The CEO's total reported compensation of approximately $2.9 million is described in the proxy as below the median and average of the company's comparable REIT peer group and below the 25th percentile of similarly sized REITs in the residential sector per the Nareit survey, indicating pay is well within benchmark. The company's compensation program is substantially variable and performance-linked — the short-term bonus is tied to measurable Normalized FFO per share growth and individual performance metrics, and long-term awards include both performance-based stock units tied to strategic milestones and relative total shareholder return versus the MSCI US REIT Index — and the company voluntarily surrendered equity awards in 2025 when performance fell short, demonstrating genuine pay-for-performance discipline. Prior-year say-on-pay support was approximately 93%, the company has a meaningful clawback policy, and UMH's 3-year total return outpaced the ^FNER (FTSE NAREIT All Equity REITs Index) by +4.0 percentage points, supporting alignment between incentive pay and shareholder outcomes.

Non-audit fees (audit-related fees of $85,894 plus tax fees of $97,101, totaling $182,995) represent approximately 44.6% of audit fees of $410,000, which is below the 50% threshold that would trigger a concern about auditor independence; auditor tenure is not disclosed so the tenure trigger cannot fire per policy; no material restatements were identified; PKF is a large national firm appropriate for UMH's roughly $1.3 billion market cap.