These Houzz “Best Of Houzz” awards for 2013, are awarded in two categories: Customer Satisfaction and Design. The satisfaction awards are voted on by members of the Houzz community from experiences working with remodeling pros from architects to contractors. As for the Design award, that one is based on the popularity of designers among the so called “Houzzers,” those community members having saved more than 124 million pro images of interiors and etc. via Houzz’s award winning website, iPad, iPhone, and Android apps.

Office library at an Orren PIckell home

Orren Pickell, President and CEO of Orren Pickell Building Group, offered this on having received the award:

“It is an honor to be recognized by this discerning audience with the 2013 ‘Best of Houzz’ Award. We recognize the Houzz community has a plethora of options for their design needs and we are thrilled they’ve selected us as one of the best in the industry.”

For those who have never used the Houzz apps, this award winning platform offers the most complete and usable digital experience possible today where refining projects for the home are concerned. From concept, to hire a contractor, to purchasing the finest array of products for projects, and onward, Houzz has literally though of everything digital to help people do projects.

Orren Pickell Building Group creates distinctive and memorable residences. From architecture to carpentry the Illinois firm provides expertise at every step of the home building process. Readers interested in their work may visit the links or call the firm directly at:  847-572-5252

One of the nation’s leading home builders, Lennar Corporation was founded way back in 1954. Lennar’s Financial Services segment now provides mortgage financing, title insurance and closing services, and Lennar’s Rialto Investments focuses on distressed real estate investments and asset management.

According to the earnings estimate pages of the Lennar website, the stock is holding strong at a “hold” position even though most indicators show the company exceeding expectations for the most part. The company had just reported Q4 2012 net earnings of some $124.3 million and an increase in delivered homes of more than 30%. New orders with the company were also up a third, as was revenue at $1.3 billion (42%). For 2012 Lennar stocks gained over $3 per diluted share.

More information about this announcement and other Lennar news can be obtained via the company’s website, www.lennar.com.

Image by paparutzi via flickr.com

The housing market has many moving parts, and the various parts benefit from good housing news in various ways.

For example, the National Association of Realtors are known for their ability to spin a positive report for housing from virtually any data, no matter how negative it may appear.

Witness the 2008 housing crisis. NAR Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun states in May of 2008 in Realtor Magazine, that “the housing market would begin to recover later in the year”. Of course we all know that by the end of 2008 the housing market was well on it’s way to a slump and foreclosure crisis that would surpass even the great depression of the 1930′s, and lead to a banking crisis which we are still working through today.

I’d say that Yun’s 2008 prediction was a “trick” not a “treat”, and was clearly an attempt to put a happy face on a very depressed housing market that was to get much worse as the months went by.

Just a year or so earlier, Yun had replaced former NAR Chief Economist David Lereah, who wrote a now infamous book entitled “Why The Real Estate Boom Will Never Bust” in 2007. The book proved to be a big “trick” that ultimately destroyed Lereah’s credibility as an expert on the housing market.

By now, most observers of the NAR put little stock in their ability to accurately predict anything beyond a continuing recovery in housing, no matter what else is actually happening. They believe that good housing news is always in the best interest of their membership, in spite of the fact that the NAR’s missteps before and during the housing crisis have done significant damage to the credibility of their members and the real estate profession in general.

Down on the trading floor at the NYSE, home builder stocks improve significantly when news of an imminent housing recovery makes the major media outlets. Good news on home sales virtually always results in a stock price bounce for home builders and other public companies that benefit from an improved housing market.

Wall street has now moved from creating mortgage backed securities, CDO’s, derivatives and other financial instruments that nearly brought down the entire economy, to also buying up billions of dollars worth of foreclosed homes. What was once a business that belonged to “mom and pop” investors, small businesses and entrepreneurs has become the latest “trick or treat” project for big investment companies.

Using funding from the likes of Citibank and other housing savvy players, with access to billions of dollars, Wall Street is out to buy up as many of these properties as possible, so that the income stream from rents can be securitized into a new form of housing investment. This is the ultimate “treat” for the entities that have already “tricked” the housing market. They certainly have a vested interest in the good news of a housing recovery. A public perception that housing prices are going up will play right into their investment strategy, in allowing them to buy at 20 cents on the dollar while they sell at 80 cents or higher.

