Jason:
Absolutely. And we are graced by Mr. Tom Lackey, who is an industry advocate, the owner of Able Housing, which supplies short-term housing for folks. We’ll get into that in a second, but today we’re going to be talking really about SECO because Tom is also a park owner, and like I said, an advocate. Tom, can you tell us a little bit about Able Housing and then maybe a little bit about how you got involved in the mobile home park space?
Tom:
Sure. First of all, guys, thanks for having me on today. We really appreciate the opportunity to talk to you, and promote our SECO event coming up. My company, Able Housing, we are a temporary housing company, and we provide temporary short-term housing for the insurance industry, mainly, for people who have lost their home, say in a home fire, and we’ll bring out a mobile home to their home site, set it up on their home site, hook into their existing utilities, and they live in the home temporarily as their home’s being rebuilt. And we got into that industry back in the 70s, when we were a street dealer in Michigan. We had a tornado go through our area in the Northern part of Detroit. And we had insurance companies coming to our street dealership, asking us to rent out to some of our mobile homes, and it turned into a business.
Jason:
That’s crazy.
Tom:
But we’ve always been in… It is.
Glenn:
That’s a real need to fill that nobody was filling. That that was good insight.
Jason:
That’s super smart.
Glenn:
It is.
Tom:
Yeah, we… I’ll be candid with you, when they first started coming and talking to us, the insurance companies, we thought, “No, we don’t want to do that.” But then, we slept on it and felt like, “Oh, we could get a black eye in the community not wanting to help.” And so we jumped into it. And, yeah, it’s become a very nice business for us that we-
Glenn:
A niche within a niche, if you will.
Tom:
That is the truth. Yes, yes. But we’ve always had a dealership, and we’ve always been in the park space as well, owning and operating communities.
Glenn:
You have communities far and away and close to your home too, right. You’re kind of spread out, if I understand correctly.
Tom:
Yes. I live in the Atlanta, Georgia area, and we have communities in Georgia, and we also still own communities up in Michigan.
Glenn:
Yeah. And so managing long distance is a thing you might be familiar with. And the SECO conference that’s coming up here, just to give people an idea of what your involvement with SECO is, why don’t you tell us a little bit about that.
Tom:
Sure. I’ve been on the SECO planning committee for many years now. Spencer Roane and David [Roten 00:03:09] are our senior members of our committee and the originators of the SECO event, and they asked me several years ago to join the planning committee. I’ve really enjoyed working with them and working on the conference each year, and helping set up speakers, and where the events-
Glenn:
[crosstalk 00:03:35].
Tom:
… are held. It really is. The gist of SECO has always been community owners helping other community owners. We are a nonprofit organization. We don’t make any money. Any money that’s left over, goes to a veterans fund that we have that helps veterans in our communities. But it’s just always been community owners, helping community owners. And Spencer’s byline with all of that has been that a rising tide floats all ships, so that we’re just trying to make the industry better overall, nationwide.
Glenn:
You guys have been doing a heck of a job doing it. I’m so happy to be involved with SECO this year. As you know, I’ve been going for many, many years too, and it’s hands down my favorite conference across all of the ones that I do across the United States, a dozen or so a year of them. And the SECO has proven to be the one where the connections can really be made and the lessons can really be taught. And I love what we’re doing for this industry through SECO. And so, thanks for your involvement with this. This year, SECO’s going to be a little different, isn’t it?
Tom:
It’s going to be a lot different this year. Obviously, with what’s going on in the world and with the COVID situation, we had to make a decision very early on. We made the decision in March that we could not hold a live event, and we landed on a virtual event. We landed on it because so many people were asking us to continue on. That there was just so many conferences that were canceling, that there were just no educational opportunities available. And so we made the commitment, with a lot of help, that we would get into the virtual conference space, and do this conference. And it’s been really exciting for us.
Tom:
It’s been a big change. We’ve partnered with MH village, who’s been so instrumental in getting a online conference platform for us. It’s going to be a very, very unique event. But not having the live event is challenging, and we were kind of worried that, in the past, there are so many opportunities to network with other park owners and other people, and we wanted to create those kind of experiences with our attendees, even on a virtual event. And we think that the platform that we’ve landed with allows us to do that kind of thing.
