Nation's Building News Online: May 25, 2009Print All Articles Text Version |
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Sales Agents, Appraisers Underestimate Value of GreenProfessionals with expertise in green building sales and marketing attending the National Green Building Conference in Dallas on May 8-10 reported that they are seeing steady progress in educating real estate appraisers and sales agents to recognize the added value of homes that can save energy, promote comfort and indoor air quality and go easy on the environment. However, at a time when builders in general are encountering difficult appraisal problems because of slow sales and surging forecloses, finding appraisers who know how to make suitable property comparisons to provide accurate valuations of green homes is particularly challenging, they said. The large majority of those who play a role in the residential appraisal and sales process don’t have enough expertise in green homes to value them correctly or to promote their unique features to prospective buyers. Because of that, consumers aren’t always aware of the improvements that their builders or remodelers make, whether their information comes from these professionals or from the tools that they use — like the local MLS system. Putting Green in the MLS Al Medina, director of the Green Designation program of the National Association of Realtors®, said that only about 1% of the nation’s independently owned and operated MLS’s have a green feature. His organization is working to change that deficiency by educating its sales agents about the value of green and the importance of establishing its benefits in the listings and in the minds of consumers. Toward the end of last year, roughly 1,500 Realtors® had completed the educational requirements to receive the green designation, Medina said. “Agents are a great conduit to consumers and the public,” he said. “There is clearly pent-up demand for green education.” As part of its mission, the association's Green REsource Council is working to include entry fields in MLS’s to identify green features and certifications that will help agents search for sustainable homes and properties and allow builders and sellers to market their green homes. As a prototype, Medina recommended MLS inputs initiated by Realtors® in Traverse City, Mich. and its green disclosure statement, which is the most comprehensive greening of a MLS that the council has received. “This is one great example,” he said, “and it wouldn’t have gotten done without the collaboration of the local Home Builders Association of the Grand Traverse Area.” Green Appraisals On the appraisal side, we are behind any movement or education that gets the appraisal world on board with this stuff,” Medina said. Don Briggs, whose company Briggs Associates Inc. specializes in green appraisals, said that a builder or Realtors® should expect the appraiser who comes to view their green property to be competent, but if he isn’t knowledgeable about green building he may fall short in determining the most probable price a property will bring in the open market. “He can leave things out, and he is responsible for that,” Briggs said. While green may not yet have received the full market recognition it deserves, Briggs added, “90% of people looking for a home have at least some awareness of green.” In the meantime, “you’re going to have to educate appraisers,” he said, and go out and look for those who are competent in assessing green homes. For appraisers who are in the business of making market comparisons in order to assess home values, “data from the Multiple Listing Service is the right place to look,” said John Stovall, vice president of EcoBroker. “But most MLS’s don’t identify green properties.” Stovall said that NAHB members can help promote the higher value and customer benefits of green homes by working with knowledgeable agents to include appropriate data in the MLS. His own company, which was honored during the NAHB Green Conference as the “Green Advocate of the Year,” now has some 5,000 members spreading the word in all 50 states about the advantages of green housing. As an example of emerging companies that are dedicated to selling green housing, Stovall cited Seattle-based GreenWorks Realty, which bills itself as the first real estate brokerage in the country to specialize in green properties. The company’s agents drive their business by volunteering with various local organizations in the area, including Built Green of King and Snohomish Counties, the Northwest Eco-Building Guild and the Seattle Chamber of Commerce. Shoving Buyers Out the Door Blazing some new territory of her own, Beth Johnson, of Advocates Realty in Dallas, has earned all of the national green credentials available and was the first certified EcoBroker in Texas. “When a buyer comes to me, they tend to be green leaning,” Johnson said. “What makes them comfortable is the resale value. They understand the concept that you don’t want a white elephant home that’s not even Energy Star five or 10 years from now.” About 37% of the homes built in Texas are Energy Star certified, she said, and Texas ranks as the leading state for that program. Conceding that there are some extra up-front costs in making homes more energy efficient — which is a growing priority for municipalities across the state — Johnson said that they tend not to be significant amounts of money and they can be mitigated by savings on utility bills and energy tax credits. Johnson warned green builders that listing agents who aren’t knowledgeable about their homes could be doing more harm than good. She said she has encountered agents who can’t tell prospective buyers the program under which a home has been certified, which is “very confusing” to them. “Sometimes your own sales staff is shoving them out the door,” she said. With plenty of trained Realtors® coming into the market, “you might as well choose someone who can articulate your product accurately and enthusiastically,” she said. For more information on green resources from NAHB, e-mail Calli Schmidt or call her at 800-368-5242 x8132. NAHB Guide Finds More Cities Rolling Back Impact FeesSeeing a significant decline in their impact fee revenues in 2008 and 2009, local jurisdictions nationwide are considering impact fee moratoria, reductions and rollbacks as a strategy for stimulating the local economy during the current downturn and encouraging the production of affordable housing, according to NAHB’s Land Development Services Department. For example, the city of Fremont, Calif. decided in April to lower its impact fees by 75% in an effort to attract more residential construction and business to the area. In March, the Eagle Lake, Fla. City Commission voted unanimously to waive impact fees for construction and redevelopment within the city’s Community Redevelopment Area. The change was approved as a stimulus for business development. As part of its extensive resources on infrastructure finance and public service needs available to association members, the NAHB department continues to track communities that are in the process of providing relief on impact fees. The latest addition to these impact fee materials — the “Impact Fee Rollback Resource Guide” — includes a regularly updated list of examples of rollbacks that have passed or are being debated by local communities. Impact fees have proven to be an economically sensitive financing tool for municipalities, with their revenues going up and down with the construction cycle. Local jurisdictions that have counted for years on a robust home building industry to help finance public improvements and services are now finding that those funds are drying up as the national recession deepens and building permit activity remains at historic lows. Local jurisdictions that are collecting impact fees and relying on them to finance their public improvements and services are at risk of falling short and possibly being put in a position of having to refund the fees with interest if the infrastructure and services are not constructed for these new residents as a result of their revenue shortfall. Impact fee reductions or waivers can become a permanent incentive for targeted areas or types of development or a temporary stimulus intended to jump-start new home construction. Other resources on impact fees and infrastructure finance available on nahb.org include:
Membership Day Brings in 5,055 New Members in Tough Times
“We are surprised and pleased with the membership results of this year’s drive,” said Ed Brady, of Brady Homes in Bloomington, Ill. and the 2009 NAHB membership chairman. “We consider the real victory to be the high participation and high energy we saw this year. Our members are no less committed today than they have been to cultivating a strong local membership.” “With member retention a key focus for every local association, it’s important to recognize all the members who participated in the drive for their dogged efforts,” said William Deiss, NAHB’s executive director of membership. “The Spikes who recruited more than 5,000 new members this year hold the keys to helping us actively engage these newcomers in the culture and benefits of membership in our federation.” New Member Breakdown The 5,055 new builder, associate and affiliate members who were recruited included:
The top performing local associations were, according to preliminary pledge results:
Nation's Building News Will Not Be Published on June 1Nation's Building News will not be published on June 1. Regular weekly publication will resume June 8. First-Time Home Buyers Can Turn Tax Credit Into CashFirst-time buyers eligible for the $8,000 federal tax credit who apply for mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration may soon also be eligible for bridge loans or cash advances that they can use for the downpayment, closing costs or other loan expenses pending receipt of their tax credit check from the IRS. The FHA change was announced this month by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan. As many as half of all would-be first-time buyers do not have enough cash on hand for a downpayment and closing costs, according to building and real estate industry estimates. By advancing these buyers as much as $8,000 at closing, many more would be able to afford the purchase. Officials at NAHB say the bridge loan feature could double the total number of home purchases stimulated by the 2009 tax credit program to more than 300,000, depending on how many private lenders and state housing agencies participate. The new bridge loans and cash-advance features of the federal credit may not be available immediately through private lenders, mortgage industry leaders say. Among the key questions to be answered: Where will non-depository mortgage companies get the $8,000 in advance money to provide upfront to buyers? Although most major banks offer second-mortgage programs, the FHA guidelines stipulate that the tax credit advances cannot be secured by a lien on the property, but only by the tax credit to be received by the purchaser. In the meantime, would-be buyers who believe they’re eligible for the credit should shift into high gear shopping for a house — the Cinderella closing date of Nov. 30 is looming — even if they will need a bridge loan or a cash advance to complete the deal. The odds are good that by the time they’re ready to get a mortgage and go to closing, at least some local FHA-approved lenders will be actively in the market with bridge loans. (www.washingtonpost.com)
U.S. Home Builders Work Hard to Turn Renters Into BuyersTo turn renters into home owners, home builders are being creative, gathering addresses to contact tenants, participating in rent-with-equity programs and wooing them with pet adopt-a-thons. Mid-America Apartment Communities said the number of renters leaving their properties to buy a home in the first quarter fell by 31% compared with a year earlier. Still, with nearly 89 million renters nationwide, there’s plenty of potential to sell the 340,000 single-family homes residential research firm Metrostudy estimates will be started this year. “If every one of them was from a renter you’re just barely putting a dent in the apartment supply out there,” said Jeffrey T. Metzger, KB Home’s president and chief executive. “I think it’s a large untapped market.” KB Home redid its Web site to highlight monthly payments over the total price. At the Sage at Desert Passage in the former bubble market of Maricopa, Ariz., “Right Now You Can Own From $773 a Month,” assuming a downpayment of 3.5%, good credit and a 30-year fixed loan. The builder also offers more flexible and personalized floor plans. “It’s certainly been a help because our sales are up and our first-time buyer sales are up,” Metzger said, adding that in KB Home’s first quarter 70% of deliveries went to first-time buyers, a spike from 53% a year ago. Because renters often live in cookie-cutter communities with plain-vanilla walls, KB Home holds seminars in its design studios that let buyers craft a near-customized house — a strategy that also helps compete with foreclosures. KB Home and several other builders also work with apartment giant Equity Residential in its Rent With Equity program. For each rent payment, Equity grants as much as 20% in a non-cash rent credit. Buyers can use the credit for up to 3% off the home price. (www.dowjones.com)