Ultimately, the folks who have the power to influence the news about a housing recovery, are also the ones most likely to profit from that good news.

Image/freedigitalphotos.net

Existing home sales rose 7.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.82 million in August from 4.47 million in July. Comparing year to year, August sales this year were 9.3 percent higher than August 2011.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said favorable buying conditions get the credit. “The housing market is steadily recovering with consistent increases in both home sales and median prices. More buyers are taking advantage of excellent housing affordability conditions,” he said. “Inventories in many parts of the country are broadly balanced, favoring neither sellers nor buyers. However, the West and Florida markets are experiencing inventory shortages, which are placing pressure on prices.”

The national median existing-home price for all types of housing rose 9.5 percent to $187,400 from August 2011 to August 2012. The August increase was the strongest since January 2006 when the median price rose 10.2 percent from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the NAHB reports that builder confidence in the market for new homes rose for the fifth month in a row. In September the level rose to 40, marking the index’s highest rating since June 2006.

“This fifth consecutive month of improvement in builder confidence provides further assurance that the housing market is moving in a positive direction, but there’s still a long way to go on the road to recovery and several obstacles are slowing our progress,” said NAHB Chairman Barry Rutenberg, a home builder from Gainesville, Fla. “In particular, unnecessarily tight credit conditions are preventing many builders from putting crews back to work – which would create needed jobs — and discouraging consumers from pursuing a new-home purchase.”

The survey, the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, conducted for the past 25 years, gauges builder perception of home sales and sales expectations for the upcoming six months. Any number over 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor.

And more good news for buyers: the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage dropped to 3.49 percent with a .6 point this week, according to Freddie Mac. The average 15-year fixed rate mortgage came in at 2.77 percent with a .6 point.

Michele Dawson is a freelance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona. She spent seven years as a newspaper reporter and has written for various magazines and web sites specializing in real estate and home improvement, including Realty Times, SmartHomeowner, California Builder, and the Sacramento Business Journal.

Homebuilders support buying all-american products © andreacrisante - Fotolia.com

Montana builder Anders Lewendal, who also happens to hold an economics degree, maintains that if builders across the country used only 5% more American made products in their homes, that it could create 220,000 jobs.

To prove that it can be done, Lewendal constructed a home in Bozeman Montana entirely out of American made products. Using goods acquired from companies strewn across 33 states, the misconception that all-American made products cannot compete with their cheaper (and in my opinion cheaply made) foreign counterparts was finally laid to rest – the builder found many products to be cheaper than their off-shore cousins.

It seems the trend is catching. Virginia builder T.E. Jones of Vintage Homes is trying to keep things going by stepping up to the plate and doing the same thing in their region.

Says Jones:

“It’s our way of trying to keep this movement alive and create jobs. A lot of people think it can’t be done. We’re proving it can.”

As this idea continues to spread, more builders are becoming involved. Tidewater Builders’ Association has asked Montana builders’ Anders Lewendal and his son Jake to be keynote speakers at the association’s membership forum in May.

The largest roofing manufacturer in America, New Jersey based GAF,  is sponsoring the event. “As an American-owned company offering American-made products, GAF fully supports the creation of more jobs through the use of American-made materials,” said Paul Bromfield, Sr. Vice President of Marketing.

[video]  http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/home-made-america-work-14716891

The concept of buying only American products is not new, yet it is inspiring, as it doesn’t have to be limited to the building industry. In an atmosphere of economic uncertainty we Americans have to lay aside our differences and yes, perhaps pay a bit more for an item that wasn’t manufactured by individuals making $1.00 a day, but in the end, when we choose products made by our fellow citizens we are in essence paying back into our own lives and the lives of our families.

If you are a builder, what do you think about this new trend? If you’re interested in playing a part, here is Lewendal’s list – make sure to spread it around!