Tom:
Not only will we have all the educational content, as a matter of fact, more education content than we’ve ever had. Last year, we had 28 educational sessions. This year, we have 66 educational sessions.
Glenn:
Wow.
Tom:
Just a huge amount of educational content, and then still the opportunity to network with other attendees that are community owners that might be in your state, your community, your area.
Glenn:
Right.
Tom:
Great opportunities.
Glenn:
As a park owner, what are some of your more favorite little side pieces that are going on… these side discussions, these little round tables for education that SECO holds? Which ones stand out in your mind as the ones that you’ve gained the most knowledge from, if you will?
Tom:
Well, in the past, we’ve had so many different round tables, and typically how a round table was chosen is, we’ll have the speakers and the different educational topics through throughout the day, and when we see that there’s a lot of questions on a particular topic or a particular speaker, we’ll add a round table toward the end of the day, so that community owners have a little… another chance to have kind of more one-on-one with a speaker or on a particular topic. We’ll load up around table with just some experts on any particular topic that we see as a hot button for people.
Tom:
I’ve sat in round tables that were just great, like on water metering and all the different types of water metering and the good and the bad. You’ll learn so much from other community owners, not necessarily what they did great, but what they did wrong. The people [crosstalk 00:08:16] –
Glenn:
And they were a lot of goods for a lot of [inaudible 00:08:17], right?
Tom:
Yeah.
Glenn:
Most of us didn’t have quite the education 10, 20 years ago when we got started in this business and we just kind of winged it, and something like SECO, back then, would have helped me out tremendously on the learning curve. Because for me, it was pretty hard to get my legs under me in the business at first.
Tom:
Absolutely.
Glenn:
And what’s great about SECO is that, it’s the brand new guy, first time even thinking about buying a park or, whatever, a small park or even a few homes within a park to guys that have been around in this thing for 30 plus years, and owners in there that have literally more than a 100 parks. So it’s a little bit of everything for whatever caliber of investor and somebody wants to come in.
Glenn:
And now this online platform, will hopefully expand our range for people to see the value in not just it being an Atlanta, Georgia type of conference, but really something that can be experienced from wherever in the country. Because it does have the same elements for wherever you’re operating, more or less about what SECO has to offered, learning the game, if you will.
Tom:
Absolutely. And it’s interesting, you say that too, about whether you’re a new person in the industry, or you’ve been in it a long time, we’ve just got something for everybody. Many of the days, and many of the time slots with these educational sessions, we’re running two or three educational sessions at the same time, and you can follow a track all day long. We have a track, for instance, on Tuesday that every hour there is a track just for newcomers to the industry, you don’t have to worry about, should I go to this session or that session? We have a track that’s just for newcomers. We have a track that’s just for management. We have a track that’s just for sales.
Tom:
So, yeah, whether, again, you’re new or you’ve been in it for so long, there’s a track and there’s a session designed just for you. A lot of thought has gone into it this year.
Glenn:
That’s great. And the platform itself this year, might be a little clunky for some guys that aren’t very into being on the internet for an extended period of time, I think they’re going to find real value in this still too, because this platform is pretty great. It’s very user-friendly and it’s meant to really feel like you’re in an office building with someone.
Tom:
It is. It has the feel that you are in a convention center. You’re going to have… Each attendee is going to have an avatar that they make up for themselves, and you take your avatar and decide where you want to go. For instance, if you want to go to our exhibit hall, we still, this year, have all the exhibitors that we’ve had in years past. And you put your avatar in front of say, a particular water meter company, and you’re going to have a video conference with that water meter company, as if you were standing in front of their booth and having a conversation with them.
Jason:
That’s so cool.
Tom:
And then the same thing, you’ll take your avatar… It is. It really… Very, very unique. And you’ll take your avatar and go into one of the educational sessions, and you’ll be able to see all the other avatars that are sitting in that room with you. You’ll actually be able to see how many attendees are there, and you’ll be able to see who they are, and perhaps invite them to a side room, where you can have a conversation if it’s a community owner in your area that you want to expand on the conversation. Just like a networking event would be in realtime, kind of neat concepts.