More Takers for 15-Year LoansBrokers and mortgage industry executives say that fixed-rate mortgages with a 15-year term are becoming especially popular among people who want to shed debt more quickly, and in light of the current economic atmosphere, that goal is perhaps more widely applicable than ever. Debt shedding comes at a price. Those borrowing $400,000 on a 15-year loan, with a 4.375% interest rate, the average rate earlier this month, can expect to pay about $3,034 a month, compared with about $2,056 a month for a 30-year fixed-rate loan with a 4.625% average rate. The payment excludes costs like property taxes and insurance. Because a 15-year loan also has 180 fewer interest payments than a 30-year loan, the borrower with that 15-year loan would pay $194,000 less in interest over the life of the mortgage. Freddie Mac spokesman Brad German said that the company’s economists do not have data to track the volume of different mortgages, but that anecdotal evidence suggests a rise in 15-year fixed-rate loan activity during the refinancing boom of the past several months. “The thinking is that many baby boom mortgagors are taking advantage of the low rates to refi into a mortgage that will enable them to live a relatively care-free retirement life — i.e., free and clear of mortgage debt.” The number of 15-year mortgages issued in February jumped to 74,497 from 42,178 in January, according to First American CoreLogic, a real estate consulting company in San Francisco. And according to Bloomberg News, $15.9 billion worth of 15-year mortgages were issued in March, more than twice the $7.5 billion issued in February. (www.nytimes.com)
Amid Housing Bust, Phoenix Begins a New FrenzyIn Phoenix, which is enduring one of the largest tumbles in housing prices for any urban area since the Depression, there is an unrelenting stream of foreclosures for investors to choose from. On some days, hundreds are offered for sale at the auctions that take place on the plaza in front of the county courthouse. The low end of the market here — and in some equally hard-hit places like inland California and coastal Florida — is becoming as wild as anything during the boom. One real estate agent was showing a foreclosed house to a prospective client when a passer-by saw the open door, came in and snapped up the property. One agent says she was having the lock changed on a bank-owned home when a man happened by, found out from the locksmith that it was available, and immediately bought it. Bidding wars are routine. Absentee buyers, who can be either investors or individuals purchasing a vacation property, bought nearly four of every 10 homes sold in the Phoenix metro area in April, according to the research firm MDA DataQuick. That is up 50% since late 2007, and is nearly the same ratio as at the 2005 peak. In its foray into the American market, CBI Group, a real estate fund based in Calgary, Alberta, is buying 175 rental houses in Phoenix. (www.nytimes.com)
Recession + Renovation = Bargain Prices“There’re a lot of hungry contractors out there,” says Mark Scott, owner of Mark IV Builders in Bethesda, Md. He estimates remodeling costs in his region are down 15% from two years ago. He’s laid off 16 of 26 people. Nationwide, the home improvement market is expected to shrink 12% this year to $217 billion for owner-occupied properties, after a 10% decline last year, says Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. “This is a window for remodeling,” says Jim Haughey, chief economist for market researcher Reed Construction Data. He just had his driveway repaved for 30% less than he would have paid three years ago, he says, and saved 25% off labor rates of 18 months ago to put tile in a kitchen. “It’s a good time to do the work if you’ve got the money or the credit,” he says. While home owners get savings, contractors are adjusting to the new economics. At Mark IV, the average-size job is now $125,000, down from $350,000 two years ago, Scott says. Home owners still want new kitchens and bathrooms — often the safest remodeling investments — but second-floor additions and new master suites were the rage when housing was booming, Scott says. Mark IV also recently launched a division to upgrade homes on energy efficiency. It’ll even take “handyman” jobs that it wouldn’t have taken before, Scott says. (www.usatoday.com)
Active-Adult Housing Shows No Letup Despite Recession“Business has never been better,” says Jeff Katz, who specializes in representing potential buyers in “active adult” developments in Florida that cater to residents 55 or older; he attributes his success to that niche, which includes about one-fifth of all buyers in the U.S. This year, he has closed or put under contract nine homes in Palm Beach County. Last year, for the first time in his seven years in the business, he ranked among the top 100 ReMax agents — out of 4,000 — based on commissions. He focuses on properties varying in price from $300,000 to $600,000 and said about 90% of his clients are from the nation’s Northeast region. GL Homes is marketing houses for sale in two active adult developments — Valencia Pointe in Boynton Beach and the Valencia Reserve in Delray Beach. Between the two developments, GL has sold more than 100 homes this year, totaling about $36 million in sales, said Marcie DePlaza, the company’s division president. About 60% of the buyers are paying cash, she said. They include retirees moving from the Northeast, cost-conscious buyers relocating from country club communities where they have to pay thousands of dollars in annual membership fees, and others who were priced out of the market during the housing boom and are now finding bargains. About half the units that went under contract this year in those developments have yet to close, but DePlaza said she considers them done deals. The contract default rate in GL’s active adult communities over the past year has been less than 2%, she said. (www.dailybusinessreview.com)
Letter to the Editor: Housing Deflation Takes Economic TollThe following letter was written in response to the May 20 edition of “Eye on the Economy:" Dear Editor: Regarding the Federal Reserve’s prognostication that deflation is not in the cards for the economy in general, the flood of foreclosures and short sales in this housing market is having a significant downward pressure on all home values. Custom-building a new home in any price range has become a crazy luxury few families can afford. Four-year-old homes are selling for 25% below the original sale price (because of foreclosure and short sales); there are record numbers of property assessment appeals based upon downward market pressures; manufacturing jobs are gone and new jobs are not being created; state and local governments continue to increase fees and taxes on the few producers left rather than cut taxes and fees to stimulate growth. Fewer consumer dollars are chasing an oversupply of housing, forcing prices down on existing houses and accelerating the downsizing trend for the new houses that are built. It is going to take years for homeownership to return to the economic status it had achieved before the current meltdown started, if it ever does. Dennis Sweeney
House Energy Bill Would Create National Building CodeBy a 33 to 25 vote, the House Energy and Commerce Committee last week approved legislation that would limit greenhouse-gas emissions and create a national building code that completely supplants the national model code development process. Prior to consideration of H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy Security Act, NAHB sent a letter to members of the committee expressing the association’s concerns over the federal preemption of states’ rights to determine building codes. “NAHB is concerned that H.R. 2454 violates state and local rights to establish building codes and efficiency targets within their jurisdiction,” the letter said. “We regret that the committee did not consider NAHB’s testimony presented on April 24, 2009, and that we must oppose this legislation. H.R. 2454 is unnecessarily prescriptive, falls short of creating an effective energy policy that is constitutional and endangers housing affordability.” The House committee approved new measures to establish a national energy code administered by the Department of Energy (DOE) that comes complete with enforcement penalties and civil action against home owners and builders occupying non-compliant homes and buildings. NAHB, along with a handful of other real estate groups, supported an amendment offered by Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) to strike the egregious language, but it failed on a party-line vote of 31 to 20. The new building code provisions in HR. 2454 provide for the following:
It is unclear when the bill will go to the House floor. NAHB will continue to monitor the situation closely. For more information, e-mail Elizabeth Odina at NAHB, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8570. NAHB Supports Government Efforts on Chinese DrywallNAHB told Congress on May 21 that the nation’s home builders are determined to play a constructive role in resolving the Chinese-made drywall issue. The drywall in question is believed to have been imported into the U.S. between 2005 and 2008 and is alleged to contain high levels of sulfur and/or other contaminants that are emitting foul odors in homes that have used the material. Testifying on behalf of NAHB before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Insurance, New Orleans area builder Randy Noel said that NAHB members are continuing to work on a daily basis to respond to home owners who are reporting problems with Chinese drywall. “As builders, we live or die by our reputation. Home building is a very competitive business and a builder who does not pay attention to quality, value and customer service won’t be in business very long,” said Noel. To resolve the situation, Noel said that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and other federal agencies must inform home owners, builders, remodelers and contractors on identifying the source of the problem so that it will not be repeated and also provide a reliable test for drywall problems and an appropriate method of remediation. “We believe that the best possible scenario would be for a national consensus to be developed on these issues based on the work currently being done by the federal government,” said Noel. “NAHB supports the CPSC’s current efforts to identify the actual scientific cause of the problem and develop an appropriate testing protocol to identify problematic drywall,” he said. “Once the cause is identified and a testing protocol is established, it will greatly help builders identify potential home owners who may have problems.” Congress should also explore ways to identify possible sources of funding to help offset the costs of remediation, he said, particularly if it is determined that the ultimate responsibility lies with manufacturing entities located in China. Introduced by Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.), S. 739, the Drywall Safety Act of 2009, would mandate that the CPSC, National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Environmental Protection Agency conduct a study of Chinese drywall to determine its effects on metal wiring, HVAC units and other metal fixtures. The study would also assess the potential health impacts from exposure to the product. Of concern to NAHB, the bill would seek to ban the sale of any drywall product in the U.S. that contains more than 5% organic compounds by weight. Noel noted that in many cases the organic compounds in the paper backing of the drywall alone could exceed the 5% limit, regardless of the content of the drywall’s core. “We urge the subcommittee and the bill sponsors to investigate other ways in which to target the drywall that is of concern, without potentially banning all drywall produced in the U.S.,” he said. To read the legislation, click here and enter S. 739 in the box at the center of the page. Obama Signs Bill to Help Families Refinance MortgagesPresident Barack Obama last week signed into law legislation that will help struggling borrowers refinance into 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration. S. 896, the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009, received strong bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress. The measure cleared the Senate earlier this month by a vote of 91 to five and passed the House by a comfortable 338 to 52 margin on May 18. The newly enacted law will revamp the Hope for Homeowners program to permit the reduction of excessive fee levels, provide greater incentives for mortgage servicers to engage in modifications under the program and reduce administrative burdens to loan underwriters. The aim is to make it easier for strapped home owners to refinance into more affordable loans. Omitted from the final bill was a controversial “cramdown” provision to allow bankruptcy judges to modify the terms of mortgages on a primary residence. The newly enacted law will increase the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's line of credit from the U.S. Treasury to $500 billion through 2010 and $100 billion thereafter. In addition, the higher FDIC deposit insurance coverage limit of $250,000 per account was extended through Dec. 31, 2013 after which it will revert back to $100,000. The legislation contains a provision of concern to NAHB that would require investors who are buying foreclosed properties to allow Section 8 renters to remain in the property for up to one year. NAHB had sent a letter to Congress questioning the fairness of this requirement.
