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Dow Chemical Is Told to Curtail Pesticide Sales
At the end of last year, under an agreement reached with the Environmental Protection Agency in 2000, Dow Chemical stopped producing chlorphyrifos, sold under the trade name Dursban, for the home building industry, although it can ship existing stocks of the pesticide to builders through the end of this year. Builders have applied hundreds of millions of gallons of Dursban annually before laying foundations to protect their homes against termites. Some studies have linked Dursban to neurological and developmental damage in animals and young children, but those experiments are flawed, according to Dow. The pesticide will still be applied to crops and golf courses and used to control mosquitoes. (www.washingtonpost.com)
Washington Post (12/29/04) P. A2; Juliet Eilperin
Houses Built by Robot? If Scientist Gets His Way
A systems and industrial engineering professor at the University of Southern California hopes to build a 500-square-foot house with a machine that is guided by an architect’s computerized drawings and then squirts layers of concrete on top of each other to build vertical walls and domed roofs. A computer-guided nozzle squeezes out wet concrete like toothpaste onto a toothbrush. German building materials manufacturer Degussa AG is collaborating on the project to find the material that will work the best. The machine has been tested with cement, but the professor believes that a mixture of sun-dried mud and straw might work. If the experiment succeeds, the next step is to “print out” a complete one-story, 2,000-square-foot home in a single day with little on-site assistance from humans. (www.latimes.com)
Los Angeles Times (1/2/2005); Lew Sichelman
All the Comforts of a Spa
A $5.5 million, nine-bathroom home being built by Steve Rohrer near the Phipps Mansion in southeast Denver epitomizes the growing popularity of luxurious spas in new homes and remodels. The master bath features a jetted tub, a 10-jet shower system that includes a lighted waterfall and variable water flow control, a mosaic tile “rug” built into the floor, a television concealed behind the mirror and heated towel bars and toilet seats. Slate, stone and pebble-like shower floors are hot items, according to Christine Shaw, of Denver’s Limited Edition Designs. Some other master baths are being built with meditation rooms created with Feng Shui placement patterns; are being wired for phone, television and stereo; are outfitted with a laundry room and a coffee bar with refrigerated drawers; and have baths with a “chromatherapy” feature that allows the user to select different colors to illuminate the water. “The bathroom is an excellent place to invest money on a remodel, because your return can be as high as 90%,” said Remodelors™ Council Chairman Douglas Sutton, Sr. (www.denverpost.com)
Denver Post (1/2/2005) P. K6; Chryss Cada
Closets of a King
The days of two-by-six-foot closets with a single shelf and a metal rod are long gone, and home owners are demanding large, walk-in closets and are spending more on getting them organized. Closets magazine, which was launched in November of 2003, estimates that Americans will spend $2 billion outfitting and remodeling closets this year. Consumers are opting for closets with crown molding and glass fronts, and they want dark woods, granite countertops, track lighting and brushed-aluminum pulls. The typical cost of customizing a walk-in is $1,500-$3,000, but high-end home owners can spend significantly more — as much as $50,000 or higher. “Everyone wants more and more closets,” says Gopal Ahluwalia, director of research at NAHB. (www.mcall.com)
Allentown Morning Call (1/2/2005) P. G1; Beth W. Orenstein
Warm Hearth: Playing With Fire
The old-fashioned fireplace is one of the most popular features of new homes in the Southern Nevada market, and that mirrors a trend that is being seen nationwide. A collaborative survey between the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association and NAHB identified the fireplace as one of the top three features requested by consumers who are looking for a new home. The Hearth Association reports that shipments of fireplace “appliances” increased 5% in 2003 over the previous year and were up 108% over 1992. Even with gas prices increasing, 2003 figures also showed a 10% increase in gas fireplaces and a 6% drop in wood burners. Wood-burning fireplaces are banned in Southern Nevada because of air-quality issues, but Leslie Wheeler, communications director for the association, says the reason that gas has captured 65%-75% of the market is their convenience. Also, she says, “the technology has come so far. The logs look like real logs. You can walk by a gas fireplace and you’re going to think it’s a wood-burning fireplace.” (www.reviewjournal.com)
