Where were you in 1969? Curt and Norma Hames were moving their kids, Troy, Barbara and Cynthia from Bangkok, Thailand (Curt was retiring from the military) to Goodman, Missouri to Marion, Iowa to start Hames Mobile Homes.
|
Then- 1969
|
Now-2019
|
|
One Hames dealership located at 640 Marion Blvd., Marion, Iowa.
|
Hames now owns 3 manufactured home communities, dealership, finance company, insurance agency and site-built housing development.
|
|
First Hames home sold was a 12’ by 50’ PMC two bedroom, front kitchen mobile home for $6700.
|
Hames has sold over 11,000 homes to families all over eastern Iowa. Single section homes are 16’ by 80’.
|
|
Mobile homes were required to display license plates in the front window.
|
An estimated 95% of mobile homes, now called manufactured homes, are never moved from their installation site.
|
|
“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” was the top movie with $102 million in box office receipts.
|
“Avengers Endgame” is the top movie with $2.1 billion in receipts so far.
|
|
Beatles’ “Get Back” was top song of the year with an estimated 1.2 million singles (remember those little 45’s?) and LP albums sold.
|
Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa’s “One Kiss” was purchased 1.57 million times in 2018 by audio streams, video streams and downloads.
|
|
Richard Nixon was president of the US, and embroiled in controversy.
|
Donald Trump is president of the US, and embroiled in controversy.
|
|
Scooby-Doo debuted on CBS and kids were actually scared of the cartoon monsters.
|
Video games feature realistic and gratuitous violence and death.
|
|
NASA put the first man on the moon with Apollo 11.
|
Space X is planning “space tourism” and selling tickets on space flights.
|
In 1969 manufactured home retailers (or “mobile home dealers” as they were legally called then) were considered disreputable and few banks would give them loans. Although Curt and Norma Hames started their business with limited credit and absolutely no respect as business people, the ex-military transplants refused to back down from their fellow competitors and challenged the manufactured housing industry head-on. Curt and Norma worked tirelessly to influence laws concerning almost every aspect of manufactured housing and ultimately, helped alter the image of the industry completely.
You won’t believe how spacious, luxurious and well-built today’s manufactured homes are! View Hames’ current inventory of mobile and manufactured homes for sale online. Visit us at the corner of Wilson Ave. and West Post Rd. SW or contact us online.
#HomeSweetHames