For further information, e-mail Scott Meyer at NAHB, or call him at 800-368-5242 x8144. California Seeing Impact Fee Cuts and DeferralsIn a move that is paying off for a growing number of communities around the state, the California Building Industry Association (CBIA) on May 15 reported that the city of Thousand Oaks was the latest jurisdiction to reduce development fees in an effort to jump-start home building and its local economy. The Thousand Oaks City Council voted early this month to eliminate its affordable housing fees until June 30, 2010, after hearing from its staff that builders could not afford to pay the fees — $9,000 per single-family home and $25,000 per condominium or townhome — given current market conditions. The council is expected to adjust the fees to more sustainable levels next year based on the economic climate at that time. On May 12, CBIA reported that the Corona City Council had voted to slash development impact fees by 40% for the next two years in an effort to stimulate the local economy and to put people back to work. The move was expected to reduce the cost of build a new home there by an average of $7,700. Mick Pattinson, a San Diego County-based home builder and chair of CBIA’s Impact Fee Task Force, said the most recent council decisions were welcome and should be followed by other city and country governments. “During the housing boom, many cities and counties sharply raised the fees they charge new home builders — and thus new-home buyers — by tens of thousands of dollars per home. The average impact fee today is about $50,000 statewide, and there are many jurisdictions where the fees total more than $100,000 — nearly as much as it costs to actually build many homes,” Pattinson said. “With home prices today half of what they were three or four years ago and builders struggling to compete against repossessed homes being sold well below the cost it took to build them in the first place, it’s welcome news to hear that Thousand Oaks recognizes market realities and is trying to jump-start construction, which is such an important component of the state and local economy,” he said. Other communities around the state that have reduced fees in recent months include Fremont and Dublin in Alameda County; Oakley in Contra Costa County; Orange County and the cities of Irvine and Santa Ana; Beaumont and Corona in Riverside County; San Diego County; and Woodland in Yolo County. In addition, nearly 50 jurisdictions statewide have deferred their fees from the time the building permit is pulled until the home is sold, which reduces the up-front costs to builders and helps make more properties pencil out financially. Pattinson noted that fee reductions or deferrals have sparked increased construction in many communities as the reduced costs made home building projects financially feasible. For example, after Chula Vista in San Diego County deferred its fees in March, builders quickly obtained more than 80 building permits. During the first two months of the year, only two permits had been pulled in the city. April Single-Family Starts Rise for Second Straight MonthProduction of single-family homes edged upward in April as builders responded to improving conditions for new-home buyers, according to figures released by the U.S. Commerce Department on May 19. While overall starts for April fell 12.8% to a record-low seasonally adjusted annual pace of 458,000 units, the decline was entirely in multifamily housing, which fell 46% to a 90,000-unit pace. Single-family starts advanced 2.8% to a yearly rate of 368,000 units. “With some of the best home-buying conditions of a lifetime now in place — including historically low mortgage rates, affordable prices and a first-time home buyer tax credit — single-family builders are starting to see the light on the horizon as more consumers realize they can now obtain the home of their dreams,” said NAHB Chairman Joe Robson. “Meanwhile, the extreme difficulty that builders are encountering in obtaining financing for new multifamily structures has brought production in that sector almost to a halt.” “A severe credit crunch for acquisition, development and construction financing and a lack of investor interest in Low Income Housing Tax Credits are the main factors keeping apartment builders from moving ahead with new projects, along with the competition from excess inventory that’s on the market,” noted NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “Ultimately, the logjam in builder financing must be broken in order for housing construction to provide the boost that the national economy needs to get back on track.” Meanwhile, improving activity in the single-family sector aligns with what builders have been reporting in recent NAHB surveys, Crowe said. “Very attractive housing affordability factors — particularly the federal $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit and other tax credits being offered by states for purchases of newly constructed homes — are helping drive potential buyers back into the market,” he said. Single-family housing starts rose for a second consecutive month in April. At the same time, issuance of single-family permits, which can be an indicator of future building activity, rose 3.6% to a 373,000-unit annual pace. Multifamily permits in April dropped nearly 20% to 121,000 units. Regionally, total housing starts declined in April across every part of the country except the West, where a 42.5% surge in production offset a nearly equivalent decline in the previous month. Starts fell 30.6% in the Northeast, 21.4% in the Midwest and 21.1% in the South, stemming largely from big declines in the more volatile multifamily sector. Similarly, regional permit issuance was down everywhere in April except the West, which showed no change from the prior month. Total residential permits were down 7% in the Northeast, 4.8% in Midwest and 3.4% in the South. Tax Credit Web Site Looks at Opportunity of a Lifetime Builders and other industry professionals can help spur home sales by referring prospective first-time home buyers to www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com. The NAHB Web site provides detailed information on the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers included in the economic stimulus legislation signed into law by President Obama. Consumers can use the Web site to find information on the tax credit — including a detailed question and answer section. It also includes information about other housing-related and small business measures in the legislation and a number of home-buying resources for consumers. Spanish Version Also Available Online A Spanish version of this increasingly popular Web site is also available to provide detailed information on the tax credit to Spanish-speaking first-time home buyers. Industry professionals are encouraged to highlight either tax credit Web site when marketing to their potential first-time home buyer market. Want to Know the Housing Starts Through 2017? Find out in HousingEconomics.com's Long-Term Forecast. Subscribe and get downloadable Excel tables that feature the housing starts forecast, gross domestic product (GDP), demographics and more. To learn more, visit www.housingeconomics.com. Free NAHB Kit Gives Builders Back-to-Basics Tips to Navigate the Slowdown What was once expected to be a relatively mild housing slump following three years of record new home construction and sales has given way to a significant downturn. To help members navigate the uncharted waters of this slowdown, NAHB has compiled a comprehensive “Back to Basics” online toolkit — the best of the basics, the tried and true and the truly new. To access the toolkit, click here. To access the “Back to Basics” toolkit, you must be an NAHB member and have a login to www.nahb.org. To create a login, go to www.nahb.org/login or click on the log-in button on the main menu bar. For assistance, call the NAHB Member Service Confidence of Builders Continues to Grow in MayBuilder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes climbed for a second consecutive month in May to the highest level since last September, according to the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), which was released on May 18. This month’s HMI rose two points to 16. "Builders are responding to what they perceive to be some of the best home-buying conditions of a lifetime," said NAHB Chairman Joe Robson. "You're not likely to get a better deal in terms of mortgage rates than what's available right now. Combine that with today’s affordable prices, multitude of home choices and $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers, and you have a very appealing set of reasons to make a move." "The fact that the May HMI continued to tick up from April's five-point increase confirms that last month’s improved confidence level was no fluke," added NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. "This continued increase indicates that home builders feel we're at or near the bottom of the market and that positive signs lie ahead for builders and potential home buyers, provided that builder access to production credit significantly improves." Crowe also noted that the recently announced plan by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to enable home buyers to use the new $8,000 tax credit at the closing table is especially encouraging. "We appreciate Secretary Donovan's efforts to make the tax credit more useful to buyers by addressing the biggest hurdle to first-time purchasers — having enough cash for a suitable downpayment," he said. Derived from a monthly survey that NAHB has been conducting for more than 20 years, the HMI gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales, sales expectations for the next six months and the traffic of prospective buyers. Scores for each component are then used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as good than poor. Two of the three HMI component indexes rose in May. The index gauging current sales conditions rose two points to 14, and sales expectations for the next six months rose three points to 27. Traffic of prospective buyers remained unchanged from the prior month, registering 13. Regionally, builder confidence climbed three points to 18 in the Northeast, one point to 18 in the South and four points to 12 in the West. The Midwest held even at 14. Tax Credit Web Site Looks at Opportunity of a Lifetime Builders and other industry professionals can help spur home sales by referring prospective first-time home buyers to www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com. The NAHB Web site provides detailed information on the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers included in the economic stimulus legislation signed into law by President Obama. Consumers can use the Web site to find information on the tax credit — including a detailed question and answer section. It also includes information about other housing-related and small business measures in the legislation and a number of home-buying resources for consumers. Spanish Version Also Available Online A Spanish version of this increasingly popular Web site is also available to provide detailed information on the tax credit to Spanish-speaking first-time home buyers. Industry professionals are encouraged to highlight either tax credit Web site when marketing to their potential first-time home buyer market. Want to Know the Housing Starts Through 2017? Find out in HousingEconomics.com's Long-Term Forecast. Subscribe and get downloadable Excel tables that feature the housing starts forecast, gross domestic product (GDP), demographics and more. To learn more, visit www.housingeconomics.com. Free NAHB Kit Gives Builders Back-to-Basics Tips to Navigate the Slowdown What was once expected to be a relatively mild housing slump following three years of record new home construction and sales has given way to a significant downturn. To help members navigate the uncharted waters of this slowdown, NAHB has compiled a comprehensive “Back to Basics” online toolkit — the best of the basics, the tried and true and the truly new. To access the toolkit, click here. To access the “Back to Basics” toolkit, you must be an NAHB member and have a login to www.nahb.org. To create a login, go to www.nahb.org/login or click on the log-in button on the main menu bar. For assistance, call the NAHB Member Service Housing Reaches Most Affordable Level in 18 YearsThe NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) jumped 10 points during this year’s first quarter, indicating that housing affordability had reached its highest level since the series began 18 years ago. According to the HOI, 72.5% of all new and existing homes sold in the first three months of 2009 were affordable to families earning the national median income of $64,000, up from 62.4% during the prior quarter and 53.8% during the same period a year earlier. “Underlying the increase in affordability are lower home prices and record low interest rates,” said NAHB Chairman Joe Robson. “Combined with the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers, consumers are beginning to return to the marketplace.” In Indianapolis — the most affordable major housing market in the country during the first quarter — almost 95% of all homes sold were affordable to households earning the area’s median family income of $68,100. Indianapolis has now been at the top of the affordability list for 15 consecutive quarters. Also among the most affordable major metro housing markets were Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pa.; Akron, Ohio; Grand Rapids-Wyoming, Mich.; and Syracuse, N.Y. Several smaller housing markets posted even higher affordability scores than Indianapolis. Outscoring them all was Sandusky, Ohio, where nearly 98% of the homes sold during the first quarter of 2009 were affordable to median-income earners. Other small housing markets even more affordable than Indianapolis included Monroe, Mich. and Mansfield, Springfield and Canton-Massillon, Ohio. New York-White Plains-Wayne, N.Y.