Courtesy © HitToon.com - Fotolia.com

Cowboy builders do exist, but they are easy enough to avoid if you take a few precautions.  In fact, the only reason that they manage to stay in business is because most people take a “it won’t happen to me” attitude when it comes to hiring tradesmen.

The following tips will help you to ensure that the builders you hire for your next renovation project are reputable ones:

• Ask for references, and then verify them
• Get everything in writing
• Check that they have public liability insurance.
• Ask if they offer insurance backed guarantees
• Obtain several quotes from different companies before you hire someone
• Ask for a written invoice, and pay it.  Don’t work with people “cash in hand”.
• Look for a builder that is a member of a reputable trade body
• Ask to visit recent projects with the builder so that you can see examples of their work.

If a builder claims to have ties to a major company, but pulls up in an unmarked van, and hands over a business card with a mobile phone number, that should be a big red flag.  Anyone can buy some tools and a white van, but that doesn’t mean they have the skills to do a good job.  They could be a relative of someone that works for the big company, or they could just be trying to cash in on another company’s good reputation.  If you have any doubts, find the company’s number in the phone book, and ring them up yourself to check.

Remember, there’s more to being a good builder than having an impressive collection of tools and an ability to talk jargon.  If you have any concerns at all about the quality or reputability of a builder, don’t hire them.

Word of mouth is a valuable tool when it comes to finding a good builder.  If someone you know has recently had their home renovated, then ask them if they were happy with the end result, and with the way the work was carried out.

Remember, it’s better to wait a few months to find a reliable, honest builder that does good work and that you’d be happy to let inside your home.  There’s no point hiring someone for work that may take several months if you are uncomfortable around them, or have a feeling that they might let you down at a critical moment.  It’s your home, and you deserve to have the best people available carrying out any work on it.

Written by Amy Fowler on behalf of Tool Orders, suppliers of heavy duty tools.

Carol Flammer – PR and social media marketing expert and consultant. 

Managing Partner: mRELEVANCE 

Website: www.mRelevance.com 

770-383-3360

With 20 years of experience, Carol has established herself as the “go to” person for public relations and social media in the real estate industry. She is president of Flammer Relations, Inc., and managing partner of mRELEVANCE, LLC, an Internet Marketing, Social Media and Public Relations firm with offices in Atlanta and Chicago.

Carol is also the creator of the award-winning AtlantaRealEstateForum, Atlanta’s most popular real estate blog.

Carol holds a BA in Business and Behavioral Science from Oglethorpe University. A member of the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association, Carol was honored in 2008 as the HBA Associate of the Year. She is a member of the Georgia Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America and is a recipient of PRSA’s prestigious George Goodwin Award.

Other recognitions include the Oglethorpe University 2008 Spirit of Oglethorpe Award, as well as OBIE, Phoenix, APEX, Hermes and Communicator Awards.

Recently, Realty Biz News caught up with Carol in the middle of a very busy day, and had a chance to ask her about her business activities…

Carol: Relevance helps the real estate industry drive more traffic to their websites, and increase sales center traffic as well. We structure marketing programs for industry professionals using a combination of tools including email, online search, website development and management, social marketing, online advertising, and more, depending on the type of client and their specific needs.

The Atlanta Real Estate Forum blog has two different target audiences. 80% are home buyers and 20% are members of the Atlanta professional real estate industry, who follow what’s happening in the Atlanta market. Home buyers who visit the blog are also able to click through directly to client websites. This helps drive traffic directly to our clients. ***

To inquire about marketing services for your company, you may contact Carol’s office at: 770-383-3360.

Carol is a member of the Atlanta Apartment Association, Urban Land Institute, National Association of Real Estate Editors and Professional Women in Building. She serves on the Board of the Atlanta Home Builder Association’s Sales & Marketing Council.
She holds the MIRM (Masters In Residential Marketing), CAPS (Certified Aging in Place Specialist) and CSP (Certified Sales Professional) designations from National Association of Home Builders.

With this fact in mind, I’d like to list some ideas for how to address housing problems at the local level. Ideas which can be implemented locally by the local groups who are most affected and have the most to gain by implementing these solutions.