Glenn:
Yeah. Yeah. That’s going to be really exciting. I’m very excited for this thing, and I’m really hopeful that it’s going to go well. So far registrations have been phenomenal, which was also very impressive, but I think people are really… I think there is some real pent up energy for this stuff.
Tom:
It is. We were almost double where we were at this point last year for a live event, we’re almost double our registrations to this point. We think that the event itself lends itself to people registering last minute, although we’re not encouraging people to do that, but it almost lends itself, because you don’t have to get a plane ticket, you don’t have to get a hotel room. We really feel that we’re going to hit that, probably, 500 community owners or potentially more. That’s just what the numbers are trending toward.
Glenn:
That’s great. That’s great. Jumping gears a little bit, Jason, I hope you don’t mind if I jump gears for a second, I’m just really curious. Being that you’ve been a park owner and involved in this industry since the 70s, which is quite some time now, I’ve got to ask for some wisdom for the new guys that are listening to my podcast, of the things you’ve been involved with as a mobile home park or land lease community operator and owner, what were some of the hardest learning curves to get your business around when you first entered into it?
Tom:
Oh, that’s a really good question. And I’ve been involved in so many parts and aspects of the industry from developing a park from the dirt up and all of the learning lessons that went into that, and building and dealing with contractors, and buying and selling and all the lessons learned from purchasing and due diligence, but I still think that we’re about people. That’s why I think these educational sessions that we have. This year, we have a new managers Monday session at SECO that is just for your community managers. All kinds of lessons that they can learn and information that they can glean.
Tom:
And to me, that’s really what’s so important, is being the service provider, being there for our tenants and for our homeowners.
Glenn:
That’s the hardest thing to learn, when you buy your first park, it’s hard to remember that. It’s really hard. You just see paychecks. You’re just like, “Where’s my rent?” That was my hardest part, was learning to be more accommodating with my tenant base, until I got it all squared away, and getting my people trained right, equally important, and something I wish I wouldn’t have overlooked in the beginning either, because I would say, we got a lot of headaches.
Tom:
And we’re constantly learning. Look at this year with what’s going on with COVID and some of our tenants having a hard time making rent payments and being laid off and just having to work through these issues with them. And we find that the more that we’re able to communicate with them and work with them, the more successful we both are, the tenants and us as the community element.
Glenn:
Yeah, even if you have to delay a little bit of their payments and work with them over an extended period of time, I think that was the strategy that I was forced to accept when I was going through my learning curve and it made my life a lot easier. It made my tenants feel a little bit more comfortable with their position in life and their housing security, because it’s a terrifying time when you’re poor. It’s a terrifying time. And at a time like this that’s going on with COVID, it’s got to be even scarier than ever.
Tom:
Absolutely.
Glenn:
And so the more we can direct our industry to have that more empatheic vision that you just expressed with our tenants, the better off this industry is going to be in the long run and the short term for that matter. With COVID, how is COVID happening at your park as far as collections and operations goes, is it business as usual for you guys? Or are there some highlights or low points that you guys are experiencing as owners and operators?
Tom:
Well, to be candid, we haven’t had a huge increase in problematic collections. To be candid, for a period of time there, March and April, and even in part of May, we were better than probably the three or four months previous to that. And I’m pretty hands-on. I like to get into our communities. I like to talk to our people. I’ll stop and knock on doors and see how people are doing. A.
Tom:
I had a couple of people that I spoke with and they were laid off and they were able to get unemployment, and I asked how that was going, because I think they get like 60 or 65% of their normal pay. And I said, “Ooh, that’s kind of tough then, it’s a little tight.” And they would just comment to me, “Well, not necessarily. We can’t go anywhere. We can’t do anything. We can’t eat out. We can’t shop, so we’re not too bad.” And they were making their payments, their lot rent payments, a priority, and so we were doing very, very well, we thought. We were tremendously proud of our… I don’t know if that’s appropriate to say that here, but that’s what we felt.