-N.J. — where just over 21% of all homes sold in this year’s first quarter were affordable to those earning the area’s median income of $64,800 — was once again the nation’s least affordable major housing market, despite a seven percentage point improvement in affordability. New York has been the least affordable major metro market for four consecutive quarters. Other major metros at the bottom of the affordability chart included San Francisco; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif.; Nassau-Suffolk, N.Y.; and Honolulu. Among smaller metro areas, Ocean City, N.J. was the least affordable market, along with San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, Calif.; Flagstaff, Ariz.; Hanford-Corcoran, Calif.; and Santa Cruz-Watsonville, Calif., respectively. Tax Credit Web Site Looks at Opportunity of a Lifetime Builders and other industry professionals can help spur home sales by referring prospective first-time home buyers to www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com. The NAHB Web site provides detailed information on the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers included in the economic stimulus legislation signed into law by President Obama. Consumers can use the Web site to find information on the tax credit — including a detailed question and answer section. It also includes information about other housing-related and small business measures in the legislation and a number of home-buying resources for consumers. Spanish Version Also Available Online A Spanish version of this increasingly popular Web site is also available to provide detailed information on the tax credit to Spanish-speaking first-time home buyers. Industry professionals are encouraged to highlight either tax credit Web site when marketing to their potential first-time home buyer market. Want to Know the Housing Starts Through 2017? Find out in HousingEconomics.com's Long-Term Forecast. Subscribe and get downloadable Excel tables that feature the housing starts forecast, gross domestic product (GDP), demographics and more. To learn more, visit www.housingeconomics.com. Free NAHB Kit Gives Builders Back-to-Basics Tips to Navigate the Slowdown What was once expected to be a relatively mild housing slump following three years of record new home construction and sales has given way to a significant downturn. To help members navigate the uncharted waters of this slowdown, NAHB has compiled a comprehensive “Back to Basics” online toolkit — the best of the basics, the tried and true and the truly new. To access the toolkit, click here. To access the “Back to Basics” toolkit, you must be an NAHB member and have a login to www.nahb.org. To create a login, go to www.nahb.org/login or click on the log-in button on the main menu bar. For assistance, call the NAHB Member Service Florida Builder Encouraged by Recent Uptick in SalesAmong home builders around the country who are beginning to see tentative signs that the housing market is turning the corner of its worst downturn in generations, Mori Hosseini, chairman and CEO of ICI Homes in Daytona Beach, Fla., said that his sales in April were the best in three years and the upward momentum appears to have carried over into May. Participating in a May 18 NAHB media teleconference along with association President Jerry Howard and Chief Economist David Crowe, Hosseini said that he has been impressed by the velocity of people showing up at his sales offices. “And some of them are buying,” he said. Hosseini’s markets in the central and northeast parts of the state — including Daytona Beach, Jacksonville, Tampa and Orlando — have seen recent increases in interested buyers in both the starter and trade-up markets. The only exception, he said, is the second-home market, which remains moribund. Lower home prices, along with low mortgage rates and the availability of the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers, he said, have provided a significant incentive for prospective buyers to return to the housing market. Hosseini sold 81 homes last month. “People are coming from up North and making the decision to buy,” he said. One existing home owner, he said, decided it was worth taking a loss on the sale of their current property to take advantage of Florida’s decline in home prices. While prices nationwide have subsided roughly to 2003 levels, “in Florida we have gone down to 2000 or 2001,” Hosseini said, adding that he currently is seeing “some bottoming of home prices.” However, Hosseini said that about 30 of his recent home buying prospects “did not get qualified to buy the homes,” including some who had sizable downpayments on hand and good credit scores. “Banks are absolutely looking for the gold plate to approve people,” he said, making it more difficult to sustain the market upturn that is just materializing. Crowe said that access to credit for both home buyers and builders remains one of the headwinds constraining activity even as the market seems to be finding a bottom. “Mortgage rates are at historic lows,” Crowe said, “but underwriting standards have been tightened” and buyers are having to come up with larger downpayments and being allowed to allot a smaller share of their income for mortgage payments. At the same time, “home builders are having difficulty getting credit from banks and thrifts, which are shying away from most forms of real estate lending even in recovering marketplaces.” Crowe said that he expects new housing activity in 2009 to total about 50% below 2008 levels, with a pick-up toward the end of the year because of rising consumer confidence and an improving economy followed by an eventual return to normalcy in 2010 and 2011. “Unemployment will be another one of the retardants to the recovery,” he said, “with continued increases in unemployment and the number of people jobless or worried about their job” in the months ahead, he said. However, Crowe said, “it’s not unusual for home buying to begin to recover before the employment market. Over 90% of the people have a job; roughly 85% of all people have the job they expect to have, so there’s still a lot of employed people out there, and finding the bargain conditions will push the rest of the market forward.” Among signs indicating that “we could be turning the corner,” Howard noted that housing starts appear to have stabilized over the past three months and that housing affordability has improved dramatically. “We are not ready to pop the champagne corks and sing happy days are here again,” Howard said, “but we do see a light at the end of the tunnel.” Tax Credit Web Site Looks at Opportunity of a Lifetime Builders and other industry professionals can help spur home sales by referring prospective first-time home buyers to www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com. The NAHB Web site provides detailed information on the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers included in the economic stimulus legislation signed into law by President Obama. Consumers can use the Web site to find information on the tax credit — including a detailed question and answer section. It also includes information about other housing-related and small business measures in the legislation and a number of home-buying resources for consumers. Spanish Version Also Available Online A Spanish version of this increasingly popular Web site is also available to provide detailed information on the tax credit to Spanish-speaking first-time home buyers. Industry professionals are encouraged to highlight either tax credit Web site when marketing to their potential first-time home buyer market. Want to Know the Housing Starts Through 2017? Find out in HousingEconomics.com's Long-Term Forecast. Subscribe and get downloadable Excel tables that feature the housing starts forecast, gross domestic product (GDP), demographics and more. To learn more, visit www.housingeconomics.com. HUD Withdraws Proposed RESPA RuleIn response to a lawsuit and comments filed by NAHB and its allies, the Department of Housing and Urban Development earlier this month withdrew a proposed rule governing affiliated businesses that would have dampened demand for new home purchases. NAHB and a coalition of its members had filed suit against HUD in federal district court in Virginia to challenge the rule, which was intended to implement some changes to Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act (RESPA) regulations. The rule would have prohibited home builders from offering bona fide discounts and packaging of real estate settlement services, which have saved home buyers thousands of dollars in closing costs, title searches and other fees. NAHB submitted detailed comments to HUD, saying that this rule would have been bad for consumers, bad for the housing industry and bad for the economy. Although the rule was withdrawn, HUD did say that it may still come back in the future and conduct a new rulemaking on the “required use” definition that was at the heart of this issue. For more information, e-mail Duane Desiderio at NAHB, or call him at 800-368-5242 x8146; or contact Bill Renner, x8597. Eye on the Economy: Surveys Signal Revival of Buyer DemandThe sharpest contraction in economic output (real GDP) during the current recession apparently occurred in the final quarter of last year when a massive financial market shock threatened to throw the U.S. and global economies into 1930s-like depressions. The “Great Recession” is hardly over, but the rate of decline is slowing and the light at the end of the tunnel is coming into view. GDP contracted at an annual rate of 6.3% in the fourth quarter of 2008, quite a serious matter. The “advance” estimate for the first quarter of this year was down a dismal 6.1%, but late-breaking March data on construction, international trade and business inventories point toward an upward revision to the contraction to about 5.5% — close to our original projection. Available information on economic activity and financial market performance suggests that the rate of contraction in real GDP will ease off considerably in the second quarter. We’re currently estimating a 1.2 % rate of contraction for this quarter, as the fiscal stimulus program adds about 2 percentage points to growth and as business fixed investment (residential and nonresidential) contracts at a slower pace than in the first quarter. We continue to believe that GDP growth will swing into the black in the second half of this year, aided and abetted by the fiscal stimulus program and by the financial market policy blitz engineered by the Federal Reserve, Congress and the Administration. However, we’re expecting below-trend GDP growth that will be accompanied by further deterioration of the labor market. That pattern may or may not be strong enough to encourage the Business Cycle Dating Committee at the National Bureau of Economic Research to declare an end to the recession before the end of this year. The Labor Market Will Lag the Recovery in Economic Growth The labor market has been taking it on the chin since last fall as businesses have unloaded tons of workers and clamped down hard on compensation rates. This has been a cruel but essential process that has helped restore business profitability, reduce unit labor costs and make inflation a non-issue for the foreseeable future. Furthermore, improvements in labor market conditions typically lag upturns in economic growth by at least several quarters as an upswing in labor productivity (output per hour) supports output growth while persistent slack in labor markets keeps downward pressure on compensation rates. The employment report for April was dismal, showing a loss of 539,000 payroll jobs, downward revisions to both February and March and a jump in the unemployment rate from 8.4% to 8.9%. The most comprehensive measure of under-employment, including discouraged workers and those working only part time for economic reasons, moved up to a lofty 15.8%. Everything considered, the deterioration of the labor market was somewhat slower in April than during the previous five months, and initial claims for unemployment insurance have been “rolling over” recently following a dramatic upswing during earlier stages of the recession. We expect the contraction of payroll employment to slow considerably in the second half before turning positive early next year. The unemployment rate is likely to rise to about 9.6% before showing some gradual improvement in the second half of 2010. Destructive Deflation Is Not in the Cards The Federal Reserve, the guardian of the purchasing power of the currency, historically has identified price stability as a key target for monetary policy. However, recent Federal Open Market Committee statements have sounded a deflation alarm, citing the risk that inflation could drop “below rates that best foster economic growth and price stability in the longer run.” The Fed clearly has been wary of a Japanese-style deflation process that would be difficult to shake. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recently told members of Congress’s Joint Economic Committee that inflation is likely to move down over the next year, relative to its pace in 2008. However, he noted that stable inflation expectations, as measured by various household and business surveys, should limit further declines in inflation, that is, the deflation threat has receded in the context of an improving economy. Recent top-line inflation measures actually have dipped into the red zone, primarily reflecting major declines in energy prices since mid-2008. However, key “core” inflation numbers, excluding food and direct energy prices, still are comfortably in the black and the recent behavior of commodity prices, including oil, will take downward pressure off the top-line measures before long. Both the core Consumer Price Index and the core Producer Price Index have been registering year-over-year increases in the 1.8% to 1.9% range in recent months. NAHB expects these measures to slow further over the balance of this year and in 2010, dipping below the Fed’s apparent comfort zones, but we do not view outright deflation as a serious threat. Financial Markets Are Healing Slowly Bernanke has repeatedly said that economic recovery cannot develop unless major repairs are made to the financial system. On May 5, he told the Joint Economic Committee that conditions in a number of financial markets had shown some recent improvement but that financial markets and financial institutions “remain under considerable stress.” He also noted that cumulative declines in asset prices (equities and homes), tight credit conditions and high levels of risk aversion “continue to weigh on the economy.” The markets for short-term funding, particularly the interbank loan and commercial paper markets, clearly are functioning better than in late-2008 and early-2009. Asset-backed securities (ABS) markets, particularly for credit card, auto and student loans, also have improved recently, presumably reflecting the availability of the Fed’s Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) as a market backstop. And the home mortgage markets have responded favorably to the Fed’s purchases of agency debt and mortgage-backed securities, and most credit now flows through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities program. With respect to corporate financing, the broad rally in equity prices from the March lows, combined with significant reductions in risk spreads in corporate bond markets, presumably reflect a more optimistic view of the corporate sector in the investment community. Even so, spreads over comparable-maturity Treasury rates remain quite elevated and investors apparently still have substantial concerns about the banking industry. These concerns have not been alleviated by reports from the Supervisory Capital Assessment Program that’s being applied to the 19 largest bank holding companies. Everything considered, it’s fair to say that repairing the financial markets is underway but there’s a long way to go before most markets will be functioning normally. This reality will not prevent economic recovery, but it definitely will place limits on the early stages of growth. Measures of Housing Affordability Improve Dramatically The affordability of home buying has improved dramatically over the past three years, and key measures recently have attained record highs — including NAHB’s quarterly Housing Opportunity Index and the National Association of Realtors® monthly Housing Affordability Index. The improvements in key measures of affordability have been driven largely by stunning reductions in sales prices, particularly during the past year, and those reductions have partly reflected an upswing in foreclosure-related sales at fire-sale prices — a phenomenon that has put some downward price pressure on sales that have nothing to do with foreclosures or short sales. Recent affordability improvements have also reflected substantial declines in rates on mortgages used to finance home purchases. In this regard, it’s noteworthy that virtually all purchase mortgage loans now are fixed-rate contracts, despite the strong upward slope to the Treasury yield curve. The “exotic” ARMs with low initial rates that pushed home buying to unsustainable levels during the boom now are a thing of the past. Increases in standard affordability measures do not necessarily translate into home buying activity, of course, as these measures fail to capture changes in mortgage lending standards, house price expectations or the influence of the current and expected economic environment — factors that have tended to discourage home buying in recent times. But some worms have been turning on these fronts, lessening the impediments to buying and helping to lay the groundwork for a broad-based recovery in home sales. Surveys of Consumers and Builders Signal Revival of Home Buyer Demand The stunning improvements in major measures of housing affordability, along with temporary federal and state tax incentives for first-time buyers and new-home buyers, have served to stabilize housing demand and to encourage the beginnings of recovery. This revival has occurred despite the persistence of extremely weak economic conditions and serious tightening of lending standards in major components of the home mortgage market. The University of Michigan’s survey of consumer sentiment showed that 79% of households had a favorable view of home buying conditions in the early part of May — up substantially from the cyclical low in early-2006 and the highest reading since early-2004. The revival primarily reflects the major price reductions that have accumulated since 2005, and historically low mortgage interest rates have also caught the fancy of consumers in recent months. NAHB’s proprietary survey of large