Builders Build Best With Biztools
Members will share one secret of their success, NAHB's Biztools, with other members on May 23

City Life Historic Properties President and CEO (and enthusiastic Biztools user!) Anne Riggle (right) tours a company property with Project Manager Christina Wakefield

Tune into NAHB's annual Membership Day Web cast next Tuesday, May 23, and you'll pick up some valuable information about how Biztools can help you build a better home building business. NAHB member Anne Riggle, president and CEO of City Life Historic Properties in Baltimore; Antonio Giordano, Jr., of Consultants Inc., Providence, R.I.; and Chuck Austin, president of Austin Signature Homes of Englewood, Colo., will tell NAHB members how they have used Biztools in their day-to-day operations. Among the Biztools they rely on -- and which they say any builder shouldn't be without -- are NAHB's Chart of Accounts and Home Builder Contracts and Construction Management Forms, Second Edition. Learn more about these and other Biztools at www.nahb.org/biztools and hear what these builders have to say about Biztools: Register for the 2006 National Membership Day Web cast on May 23, 2006.

What Builders Need to Know About Immigration Law
Last month, the Department of Homeland Security announced a shift in its strategies to enforce compliance with its immigration requirements on the work site. At about the same time, some residential construction companies reported receiving a formal, three-day "Notice of Inspection" document for an I-9 audit, demanding the usual review of company employment records, but also requiring a review of their subcontractors' employment records. NAHB Legal Affairs has prepared a Q&A to explain what employers need to know about Form I-9 and audits. [return to top]

Housing Markets Placed on Alert
Some of the nation’s hottest housing markets will experience some bumpy corrections as the industry as a whole recedes to more sustainable, but healthy levels of activity, according to economists at the NAHB Construction Forecast Conference in Washington, D.C. last month. Here's a list from Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com, of markets with the potential for more than a 10% peak-to-trough decline (markets with largest predicted declines in bold):

• Arizona — Phoenix, Flagstaff, Prescott, Tucson
• California — Bakersfield, Chico, Fresno, Hanford, Los Angeles, Merced, Modesto, Napa, Oakland, Oxnard, Riverside, Sacramento, Salinas, San Diego, San Jose, San Luis, Santa Ana, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, Vallejo, Visalia
• Connecticut — Bridgeport, Norwich
• Florida — Miami, Orlando, Cape Coral, Deltona, Ft. Lauderdale, Fort Walton Beach, Gainesville, Naples, Pensacola, Port St. Lucie, Punta Gorda, Sarasota, Tampa, Vero Beach, West Palm Beach
• Midwest — Chicago, Detroit, Lansing, Minneapolis, Warren
• Maryland — Baltimore, Bethesda
• Massachusetts — Barnstable Town, Boston, Cambridge, Essex
• New Jersey — Atlantic City, Ocean City, Edison, Newark, Trenton
• New York — New York City, Nassau
• Rhode Island — Providence
• Nevada — Las Vegas
• Pennsylvania — Lancaster
• Washington, D.C.

Read more.

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Are You Doing All You Can To Build Trade Partnerships?
By David Herzog
To be most effective, trade contractors need to recognize they are partners with builders in the business. As open communication is critical to any partnership, the key to keeping loyal trade partners is to keep them informed about:

• Company methods and standards
• Scopes of work
• Safety requirements
• Projected workloads and schedules

A vendor summit is an efficient way to do this, particularly when a builder works in more than one region and with different groups of vendors.

Read about how to host one. [return to top]

Help Customers Buy Their Dream Home Now
A joint venture is a co-owned mortgage business, with the profits shared 50/50 between the builder and the finance company. These ventures not only can be financially rewarding for home builders as their own profit center, they also can eliminate some of the bureaucratic headaches of dealing with multiple lenders and help you target and time your selling of options and upgrades to customers.

Convert Sunday Browsers into Same-Day Buyers

By controlling the mortgage finance process, you also are responding to your home buyers. Consumers today are used to doing their banking, and buying their morning coffee, tonight’s dinner, an evening movie, groceries for the week, and prescriptions for the month in one stop. Increasingly, they are seeking one-stop shopping from a builder as well.

Read more about the benefits to a builder of controlling the lending process.  [return to top]

Custom Builder Symposium Registration Now Open
Mark your calendar now for the Custom Builder Symposium, Oct. 27-29, 2006 at the lavish Hyatt Regency Lake Las Vegas Resort in Nevada.

With world-class education, fabulous networking events, and a practical take-home workbook packed with tips on marketing, management, and customer service, the Custom Builder Symposium is a can't-miss opportunity for custom builders to learn from peers who build high-end homes for demanding customers.