Local solutions for housing © Andy Dean - Fotolia.com

First, let’s address the over arching government solutions being attempted now, and from there we’ll move into a localized approach.

As I write this, media reports indicate that the Federal Reserve is considering taking action that will reduce interest rates further. While low interest rates have been the traditional way to spur housing sales in the past, the problems this time are much more systemic. Unemployment and under-employment are preventing a housing recovery. Lowering interest rates further is not going to make any significant difference in housing sales, if buyers can’t afford to buy or don’t qualify to begin with.

The low interest rates are taking a different toll this time, by eroding the income of seniors and those who expected income from savings and investments to carry them into retirement. We are seeing a big trend towards reverse mortgages.

Low interest rates have wiped out that income to a great degree, and as a result, we are seeing a new wave of reverse mortgages as seniors “pawn” their homes to the bank, to generate additional income. This trend will soon become another housing crisis waiting to happen if it continues unabated.

Further, the secondary mortgage market has little incentive for new investment when interest rates are virtually at zero. The risk is simply not worth the paltry rewards. While I realize that there would be some near term pain to allowing rates to increase slowly, I believe that housing would benefit in the long term, because rising interest rates would provide seniors and other savers with more income from their investments, and would generate more investment in the secondary mortgage market, which would make more capital available for mortgage lending. This could in turn, lead to more sales in housing, leading to more jobs, and help speed an economic recovery without unhealthy increases in housing prices. But this is highly unlikely under Ben Bernanke, so the local players are left to take constructive action to help their local markets.

Realtors must take more of a lead role in helping identify local market problems, and develop local market solutions. No industry group has more “boots on the ground” than the National Association of Realtors. Real estate agents are the one group that has the data and the man-power to address local real estate market issues throughout the entire U.S. Yet they don’t take advantage of this power. Most agents are kept busy worrying about the latest rule changes related to earnest money handling or fair housing laws. But it’s agents who know their local market better than anyone else. They know what is selling and what isn’t. They know where the problem areas in their market are.

Local Realtor boards should be organizing a local task force to identify their local market issues, and come up with creative solutions for those local problems. Then coordinate their efforts with the lenders, attorneys, builders and local government development authorities or planning and zoning boards in their local market to help formalize real solutions at the local level.

Builders are another group that has suffered tremendously from the housing down turn, yet their lack of attention to fundametals in supply and demand, as well as median local income was one of the primary problems leading to the housing crash. Uncontrolled building without regard for buyer demand and local affordability is a recipe for disaster.

Local builder's associations need to act more responsibly © nenovbrothers - Fotolia.com

Local Home Builder Associations should make an effort to keep their members abreast of the key market fundamentals that will directly effect builder success. Primary among those are the overall supply of new homes available for sale, relative to buyer demand, and local income levels, which will dictate what local buyers can actually afford to pay for housing. Builders must learn to maintain a balance between supply and demand, and build homes that their local market can afford to buy.
Otherwise, they will be doomed to repeated boom and bust cycles.

The last building boom was a feeding frenzy that got out of control and left a stripped out, dead carcass of half finished neighborhoods in it’s wake. If the local builders take a more balanced approach to building, and manage the supply of new homes more effectively, they won’t have to worry about going belly up and taking their local bank with them. The supply-demand-affordability fundamentals must be managed to insure that the construction industry does not have a continuing boom-bust cycle every few years.

Real Estate Investors can contribute as well, by taking up the over-supply that exists now in the form of foreclosed homes and distressed properties that are sitting on the market. Investors should act responsibly as well, by not engaging in shady or questionable tactics that may be taught at high priced seminars, but are simply not beneficial to their customers or their overall business stability.

Investor Associations should focus more on investing with integrity and honesty, and a customer service attitude fitting of any american business enterprise that wants to be successful for the long term. Allowing seminars that promote big money at the expense of distressed sellers and ignorant buyers is not only irresponsible, but it contributed significantly to the housing market crash. I know. I’m an investor, and I’ve been a member of a number of investor associations. I know first hand how many seminars there were that encouraged irresponsible behavior for the sake of quick profits. Millions of investors went broke following the so-called “gurus”. Many of the biggest gurus themselves have gone bankrupt with the schemes they were allowed to teach to others.