public and private single-family builders provides concrete evidence of recent stabilization and improvement in both gross home sales (new orders) and net sales (accounting for cancellations) — on a seasonally adjusted basis. Gross sales hit bottom in February and registered significant improvement in both March and April. Net sales actually bottomed out late last year and have shown substantial improvement in recent months, particularly in April. NAHB’s broad-based single-family Housing market Index (HMI) had been mired in a narrow record-low range from November of last year through March of this year. However, the HMI broke out of this range with a decisive move in April — from 9 to 14 — and registered further improvement when it rose to 16 in May. While the HMI level still is quite low, the recent turnaround has been broad based, showing up in all major regions of the country and in all HMI components — present sales, expected sales and buyer traffic. Recent Housing Production Pattern Is a Mixed Bag The overall level of housing production is quite depressed and the recent pattern is quite a mixed bag, with some components showing stabilization and even hints of improvement while others are displaying sharp retrenchment. Single-family housing starts for April were up by about 3% from March and from the average for the first quarter of the year. Single-family permits show much the same pattern, and it’s possible that the low point for this dreadful cycle was reached in the first quarter — a bit earlier than in our most recent forecast. In this regard, it’s reassuring that single-family starts for sale (excluding homes built on owners’ lots) now are down to about two-thirds of the total, compared with more than four-fifths during the unsustainable boom period and reasonably close to the long-term average share. The multifamily housing sector held up relatively well through mid-2008, but this sector now is contracting rapidly. Multifamily starts were down to 172,000 units in the first quarter of this year (seasonally adjusted annual rate), nearly 50% below a year earlier, and starts crashed to a 90,000 rate in April. The condo component of the multifamily sector is reeling, the subsidized rental component is essentially dormant and the market-rate rental component is fundamentally weak — due partly to conversions of condo projects to rental projects in recent times. The for-sale share of multifamily starts was only 14% in the first quarter, down from about 50% at the height of the boom and below the long-term average. The April multifamily starts numbers presumably reflected typical short-term volatility in this data series, and things may not be quite as bad as they look. However, permit issuance also was quite weak and it’s clear that the multifamily sector, in total, still is on a downward trend. Tight AD&C Credit Conditions Will Sap Strength of Recovery in Housing Production Historically high inventories of vacant new and existing homes on the market will put downward pressure on house prices and exert a drag on the recovery of housing starts for some time, even as the recovery of housing demand gains some upward momentum. Indeed, those inventories will continue to be fed by a foreclosure wave that has not yet crested. Weak housing market fundamental have not escaped the attention of depository institutions or their regulators. Consequently, conditions have continued to tighten in the markets for loans to acquire and develop land and to construct homes — the AD&C credit markets. Surveys by NAHB and the Federal Reserve document recent tightening and point toward further tightening down the line. The Fed’s most recent Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices, covering the first quarter of the year, revealed serious tightening of lending standards for commercial real estate lending, a category that includes residential construction and land development loans. That survey marked the 14th consecutive quarter of credit tightening, showing that two-thirds of banks tightened in the first quarter while no banks eased their standards. Furthermore, 90% of bank loan officers expected the quality of existing loans to continue to decline over the balance of the year — hardly an encouraging signal for builders and developers seeking new loans. NAHB’s first-quarter survey of builders regarding conditions in the AD&C credit markets showed extensions of patterns identified in a series of surveys conducted during the past two years, such as progressive tightening of lending terms and standards for prospective new loans as well as for outstanding credit. Lenders told builders that the tightening process has largely reflected pressures from regulators and boards of directors and those pendulums are not likely to swing back in short order. NAHB analyzes the economy from the point of view of the housing market every other week in the free e-newsletter, “Eye on the Economy.” The preceding is a reissue of the May 20 edition. To subscribe to “Eye on the Economy,” click here.
Tax Credit Web Site Looks at Opportunity of a Lifetime Builders and other industry professionals can help spur home sales by referring prospective first-time home buyers to www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com. The NAHB Web site provides detailed information on the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers included in the economic stimulus legislation signed into law by President Obama. Consumers can use the Web site to find information on the tax credit — including a detailed question and answer section. It also includes information about other housing-related and small business measures in the legislation and a number of home-buying resources for consumers. Spanish Version Also Online A Spanish version of this increasingly popular Web site is also available to provide detailed information on the tax credit to Spanish-speaking first-time home buyers. Industry professionals are encouraged to highlight either tax credit Web site when marketing to their potential first-time home buyer market.
Want to Know the Housing Starts Through 2017? Find out in HousingEconomics.com's Long-Term Forecast. Subscribe and get downloadable Excel tables that feature the housing starts forecast, gross domestic product (GDP), demographics and more. To learn more, visit www.housingeconomics.com. Useful Links to Monitor Economic and Housing TrendsThe following are links to useful information from government agencies and NAHB that will enable you to monitor the housing market. To access the latest information available, simply click the links.
Tax Credit Web Site Looks at Opportunity of a Lifetime Builders and other industry professionals can help spur home sales by referring prospective first-time home buyers to www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com. The NAHB Web site provides detailed information on the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers included in the economic stimulus legislation signed into law by President Obama. Consumers can use the Web site to find information on the tax credit — including a detailed question and answer section. It also includes information about other housing-related and small business measures in the legislation and a number of home-buying resources for consumers. Spanish Version Also Available Online A Spanish version of this increasingly popular Web site is also available to provide detailed information on the tax credit to Spanish-speaking first-time home buyers. Industry professionals are encouraged to highlight either tax credit Web site when marketing to their potential first-time home buyer market.
Want to Know the Housing Starts Through 2017? Find out in HousingEconomics.com's Long-Term Forecast. Subscribe and get downloadable Excel tables that feature the housing starts forecast, gross domestic product (GDP), demographics and more. To learn more, visit www.housingeconomics.com.
Free NAHB Kit Gives Builders Back-to-Basics Tips to Navigate the Slowdown What was once expected to be a relatively mild housing slump following three years of record new home construction and sales has given way to a significant downturn. To help members navigate the uncharted waters of this slowdown, NAHB has compiled a comprehensive “Back to Basics” online toolkit — the best of the basics, the tried and true and the truly new. To access the toolkit, click here. To access the “Back to Basics” toolkit, you must be an NAHB member and have a login to www.nahb.org. To create a login, go to www.nahb.org/login or click on the log-in button on the main menu bar. For assistance, call the NAHB Member Service Center at 800-368-5242. Builders’ Tip: Quick, Easy Sanding-Disk Alignment
But if they are to work properly, the holes in the disks have to be aligned accurately with the sander’s pad.
Tips & Techniques provided by Fine Homebuilding.
To contact Fine Homebuilding, e-mail Christina Glennon.
Tax Credit Web Site Looks at Opportunity of a Lifetime Builders and other industry professionals can help spur home sales by referring prospective first-time home buyers to www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com. The NAHB Web site provides detailed information on the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers included in the economic stimulus legislation signed into law by President Obama. Consumers can use the Web site to find information on the tax credit — including a detailed question and answer section. It also includes information about other housing-related and small business measures in the legislation and a number of home-buying resources for consumers. Spanish Version Also Available Online A Spanish version of this increasingly popular Web site is also available to provide detailed information on the tax credit to Spanish-speaking first-time home buyers. Industry professionals are encouraged to highlight either tax credit Web site when marketing to their potential first-time home buyer market.
Set Yourself Apart With CGB Designation Join the ranks of the nation’s top building industry professionals with the Certified Graduate Builder (CGB) designation. The “Builder Assessment Review” (BAR) is your first step towards obtaining the CGB. This comprehensive assessment measures your expertise in the four key areas of the building industry: building technology, business and finance, project management and sales and marketing. Your results will show the areas where your knowledge is strongest and weakest and will help determine the courses required for you to obtain your CGB. To learn where the next BAR will be held, visit NAHB’s education listings, or call the Professional Designation Help Line at 800-368-5242 x8154.
BuilderBooks.com Offers More Than 250 Books That Help You Build Your Business BuilderBooks.com is your source for training and education products for the building industry. The official bookstore for NAHB, BuilderBooks.com offers award-winning publications, software, brochures and more available in both English and Spanish. To view these publications online, click here, or call 800-223-2665. Green Building Growth Bright Spot in a Down MarketAs builders and remodelers retool their businesses in a tight credit market and consumers appear to be slowly returning to the housing market, this spring has been the greenest yet for the nation’s home builders, NAHB reported last week. “We’ve said for a while that green building is a bright spot in a down market,” said NAHB Chairman Joe Robson. “However, the growth of the NAHB National Green Building Program exceeds even our most optimistic expectations.” More than 3,100 builders, remodelers, designers and others in the home building business have earned the Certified Green Professional educational designation. Based on the successful completion of 24 hours of instruction, industry experience and commitment to continuing education, the designation provides consumers with a reliable way of identifying qualified professionals, Robson said. A Master Green Builder-Remodeler designation that incorporates additional building science and project management coursework is slated to be unveiled next year, he added. (To read a related story in this issue of NBN, click here.) More than 200 single-family homes, remodeling projects and developments in 43 states have received National Green Building Certification, with another 300-plus scheduled for inspections. “The NAHB Research Center has certified projects ranging from affordable starter homes to high-end custom homes with every conceivable amenity,” Robson said. “This national certification program clearly is making green building more mainstream.” The number of state and local home builders associations affiliated with the NAHB National Green Building Program reached 99 by mid-May, representing 40 states. “The fact that 17 of these programs are statewide is especially encouraging for home buyers and home owners because it increases their access to bona fide green building, whether they live in South Dakota or South Carolina,” Robson said. Homes certified in the NAHB National Green Building Program meet benchmarks for energy, water and resource efficiency; indoor environmental quality, lot and site development; and home owner education and home maintenance. Green building practices are incorporated into every step of the home building and land development process to minimize environmental impact. Various tax credits for energy-efficient products — like some Energy Star-rated windows — and a growing number of state and local incentives for buying green are also encouraging consumers to choose energy- and resource-efficient products and homes, Robson said. Consumers can find a Certified Green Professional, a local green building program and a gallery of certified green homes at www.nahbgreen.org. For more information, e-mail Calli Schmidt at NAHB, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8132. ‘National Green Building Standard’ Available at BuilderBooks.com “The National Green Building Standard,” available through BuilderBooks.com, provides “green” practices that can be incorporated into multifamily and single-family new home construction, home remodeling and additions and site development. The standard covers lot design, resource, energy and water efficiency; indoor environment quality; and owner education. Currently the first and only ANSI-approved green building rating system, the National Green Building Standard is the benchmark for green homes. To view or purchase this publication online, click here. The Future of Residential Construction Is Green
The Certified Green Professional (CGP) designation teaches builders, remodelers and other industry professionals techniques for incorporating green building principles into homes using cost-effective and affordable options. Earning the CGP demonstrates to clients and peers your commitment to the best and latest in green building practices and techniques. More than 1,000 people have earned the CGPdesignation to date. For more information, visit www.nahb.org/CGPinfo. ‘Building Greener Neighborhoods’ Available at BuilderBooks.com “Building Greener Neighborhoods,” available through Digital Delivery at BuilderBooks.com, shows those involved in building new communities the advantages and rewards of saving, planting and transplanting more trees in their developments. The examples are drawn from decades of experience of land developers, home builders and urban foresters. To download this publication in a PDF format, click here, or call 800-223-2665. ‘Build Green and Save’ Available at BuilderBooks.com “Build Green and Save: Protecting the Earth and Your Bottom Line,” available through BuilderBooks.com, is a comprehensive, easy-to-read reference that shows builders how to identify and select green building materials; implement green construction techniques; explain the benefits of green housing and offer affordable green building solutions to consumers; and use resources wisely and reduce water and energy consumption. To view or purchase this publication online, click here, or call 800-223-2665. 10 Practical Strategies Suggested for Green MarketingLeading a seminar at the NAHB National Green Building Conference earlier this month in Dallas on “10 Practical Strategies for Green Marketing,” Jim Groff, president of the York, Pa. firm Baublitz Advertising, offered some ideas on how green builders and remodelers can become a dominant force in their marketplace.
