Green Codes and Red Flags Daily 5 Remodel “Building codes in your jurisdiction: Do you think they go too far or not far enough to encourage energy-efficiency and sustainability?”  NAHB Builder Confidence Index increases in October Calculated Risk “The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reports the housing market index (HMI) increased in October to 18 from 14 [...]

Two Big Builder Failures Show We’re Not Yet Out of the Woods BUILDER “Just in the last few days, in a reminder of how treacherous home building remains, two of the biggest companies in the business have gone under. First, Minnesota’s Rottlund Homes, during its heyday the 40th largest builder in the country, announced that it would liquidate. [...]

As the current recession turns in to years, the homes we live in are changing and the effects of this could very well influence home building for decades to come. The Wall Street Journal recently covered some trends they’re seeing, as well as things that are fading by the wayside. The end of the closed-off, [...]

Usual growth leaders absent from recovery New York Times “Why has the job picture been so bleak in the current recovery? A large part of the problem can be traced to unusual weakness in two categories: construction jobs and government jobs.” 9 tricks for creating a super model HousingZone.com “Believe it or not, if you [...]

We’ve talked a lot here about who today’s home-buying customers are. Are they young? Old? Families? Empty nesters? Etc. But what if you have no idea who they are? It’s important to watch trends closely, but sometimes it seems like people don’t even know what they want. We found an article on BUILDER that goes [...]

With the housing market continuing to decline it’s not difficult to guess at what keeps people from buying: it’s the economy, stupid! With people being laid off, working at reduced pay or worrying about getting laid off, fear is a powerful motivator for letting houses sit on the market. But it’s not the only thing. Over at [...]

Foreclosures fell 26% in Dec., but 2010 filings set a record USA Today “The pace of foreclosures has slowed since revelations that thousands of foreclosure documents may have been improperly prepared, but for all 2010, almost 2.9 million U.S. properties received foreclosure filings, a record high, and up 2% from 2009.” 7 down payment assistance [...]

With a new year just barely begun, it’s time to think of some resolutions. In addition to all the personal ones you may have made, it’s always a good idea to think about what sort of professional resolutions you can make. Here are a few ideas. Focus on marketing. Getting the word out can differentiate [...]

Hire Locally Will Become the Law in San Francisco New York Times “Under the ordinance, city contractors and subcontractors working on city-financed construction projects worth $400,000 or more would be required to hire at least 20 percent of their workers from San Francisco. The requirement will increase by 5 percent each year until it reaches [...]

…then beggars would ride. The old children’s nursery rhyme seems to have some resonance in this current housing market. Two recent report from Housing Giants and Professional Remodeler offer semi-conflicting reports about where the housing market is going and Americans’ views of what home ownership means. Housing Giants reports that demand is going up for [...]