Real Estate investing is a great way to build a small business, contribute to employment in the construction sector, and build real wealth when it’s done correctly. Investor Associations should emphasize the fundamentals of the housing market, so that investors can understand how to make better investing decisions and build stable businesses. Promoting get rich quick schemes may “sell better” but it was poorly trained or inexperienced investors following the irresponsible advice of greedy gurus and promoters who were the first to feel the effects of the housing market crash.

Today investor association participation is at an all time low, and it’s primarily because they ran their members into the ground with shoddy investment advice and gimmicks that simply did not work while ignoring the market fundamentals. There are still investor associations in virtually every large city in the U.S. They have the capability to influence investors for good, but the question is, will they do it?

Finally, if Congress really wants to do something to help the entire U.S. Housing market, they should reinstate the home buyer tax credit, with NO requirement to pay that credit back. The one bounce we’ve had in housing sales data was during the months when the home buyer tax credit was in effect. As soon as it expired, housing continued it’s downward slide. It’s funny how the government can’t seem to get rid of bad programs that waste taxpayer money, but when it comes to a tax credit that actually did help, they have no problem at all with getting rid of it.

While there are many other potential ideas for helping generate a housing recovery, the bottom line is that the fundamentals will always dictate the best choice of strategy for maintaining a healthy and vibrant housing market. The long term solution is to pay attention to the local market fundamentals and make adjustments to your business or investing strategy accordingly. Ignoring the fundamentals is what got us here. Knowing the local market fundamentals and working with those fundamentals is what will get us out of this funk, and keep us out.

The old saying is true, pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered. The housing market crash was nothing more than a slaughter house for real estate hogs in lending, building, investing and buying, who tried to take more than their local market fundamentals would allow.***

Homebuilders downgraded by Fitch © Thomas Becker - Fotolia.com

KB Home were one of the companies to receive a downgraded issuer default rating, dropping from B+ to BB-, said HousingWire. The company was over-exposed to struggling entry markets, said Fitch, and it’s likely that the company’s liquidity position will erode during the next one to one-and-a-half years should its operating losses continue.

Fitch pointed out that while KB Home has the necessary liquidity to service its debts and fund working capital, this safety net will probably erode over the next 12 to 18 months. Fitch said that although the company had cash assets of $621 million, it had to pay out $226 million to meet its obligations to South Edge.

Also downgraded were Beazer Homes USA, who saw their rating drop from B- to CCC. IDR at Ryland Group were also downgraded, seeing their rating drop from a stable BB to a negative BB-.

However, Toll Bros., who focus on building luxury homes, managed to hold onto its stable rating, reported HousingWire.

Fitch commented in a statement released on Monday that:

“With the recent softening in the economy and lowered economic growth expectations for 2011 and 2012, the environment may at best support a relatively modest recovery in housing metrics over the next year and a half.”

Fitch had previously said it expected to see housing markets pick themselves up in 2011 and 2012.

Home builders are struggling to survive © Dennis Oblander - Fotolia.com

Most home building companies are struggling to compete with the tidal wave of existing homes on the market, which are selling at super-low prices, thanks to so many foreclosures, short sales and investors buying and flipping homes. This struggle has been going on for almost five years now in some parts of the country.

Some construction companies have resorted to desperate measures to avoid going under, such as pulling back on any more purchases of land in order to conserve cash. Many more have drastically reduced the number of staff on their books to stay afloat.

Other home builders, including the Pennsylvania-based Toll Brothers, famous for building their McMansions, have started looking at different money making avenues. They have began expanding into the condominium market in urban areas, a sector which is showing much stronger signs of life than home building right now. Other builders meanwhile, are coming up with ever-more diverse home designs, hoping the uniqueness of their properties will attract buyers.

The problem, according to Alex Barron of the Housing Research Center, is that “Current markets simply aren’t big enough to support all of the building firms we have. What we need is consolidation, which doesn’t necessarily mean acquisitions or mergers, but there needs to be some kind of shakeout.”