“The National Green Building Standard,” available through BuilderBooks.com, provides “green” practices that can be incorporated into multifamily and single-family new home construction, home remodeling and additions and site development. The standard covers lot design, resource, energy and water efficiency; indoor environment quality; and owner education. Currently the first and only ANSI-approved green building rating system, the National Green Building Standard is the benchmark for green homes. To view or purchase this publication online, click here.
The Certified Green Professional (CGP) designation teaches builders, remodelers and other industry professionals techniques for incorporating green building principles into homes using cost-effective and affordable options. Earning the CGP demonstrates to clients and peers your commitment to the best and latest in green building practices and techniques. More than 1,000 people have earned the CGPdesignation to date. For more information, visit www.nahb.org/CGPinfo.
“Building Greener Neighborhoods,” available through Digital Delivery at BuilderBooks.com, shows those involved in building new communities the advantages and rewards of saving, planting and transplanting more trees in their developments. The examples are drawn from decades of experience of land developers, home builders and urban foresters. To download this publication in a PDF format, click here, or call 800-223-2665.
“Build Green and Save: Protecting the Earth and Your Bottom Line,” available through BuilderBooks.com, is a comprehensive, easy-to-read reference that shows builders how to identify and select green building materials; implement green construction techniques; explain the benefits of green housing and offer affordable green building solutions to consumers; and use resources wisely and reduce water and energy consumption. To view or purchase this publication online, click here, or call 800-223-2665. Dual Certification Process Set for NAHBGreen and Builders ChallengeThe NAHB Research Center is revising the NAHBGreen online scoring tool so that builders can apply in a single process for both the National Green Building Standard approved by ANSI in January and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Builders Challenge program. While NAHBGreen certification encourages and rewards builders for energy efficiency, the Builders Challenge criteria bring energy efficiency to an elevated level. Conversely, although the Builders Challenge requires basic moisture management and indoor environmental quality practices, it does not address the broad spectrum of green building elements that comprise NAHBGreen certification. Together, the two programs form a natural synergy in which certification under one program can be more meaningful and valuable when combined with the other, said the Research Center, which is the sole certifying entity for NAHBGreen. The revised scoring tool will be available in June. In the first step toward facilitating dual certification, the NAHB Research Center identified overlapping practices in the two rating systems and created a list of practices in the standard that are required for Builders Challenge certification. Practices that a builder would need to adopt when seeking dual certification were identified from the following sections in the standard:
In addition to adopting the mandatory practices outlined above, builders seeking dual certification must use Energy Star-labeled windows.
Also, through a third-party home energy rating where the home is tested and computer-simulated, they must receive an EnergySmart Home Scale Score (E-Scale) of no higher than 70. The E-Scale quantifies and compares the energy efficiency of new homes, much like auto stickers compare the miles-per-gallon ratings of new vehicles. Homes meeting the Builders Challenge receive an EnergySmart Label, which helps buyers make informed choices by providing the E-Scale score, an estimate of monthly utility bills and a comparison of the home’s energy use with that of a conventional home. Besides providing third-party validation of superior energy efficiency, the Builders Challenge program offers an online database of Builders Challenge companies and pre-packaged marketing materials — including logos and graphics, model press releases and customizable consumer ads and brochures. Upon completion of the revised scoring tool, the builder will be able to produce two reports that can be sent to an accredited verifier to begin the dual certification process. An update will be provided this summer when the dual certification program is officially launched.
The Certified Green Professional (CGP) designation teaches builders, remodelers and other industry professionals techniques for incorporating green building principles into homes using cost-effective and affordable options. Earning the CGP demonstrates to clients and peers your commitment to the best and latest in green building practices and techniques. More than 1,000 people have earned the CGPdesignation to date. For more information, visit www.nahb.org/CGPinfo.
“The National Green Building Standard,” available through BuilderBooks.com, provides “green” practices that can be incorporated into multifamily and single-family new home construction, home remodeling and additions and site development. The standard covers lot design, resource, energy and water efficiency; indoor environment quality; and owner education. Currently the first and only ANSI-approved green building rating system, the National Green Building Standard is the benchmark for green homes. To view or purchase this publication online, click here.
“Building Greener Neighborhoods,” available through Digital Delivery at BuilderBooks.com, shows those involved in building new communities the advantages and rewards of saving, planting and transplanting more trees in their developments. The examples are drawn from decades of experience of land developers, home builders and urban foresters. To download this publication in a PDF format, click here, or call 800-223-2665.
“Profit from Building Green — Award-Winning Tips to Build Energy Efficient Homes,” available through BuilderBooks.com, showcases what energy conscious award-winning builders are doing, provides innovative energy-efficient features and covers successful techniques for building this niche market. To view or purchase this publication online, click here, or call 800-223-2665. Advanced Green Building Courses to Be Available in 2010The NAHB University of Housing is revising the 2006 Green Building for Building Professionals course to incorporate information on the National Green Building Standard approved by the American National Standards Institute and the accompanying online scoring tool, which allows builders anywhere to design, build and score green projects and then certify them through NAHBGreen. Under development are two new advanced green building courses geared specifically toward builders and remodelers. Upon completion, both courses will become the curriculum for a Master Green Builder Remodeler (MGBR) designation. The two new courses are:
The new courses are expected to be available next year. For additional information, e-mail Chad Riedy at NAHB, or call him at 800-368-5242 x8225.
The Certified Green Professional (CGP) designation teaches builders, remodelers and other industry professionals techniques for incorporating green building principles into homes using cost-effective and affordable options. Earning the CGP demonstrates to clients and peers your commitment to the best and latest in green building practices and techniques. More than 1,000 people have earned the CGPdesignation to date. For more information, visit www.nahb.org/CGPinfo.
“The National Green Building Standard,” available through BuilderBooks.com, provides “green” practices that can be incorporated into multifamily and single-family new home construction, home remodeling and additions and site development. The standard covers lot design, resource, energy and water efficiency; indoor environment quality; and owner education. Currently the first and only ANSI-approved green building rating system, the National Green Building Standard is the benchmark for green homes. To view or purchase this publication online, click here.
“Building Greener Neighborhoods,” available through Digital Delivery at BuilderBooks.com, shows those involved in building new communities the advantages and rewards of saving, planting and transplanting more trees in their developments. The examples are drawn from decades of experience of land developers, home builders and urban foresters. To download this publication in a PDF format, click here, or call 800-223-2665.
“Profit from Building Green — Award-Winning Tips to Build Energy Efficient Homes,” available through BuilderBooks.com, showcases what energy conscious award-winning builders are doing, provides innovative energy-efficient features and covers successful techniques for building this niche market. To view or purchase this publication online, click here, or call 800-223-2665. How to Create a 'Thoughtless' Web Site — and WhyBusiness owners who are considering redesigning their Web sites should read Steve Krug's book, "Don't Make Me Think." It’s my Bible on good Web site design and layout and helped me recommit my team to develop a site that never, ever make visitors “think.” Why not have visitors think? It’s very simple. E-marketing research has shown that visitors generally spend less than 27 seconds on a Web page — and leave a site in less than two minutes if the site isn't intuitive and makes them think. Twenty-seven seconds sounds a bit generous to me. My instincts say the number is probably closer to eight or 10 seconds a page, but I haven’t been able to find the research to back that up. A good benchmark for your Web site should be one that has visitors spending at least five minutes at your site viewing seven or eight pages. Of course, if you have more pages than the average Web site, you want to strive to create a site that encourages even longer visits and more page views. (If you don't know how long visitors remain at your site or how many pages they view, e-mail me to arrange a free, complimentary consultation on Google Analytics.) Three Tips on Good Web Design Following are three tips on "thoughtless" Web design that can help increase the length of visits to your site and the number of pages that visitors view:
Meredith Oliver, MIRM, MCSP is the president and founder of Meredith Communications, a sales training and e-marketing consulting company based in Orlando that delivers marketing services to builders and developers nationwide. For more information, e-mail Oliver, call her at 321-285-1660 or visit her Web site, www.CreatingWow.com. This article originally appeared on the NAHB Sales and Marketing Channel. Tax Credit Web Site Looks at Opportunity of a Lifetime Builders and other industry professionals can help spur home sales by referring prospective first-time home buyers to www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com. The NAHB Web site provides detailed information on the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers included in the economic stimulus legislation signed into law by President Obama. Consumers can use the Web site to find information on the tax credit – including a detailed question and answer section. It also includes information about other housing-related and small business measures in the legislation and a number of home-buying resources for consumers. Spanish Version Also Available Online A Spanish version of this increasingly popular Web site is also available to provide detailed information on the tax credit to Spanish-speaking first-time home buyers. Industry professionals are encouraged to highlight either tax credit Web site when marketing to their potential first-time home buyer market. Subscribe to Sales + Marketing Ideas Magazine for Cutting-Edge Information For additional cutting-edge sales and marketing information, subscribe to NAHB’s Sales + Marketing Ideas magazine (www.smimagazine.com). Click here to learn about membership benefits of the National Sales and Marketing Council and the Institute of Residential Marketing.