Tom:
We felt a lot of pride with them that they were making those payments and they were really making it a priority for themselves. Now-
Glenn:
And that’s because you made them a priority in your business plan from the get-go, and that’s the reciprocation that will ultimately happen when you develop through rapport with your tenant base. And trust, and they know you’re not squeezing them every chance you get. And so kudos to you. And what you’re telling me is the same story I hear from a lot of people that operate that way, that it’s actually, business isn’t bad at all. It’s actually, more or less, about where it would have been 12 months ago on our normal collections. And the guys that have maybe pressured their tenants too hard, and maybe weren’t the most empathetic owners at the start, those guys seem to have a little bit of a dip in their collections and a little bit more of their tenants giving them some headaches and non-payments without solid reasoning.
Glenn:
And it’s a very delicate balance, we as park owners have to walk between operating a business and caring about our fellow humans. And I think experience will prove to most that what you’re doing is the right way to go with it, because coming into it and thinking you’re going to jack rent’s a $100 on a below market park, and then expect your tenants not to be upset about it when a pandemic comes and they have a hard time paying the rent now. That’s almost to be expected.
Tom:
Yeah. Well, we just have such a unique business. It is a business and we’re in it to run it as a business, but we’re dealing with human beings, we’re dealing with their lives. And we’re dealing with a roof over their head, which is one of the fundamentals of being human is to have housing.
Glenn:
Housing.
Tom:
It’s just more than a business and more than money. It’s a very, very unique industry that we’re in.
Glenn:
Yeah. Well, I really appreciate you giving even us some time to tell us your story and hear about what we’re doing with SECO and the direction things are going. It’s been great to hear this. And I’m very excited to participate with you guys as SECO gets closer and closer. I think they have, what, about a month until SECO?
Tom:
Yes, exactly. September 28th, Monday, is the first day, which, again, is that manager’s Monday and we’re pretty excited. Again, that’s a new thing for us. And to date, I believe we have over 80 managers around the country signed up and it runs through the whole week. We actually extended the conference through Friday. And so we have some unique things happening Friday, some round tables and potentially some guest speakers, so some unique things happening, that’s for sure.
Glenn:
It’s going to be very exciting.
Jason:
Yeah, Tom thank-
Glenn:
Jason-
Jason:
Yeah, yeah.
Glenn:
… is there anything you wanted to add into this?
Jason:
Oh, man. I think, you could tell you were anxious to talk to Tom, because you dominated me in that interview. So it’s awesome, man. I did have one question, but I don’t know Tom will have an answer for it, because I don’t know if he’s tracking this stuff. But because you’ve been in the business for a long time, are there any stories of like breakout moments at SECO, where you saw someone’s career take off and you saw how it played to someone’s benefit to be there?
Tom:
Sure. I can think of somebody right now. We have a lady on our SECO planning group, Kim Rainford, that started coming to SECO, I think maybe three or four years ago, was a new community owner, she, I think was in the selling end. She was retail selling homes and decided she wanted to get into the park ownership business, and quickly learned that she needed help and had a lot of questions and came to her first SECO.
Tom:
And I just remember that first year that she came with her husband. They were asking all kinds of questions. She was sitting in the front row, writing just notes like crazy, and now has become a very successful community owner. I think has several communities and has become part of our SECO planning group, just because she’s so excited to help others and to show what she’s learned to help others as well now. So lots and lots and lots of stories like that. Just people coming for the first time and getting excited about what they’re learning and wanting to then help other people.
Jason:
And that’s what it’s all about. I know last year when I went with Glenn for a day, it was a really cool experience and I hope to catch a lot of stuff this year. Tom, thank you so much. If anybody’s interested in chatting with Tom or learning more about what Tom is doing, you can reach Tom at [email protected]. Make sure to go to www.ablehousing.com to see what Tom’s up to. And as always, you can visit Glenn at themhpexpert.com and you can email Glenn at, is it [email protected]?
Glenn:
Sure is.
Jason:
Nailed it. And on behalf of everybody here, we appreciate it. We will be here next week with something new and awesome. And we will see you next time. Thank you.