Las Vegas Review-Journal (1/3/2005) P. E1; Heidi Knapp Rinella
Developers Target ‘Creative’ Class With Infill Projects
Matt Mathias and Gary Krieg have teamed up to form Interurban Development LLC, a company in Austin, TX, that is focusing on infill and niche residential condos, cottages and townhomes ranging from 800 to 1,300 square-feet and priced at $125,000-$300,000. The homes are being located in Austin’s urban core and they are targeted to people “who are looking for cutting-edge innovation and design” but finding “the current luxury loft offerings are beyond their financial reach,” says Krieg. “These individuals will find the excitement of urban living in each of our developments at reasonable price points.” (www.bizjournals.com/austin)
Austin Business Journal (1/3/2005); Mary Alice Kaspar
Call for Adjustable Mortgages Jumps
The market share of home purchase loans with adjustable rates increased to 34% last year, up from 19% in 2003, Freddie Mac reported. This was the highest annual ARMs share since 1994, when it was 39%. Fannie Mae is projecting that the average rate for a one-year ARM will climb to 4.65% this year from 3.9% in 2004. The average fixed-rate for this year is expected to be 6.01%, compared with 5.85% last year, the second lowest rate in 38 years. Two out of five ARMs originated last year were 5/1 hybrids, according to Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. These loans have a fixed rate for five years and then turn into a traditional one-year adjustable mortgage. Because of their popularity, Freddie Mac is now reporting interest rates for these loans in its weekly mortgage survey. The highest ARM share on record was 62% in 1984, when they were first surveyed, Nothaft said. (www.latimes.com)
Los Angeles Times (1/6/2005); Bloomberg News
Strategies for Rural Housing
Russell Davis, the top official at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service, says that he is on a mission to create efficiencies in the agency’s operations and to find the cheapest way to provide affordable housing, not necessarily to provide the deepest subsidies for a particular construction project. He reports that engineers and inspectors have been hired to study what it will cost to preserve the Sec. 515 Rural Rental Housing stock for the next 20 years; many of these units are now at the 20- and 25-year mark. A new regulation this year will make the Sec. 538 program more flexible so that it can help finance the repair and rehab of existing 515 properties. Asked about the reallocation of the service’s resources, Davis said he is committed to protecting current tenants but shares the Bush Administration’s enthusiasm for opening up homeownership opportunities. “Our single-family direct loan program gives people loans written down to as low as a 1% interest rate,” he said. (www.housingfinance.com)
Affordable Housing Finance (January, 2005); Marcie Geffner
California Home Builders Applaud Governor
Following remarks by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in his state of the state address that the state must take action this year to deal with its housing crisis, California Building Industry Association President Steve Doyle noted that builders support common-sense solutions to address the problem. Reforms include: ensuring an adequate supply of land for high-density condominiums and single-family homes in the state’s job centers; legislation eliminating regulatory and legal hurdles that delay construction and increase housing costs; and streamlining the permitting process for new housing; an average California subdivision takes a decade to be approved. (www.cbia.org)
California Building Industry Association (1/5/2005); John Frith
Smoking Affects Property Values
Smokers may not realize the negative impact that smoking can have on the resale value of their home, and one mortgage bank survey reports that 28% of prospective buyers were turned off from purchasing a home in which the owner smoked. “The worst thing that smokers can do is to try and mask the odors with fragrances,” says Emo Moschini, a cleaning expert with Tornado Industries. “As soon as buyers detect a cover-up, they think even more might be wrong with the house.” Moschini suggests paying particular attention to the ceiling, since smoke rises, and cleaning painted walls and woodwork and applying a fresh coat of paint afterwards. Draperies and carpets should be thoroughly cleaned or even replaced, and the ventilation system should be professionally cleaned, he said. (www.jansannewswire@rcn.com)
JansanNewswire (Dec. 16, 2004); Dawn Shoemaker
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