Multifamily Builder Confidence Rallies From Record LowsRecent hints of optimism in the housing industry appear to have spread to the multifamily sector in this year’s first quarter, according to the latest results of the Multifamily Rental Market Index (MRMI) and the Multifamily Condo Market Index (MCMI), which were released on May 25 by NAHB. “Multifamily builders are beginning to see slight improvement in the current market for new rental and for-sale units, and anticipate even better times in the next six months,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “The components of the index measuring customer interest rose significantly; the index level of calls from prospective renters rose 14 points, to 50.9, and the index reflecting the traffic of prospective condo buyers jumped 25 points.” Index components gauging conditions for current production remained low earlier this year, but two of them — measuring low-rent units and for-sale units — increased from the fourth quarter of 2008. The former climbed nearly four points to 26.3; and the latter reached 14.5 after languishing in the single digits for the second half of last year. NAHB’s Multifamily Market Indexes are derived from quarterly surveys of multifamily builders and developers in which they rank their perceptions of current conditions and expectations for the future. On a scale of 0 to 100, a level of 50 generally indicates that the number of positive and negative responses is about equal. The near future appears more promising to builders than at any time since the first quarter of 2008. Builder expectations for starts of affordable rentals six months from now hit 38.1; market rate rentals were at 31.1, and for-sale units rose nearly 13 points to hit 25.4. While rental vacancy rates remain high — dropping slightly from 8.7% in the fourth quarter of 2008 to 8.5% in the first quarter of 2009 — they were significantly higher, at 10.3%, in the first quarter of last year. The component of the index gauging calls from prospective renters rose to 50.9 in the first three months of this year, after falling into the high 30s during the second half of 2008. Condo traffic accelerated from the mid-teens in the previous two quarters to 39.3 in this year’s first quarter, down only slightly from the 40.2 level recorded in the first quarter of 2008 — possibly in response to the $8,000 first-time buyer tax credit included in the economic stimulus package. “The stock of existing homes for rent and for sale is greater than the consumer demand right now, and is in direct competition with new supply,” said Crowe. “As that inventory is absorbed, and as new households form during the economic recovery, the demand for multifamily rentals will rise, and production will return to a more ‘normal’ level.” For more information, e-mail Ann Marie Moriarty at NAHB, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8350. First Remodeled Home Certified to Green StandardA recently completed remodeling project in Munster, Ind. is the first home remodel to earn certification under the National Green Building Standard, NAHB announced on May 21. Built in 1974, the 1,100-square-foot ranch home was renovated by Lyng Builders, a custom home building and remodeling company in Franklin, Ill., after floodwaters filled the basement and rose to two feet on the first floor. Working within a tight budget to repair substantial structural damage, Lyng Builders also persuaded the home owner to make improvements to help reduce his utility bills by decreasing energy and water consumption and to obtain national green certification through the NAHB Research Center, which trains and accredits third-party inspectors. For projects to be certified, remodelers must address a range of factors, including energy, resource and water efficiency and indoor environmental quality in the newly renovated home. “With 111 million existing homes, remodeling these energy and water guzzlers must be a top priority to achieve a more efficient housing stock,” said NAHB Chairman Joe Robson. “NAHB leads the housing industry by helping professionals take advantage of the first and only national standard to certify green remodeled homes.” Lyng Builders upgraded the heating and cooling system, installed a high-efficiency water heater, selected Energy Star-rated appliances, added wall and pipe insulation and thoroughly sealed the home against air and energy leaks to produce an estimated 49% decrease in energy consumption from the pre-remodeled home. To reduce water waste, the company replaced the faucets and toilets with low-flow fixtures that should help the home owners use about 20% less water. The home was also equipped with a programmable thermostat, a power-vented attic fan and a programmed exhaust mechanism for efficient conditioning and ventilation. More than 1,500 new homes, renovation projects and subdivisions currently are in the scoring process for the standard at www.nahbgreen.org, the online home of the NAHB National Green Building Program. Approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in January, the ICC-700-2008 National Green Building Standard sets benchmarks and a verification protocol for single-family homes, apartments and condominiums, remodeling, lot and site development and all kinds of residential construction. Home owner Steve Holcomb praised Lyng Builders for its work. “Lyng went out of his way to make sure everything was just right. My house is working more efficiently,” he said. Holcomb can also take advantage of additional savings with the federal energy-efficiency tax credit for products used in the renovation. “The certification of this remodeled home in Indiana demonstrates NAHB’s leadership on green remodeling and the benefits home owners can enjoy with a more efficient home,” said Robson. “I congratulate Mr. Lyng, the SouthWest Suburban Home Builders Association in Illinois, the verifying firm of Energy Diagnostics and the home owners for leading the way,” he said. Learn more about green remodeling from NAHB Remodelers at www.nahb.org/remodel. For more information, e-mail Kelly Mack at NAHB, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8451. Remodelers See Early Signs of Recovery in First QuarterThe residential remodeling market showed significant signs of improvement during the first quarter of 2009, according to the latest NAHB Remodeling Market Index (RMI), which was released on May 14. The index showed current market conditions rising to 34.5 in the first three months of this year, up from 25.5 in the final quarter of 2008. Remodelers’ future expectations jumped to 30 on the index, up from a historic low of 18.6 for the previous quarter. The RMI measures remodeler perceptions of market demand for current and future residential remodeling projects. Any number over 50 indicates that the majority of remodelers view market conditions positively. The RMI has been running below 50 since the final quarter of 2005 as a result of declining remodeling expenditures. "Remodelers are starting to receive more calls for bids and requests for proposals, although getting customers to sign for a job continues to remain a challenge," said NAHB Remodelers Chairman Greg Miedema, CGR, CGB, CAPS, CGP, a remodeler from Tucson, Ariz. "While the size of the jobs is smaller, remodelers are optimistic about this uptick in market activity." The component of the RMI tracking market conditions for major additions and alterations rose to 32.7 in this year’s first quarter, up from 19.4 in the fourth quarter of 2008. Minor additions registered 39.1 on the index, up from 31.5; and maintenance and repairs climbed from 23.6 to 30.4. Measures of future expectations showed healthy improvements during the first quarter. On the rise were calls for bids, which climbed from 20.6 to 34.2; the backlog of remodeling jobs, from 18.4 to 28.5; appointments for proposals, from 19.1 to 35.3; and the amount of work committed for the next three months, from 21.8 from 16.4. "Remodelers say things are looking up from the doldrums of the fourth quarter," said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. "While conditions remain below average and are down slightly from this time last year, the gains over the last quarter, along with improvement in market expectations, suggest a spark to the start of recovery in the remodeling market." For more information on NAHB’s remodeling resources, click here; or e-mail Kelly Mack, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8451. Webinar Details Modular Construction Basics, BenefitsThe Pennsylvania Factory Built Housing Industry Partnership (FBHIP), an industry partner of NAHB’s Building Systems Councils, is hosting a webinar on the basics and benefits of modular construction — including trimming overhead costs and reducing construction time on the job site. The webinar, “Modular 101: Introduction to Modular Construction,” will be held from 3:00-4:30 p.m. EDT on Thursday, June 4. It is the first in a series of webinars hosted by FBHIP on modular construction. Rick Terry, CGP and the director of the Factory Built Housing Center at the Pennsylvania College of Technology, said webinar participants will also learn about how to capitalize on the green building market with modular construction and how to increase sales volume while delivering a more consistent product to customers To Register The cost of the webinar is $25 and the course is limited to the first 50 registrants. Participants also will receive a free copy of the book “The Modular Home,” by Andy Gianino, one of the webinar's panel members. For more information or to register, click here, or contact the FBHIP at 570-327-4768. ‘Prefabulous’ Looks at Dream Homes Fresh From the Factory “Prefabulous: The House of Your Dreams Delivered Fresh From the Factory,” available through BuilderBooks.com, describes the many systems available for prefabricating all or parts of a new home and compares their advantages and disadvantages. “Prefabulous” also showcases beautiful examples of houses built using these techniques. To view or purchase this publication online, click here, or call 800-223-2665. ‘Modular Mansions’ Available from BuilderBooks.com “Modular Mansions,” available through BuilderBooks.com, explores the fast-growing method of home construction and profiles 21 modular homes in varied styles and sizes. To view or purchase this publication online, click here, or call 800-223-2665.
HVAC Tips That Can Save You From Making Costly MistakesWhile residential and commercial HVAC system requirements are similar, there are defined differences that residential builders who are venturing into light commercial construction need to know about so they can avoid making potentially costly mistakes. Basically, unlike residential construction where windows help ventilate a home, commercial construction does not rely on windows for ventilation. Instead, the outside air, general exhaust, toilet exhaust and process exhaust must be provided by — and specifically calculated for — commercial HVAC mechanical systems. So, in addition to the heating and cooling calculations needed in residential construction, builders must also add newly introduced outside air to their commercial calculations. This additional requirement necessitates that residential builders select and install commercial-grade mechanical components rather than install what they typically use in new homes. Elements Common to Light Commercial Systems To help familiarize residential builders with the differences in commercial systems, I have compiled a list of elements that are common to light construction systems that are not found in residential systems. These elements apply specifically to buildings up to two stories high. While the basic principles are the same for systems used in larger commercial buildings, the configurations for systems in large and small buildings differ completely.
In addition to understanding the fundamental differences between residential and commercial HVAC systems, residential builders considering diversifying into light commercial construction should avoid the following common errors when installing commercial systems:
Ordering and installing all the rooftop units needed for a building is a complicated task that requires planning the entire building system, not simply installing each HVAC rooftop unit as needed. The pointers above can help you achieve satisfactory, and cost-effective, results. Improper planning, on the other hand, can leave you with a very costly solution you may not be able to ignore — tearing off the roof unit and buying a new one. Also, don’t be overwhelmed if you find that your system requires a factory-certified installer to install it. Acquiring the certification is usually as simple as having your installer attend a free seminar provided by the factory.
Enter 2009 Best in American Living Design Competition
Co-sponsored by Professional Builder magazine and NAHB, the competition includes 37 categories — from single-family attached and detached homes in a variety of sizes to rental developments and custom homes, plus categories for interior design, communities and neighborhoods, affordable housing, smart growth and new this year — certified green homes. A panel of design professionals judge entries on design appearance and curb appeal, interior floor plans, how the project relates to its own local market and the construction techniques and materials used. Homes that were completed or that had their first model opened between Jan. 1, 2008 and July 15, 2009 are eligible for this year’s competition. Entry Dates:
Winning entries also will be posted on the Professional Builder Web site (probuilder.com) for up to one year after the announcement. For additional information and to download a BALA entry form, click here, go to www.probuilder.com/bala, or contact Judy Brociek, Professional Builder, at 630-288-8184, or Jennifer Jones, NAHB, at 800-368-5242 x8343. Education Calendar
Learn More About Upcoming Conferences and Designations Interested in attending a University of Housing conference or learning more about NAHB designation programs? Visit www.nahb.org/notifyme, and sign up to receive more information.
