacle to expanding manufactured housing isn't construction cost, financing, or stigma alone - it's zoning. Here's what changed federally, what states are already doing about it, and what still has to happen at every level. Generated and edited by Chris Nicely, President & CEO, LANE Associates, LLC The Barrier Has Always Been Local For as long as HUD Code manufactured housing has existed as a federally regulated category, its biggest constraint hasn't bee

By Chris Nicely The United States has spent decades searching for meaningful solutions to its housing affordability crisis. While many policy discussions have focused on subsidies, zoning, or interest rates, one of the most significant bipartisan housing bills in a generation recognizes something our industry has known for years: factory-built housing-and particularly HUD Code manufactured homes-must be part of the solution. The recently approved bipartisan 21st Century ROAD