Free NAHB Kit Gives Builders Back-to-Basics Tips to Navigate the Slowdown What was once expected to be a relatively mild housing slump following three years of record new home construction and sales has given way to a significant downturn. To help members navigate the uncharted waters of this slowdown, NAHB has compiled a comprehensive “Back to Basics” online toolkit — the best of the basics, the tried and true and the truly new. To access the toolkit, click here. To access the “Back to Basics” toolkit, you must be an NAHB member and have a login to www.nahb.org. To create a login, go to www.nahb.org/login or click on the log-in button on the main menu bar. For assistance, call the NAHB Member Service Center at 800-368-5242. Safety Month Focuses on Falls, Overexertion and DrivingThe hazards of teen driving, falls, overexertion and distracted driving are the focus of the National Safety Council’s (NSC) annual National Safety Month campaign in June. As part of their everyday workplace responsibilities, residential construction workers often drive vehicles, work at heights and perform tasks that are physically exerting. Falls accounted for 45% of the deaths reported in the NAHB study, “Residential Construction Industry Fatalities, 2003-2006,” making it the number-one cause of fatal injuries in the home building industry. Transportation accidents accounted for 14% of deaths in the industry. The NSC has developed a set of posters and safety tips in both English and Spanish to help employers educate their employees on how to prevent injuries. To downloand these educational resources, click here. NAHB provides resources — including onsite training, videos and publications — to help employers and employees alike educate themselves on proper safety precautions while participating in any potentially dangerous activities both on and off the job. To see all of NAHB’s safety resources available through BuilderBooks, go to: www.builderbooks.com/safety. In conjunction with the NAHB Research Center, NAHB has developed a 2-1/2 hour onsite seminar for builders, trade contractors, supervisors and workers focusing on identifying scaffold and ladder hazards in residential construction. The program also provides participants with an understanding of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration scaffold and ladder regulations and safe work practices to prevent fall-related injuries and deaths. To learn more about the scaffold and ladder safety training, and to see a list of programs scheduled around the country in 2009, go to: www.nahb.org/scaffoldtraining. For more information on NAHB safety training programs, e-mail Lindsay Cather, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8163.
In an effort to increase job site safety and reduce the chance of job related accidents, NAHB has produced the “Fall Protection Video, English-Spanish” and “NAHB-OSHA Fall Protection Handbook, English-Spanish.” Both are available through BuilderBooks.com. The 30-minute “Fall Protection Video, English-Spanish” can be used by builders to train workers to use safe work practices that eliminate fall hazards and comply with OSHA fall-protection standards. The “NAHB-OSHA Fall Protection Handbook, English-Spanish” provides guidelines for creating a written fall-protection plan and identifying safe work practices that can prevent costly accidents and injuries. Written with clear text, photographs and illustrations, the book serves as a user-friendly resource for promoting safety on any job site. To purchase the handbook and video online, click here, or call 800-223-2665. FlowGuard Manifold System Offers Maximum VersatilityThe new FlowGuard MultiPort CPVC manifold system offers a versatile solution that can be used with both CPVC and PEX potable water piping materials. The patent-pending manifold is available in 1”, 1 ¼”, 1 ½” and 2” sizes for residential and commercial applications, and it can be installed vertically or horizontally. Used as a central manifold system, FlowGuard MultiPort fittings allow for any number of ports during installation and easily accommodate future expansion. The manifold system is joined using solvent cement, eliminating the mechanical leak points found in other central manifold systems. The fittings come in standard configurations of one, two, three or four ports for 1” CPVC and two to three ports for 1 ¼”, 1 ½” and 2” CPVC. Simple CPVC adaptors are available to convert the male ports to brass or stainless steel crimp barbs for PEX pipe, or to standard CPVC pipe or fittings. The system is manufactured by The Lubrizol Corporation. The company has 50 years of experience in advanced technology piping products — including FlowGuard Gold, FlowGuard Bendable, FlowGuard Flex, BlazeMaster and Corzan piping systems. For more information on the benefits of the FlowGuard MultiPort CPVC System, call 888-234-2436 x4477393, or click here. FlowGuard is a registered trademark of The Lubrizol Corporation. Lubrizol is an innovative specialty chemical company that produces and supplies technologies that improve the quality and performance of its customers' products in global transportation, industrial and consumer markets. The company's specialty materials include plastics technology and performance coatings in the form of specialty resins and additives. Headquartered in Wickliffe, Ohio, Lubrizol/FlowGuard Family of Products is a member of the National Council of the Housing Industry — The Leading Suppliers of NAHB. This feature is solely for educational and informational purposes. Nothing on this page should be construed as policy, an endorsement, warranty or guaranty by the National Association of Home Builders of the featured product or the product manufacturer. The National Association of Home Builders expressly disclaims any responsibility for any damages arising from the use, application or reliance on any information contained on this page. NAHB-Produced Programs on DIY, Fine Living and HGTVThe NAHB Production Group produces weekly television shows on DIY, Fine Living and HGTV for consumers. The following is the latest lineup: "Rock Solid" on DIY
"Indoors Out" on DIY
"I Want That" on Fine Living
HGTV Seeking ‘Dream Home’ Builder/Architect Teams HGTV is seeking developers, builders and architects to create the 2010 HGTV Dream Home, the grand prize in the network's annual sweepstakes. To learn more, click here. About the NAHB Production Group The NAHB Production Group is a full-service, self-contained, media production unit creating programming for cable television, broadcast television, non-profit, museum and corporate clients. Productions range from magazine format shows for general audiences to museum-installation videos for specialized use. The production group includes award winning journalists, writers and photographers with experience in broadcast, documentary and corporate television.
Free NAHB Kit Gives Builders Back-to-Basics Tips to Navigate the Slowdown What was once expected to be a relatively mild housing slump following three years of record new home construction and sales has given way to a significant downturn. To help members navigate the uncharted waters of this slowdown, NAHB has compiled a comprehensive “Back to Basics” online toolkit — the best of the basics, the tried and true and the truly new. To access the toolkit, click here. To access the “Back to Basics” toolkit, you must be an NAHB member and have a login to www.nahb.org. To create a login, go to www.nahb.org/login or click on the log-in button on the main menu bar. For assistance, call the NAHB Member Service Center at 800-368-5242. Students Jumpstart Building Careers With NAHB Internship
Two students attending Homebuilding Education Leadership Program (HELP)-funded universities will be interning this summer with NAHB, the NAHB Research Center and a Washington, D.C.-area builder or developer through the NAHB Residential Construction Leadership/Internship Program funded by the National Housing Endowment. During the eight-week program, while interning at NAHB the students will learn about legal, legislative and regulatory issues that affect the building industry. At the Research Center, they will learn about building products and management best practices. The students will also intern for five weeks with a builder or developer. The internship program, now in its second year, was developed as an adjunct to the endowment’s HELP program, which bolsters college and university residential construction management programs around the country. “Our goal is to encourage more outstanding students to choose the residential construction industry for their career,” said David Jaffe, internship program coordinator and NAHB staff vice president of construction liabilities and legal research. “This internship will supplement and enhance the students’ classroom experience by giving them practical field experience and an understanding of NAHB’s contribution to the housing industry and help them develop the skills they will need for a rewarding career in home building,” he said. The students interning at NAHB this summer are Alex Beckman, a senior majoring in construction management at Colorado State University, and Marlone Walter, a senior pursing a double major in architecture and construction at Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas. Beckman, vice president of his NAHB Student Chapter at Colorado State and a varsity athlete, wants to become a custom home builder and has spent several summers working with custom builders before beginning his internship at NAHB. He said he “looks forward to simply being in the industry and learning from experienced professionals who can provide me with the knowledge to become an excellent superintendent/project manager and eventual owner.” Walter said he has been fascinated with home building since he was a child and dreams of “building homes that are green and affordable so they will provide the structural, emotional and economical stability that families need.” “When these students go home at the end of the summer they’ll have a much better understanding of the role of NAHB and its state and local affiliates, and they’ll have a better sense of the issues that are shaping our industry,” said Robert Pflieger, NAHB senior staff vice president for public affairs. For more information on the HELP grant initiative or the National Housing Endowment, visit www.nationalhousingendowment.org. Save More With Hertz Off-Airport LocationsWith more than 1,700 off-airport locations around the country, finding a Hertz Local Edition close to home or your travel destination is convenient. NAHB members also can take advantage of Hertz local pick-up and return service and NAHB discounts for their business and personal travel. Some of the benefits found at Hertz Local Edition (HLE) locations include:
Other Member Advantage Discounts For the most up-to-date details on the Member Advantage discount program and all of the participating companies, go to www.nahb.org/MA. Williams Scotsman Offers $1.99 First-Month Storage ContainerThrough June 30, Williams Scotsman is offering 20- and 40-foot storage containers at $1.99 first month’s rent with a three-month minimum lease to NAHB members — plus a free door lock rental with each unit. The storage container deal is in addition to Williams Scotsman’s NAHB member discount of one month free rent — up to $500 ― for each mobile office, storage container or specialty trailer leased for six months or longer. For more information, call Williams Scotsman at 877-884-4065, or visit www.willscot.com/storage. Other Member Advantage Discounts For information on the Member Advantage discount program and all its participating companies, go to www.nahb.org/MA.
Free NAHB Kit Gives Builders Back-to-Basics Tips in Navigate the Slowdown What was once expected to be a relatively mild housing slump following three years of record new home construction and sales has given way to a significant downturn. To help members navigate the uncharted waters of this slowdown, NAHB has compiled a comprehensive “Back to Basics” online toolkit — the best of the basics, the tried and true and the truly new. To access the toolkit, click here. To access the “Back to Basics” toolkit, you must be an NAHB member and have a login to www.nahb.org. To create a login, go to www.nahb.org/login or click on the log-in button on the main menu bar. For assistance, call the NAHB Member Service Center at 800-368-5242. Drive Away With a Shiny New $500 GM OfferNAHB members can receive $500 towards the purchase or lease of most new GM passenger cars, light-duty trucks, vans and SUVs — whether for business or personal use.
For complete details, visit www.gmfleet.com/nahb. The program runs through Jan. 4, 2010. For more information, e-mail Tiffany Lindsley at NAHB, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8273. Other Member Advantage Discounts For the most up-to-date details on the Member Advantage discount program and all of the participating companies, go to www.nahb.org/MA.
Free NAHB Kit Gives Builders Back-to-Basics Tips to Navigate the Slowdown What was once expected to be a relatively mild housing slump following three years of record new home construction and sales has given way to a significant downturn. To help members navigate the uncharted waters of this slowdown, NAHB has compiled a comprehensive “Back to Basics” online toolkit — the best of the basics, the tried and true and the truly new. To access the toolkit, click here. To access the “Back to Basics” toolkit, you must be an NAHB member and have a login to www.nahb.org. To create a login, go to www.nahb.org/login or click on the log-in button on the main menu bar. For assistance, call the NAHB Member Service Center at 800-368-5242. Calendar of Events
Learn More About Upcoming Conferences and Designations Interested in attending a University of Housing conference or learning more about NAHB designation programs? Visit www.nahb.org/notifyme, and sign up to receive more information.
Free NAHB Kit Gives Builders Back-to-Basics Tips to Navigate the Slowdown What was once expected to be a relatively mild housing slump following three years of record new home construction and sales has given way to a significant downturn. To help members navigate the uncharted waters of this slowdown, NAHB has compiled a comprehensive “Back to Basics” online toolkit — the best of the basics, the tried and true and the truly new. To access the toolkit, click here. To access the “Back to Basics” toolkit, you must be an NAHB member and have a login to www.nahb.org. To create a login, go to www.nahb.org/login or click on the log-in button on the main menu bar. For assistance, call the NAHB Member Service Center at 800-368-5242. |