"It will not teach you how to pour concrete any better than you already do or teach you how to plumb cut a rafter, but it will teach you how to put money to your bottom line," says enthusiastic Custom Builder Symposium attendee and NAHB Custom Home Builder Committee Chair Dave Stormont, Stormont Co., Inc., of Kitty Hawk, N.C.

Go online to www.nahb.org/custom to register for the 2006 Custom Builder Symposium now and look for more details about the program and about the first NAHB Custom Home Builder of the Year Award in the next Business of Building e/Source.

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10 Reasons to Implement a Drug-Free Workplace Policy
By Elizabeth Gaudio
Most drug users are employed, and when they arrive for work, they don’t leave their problems at the door. Some costs — increased absences, accidents and errors — are obvious. Others, such as low morale and high illness rates, are less so, but their effects may be equally harmful.

To encourage businesses to implement drug-free workplace programs, some states, such as Florida, Georgia, Texas, Virginia and Washington, have passed laws that enable businesses to receive workers’ compensation insurance premium credits of as much as 10 percent if they employ a drug-free workplace program. 

Read more about how to create a drug-free workplace program. [return to top]

Oklahoma Passes Notice and Opportunity to Repair Law
Oklahoma became the 29th state in the country to adopt notice and opportunity to repair (NOR) legislation when Gov. Brad Henry (D) signed Senate Bill 1749 into law on April 27. Meanwhile, an NOR measure is awaiting the governor's signature in Minnesota this week.

The new measure allows a residential construction contract to include NOR provisions that require a home owner to notify a builder of an alleged construction defect before filing a lawsuit. The builder then has 30 days to respond either by offering to repair the defect or providing compensation.

“We worked very hard and overcame many obstacles to enact the NOR bill,” said Rex Alexander, president of the Oklahoma State Home Builders Association. “We believe this equitable alternative to costly litigation will benefit both home buyers and home builders."

Joining Wisconsin, Oklahoma is the second state that has adopted NOR legislation so far this year. Recent legislation in Virginia strengthens the state’s NOR law by including condominiums in the opportunity to repair process. Other states still are considering legislation this session.

“The trend of states adopting NOR legislation continues as Oklahoma has chosen to enact this reasonable alternative to contentious litigation,” said NAHB President David Pressly.  “This legislation, which had bipartisan support, ensures that home buyers can have construction defects remedied without having to incur expensive legal fees and court costs. I applaud the efforts of our builders throughout Oklahoma who worked so diligently to see this legislation enacted. ”

For more information on the Oklahoma legislation, e-mail Mike Means, executive vice president of the Oklahoma State HBA, or call him at  405-843-5579.

For more information on NOR laws across the country, e-mail Gerry Keegan at NAHB,  or call him at 800-368-5242 x8326.
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Seller-funded Downpayment Help Ruled Not Tax-Exempt
Organizations that provide seller-funded down-payment assistance to home buyers do not qualify as tax-exempt charities, according to the Internal Revenue Service, which is scrutinizing 185 groups operating assistance programs.

Downpayment assistance programs provide cash to home buyers who cannot afford to make the minimum down payment or pay closing costs involved in obtaining a mortgage. Such programs can qualify as tax-exempt charitable and educational organizations under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3) when properly structured and operated.  In Revenue Ruling 2006-27, released in May 2006, the IRS provides a detailed discussion of the guidelines – including two examples that meet, and one that fails to meet – the tests for exemption.

Seller-Funded Programs Not Charities

The ruling makes it clear that seller-funded programs are not charities because they do not meet the requirements of section 501(c)(3).  Increasingly, the IRS has found that organizations claiming to be charities are being used to funnel downpayment assistance from sellers to buyers through self-serving, circular-financing arrangements. In a typical scheme, there is a direct correlation between the amount of the downpayment assistance provided to the buyer and the payment received from the seller. Moreover, the seller pays the organization only if the sale closes, and the organization usually charges an additional fee for its services.

Read more by clicking here. [return to top]

Sweet Success in New Home Sales
“Sweet Success in New Home Sales,” a new book published by BuilderBooks.com, shows sales personnel and builders how to cultivate success when the competition for buyers heats up. This book is about increasing market shares, profit margins and personal incomes in “lean times.”

An instructive and inspirational guide of powerful techniques for selling more homes, making more money and enjoying the profession of new home sales, “Sweet Success in New Home Sales” lays out proven approaches to crafting and delivering sales excellence.

Author Bill Webb, MIRM, with more than 25 years of sales training and management coaching in the industry, helps teach sales personnel and builders how to convert their actions into revenue, take charge of the sales process and establish trust by genuinely putting the customer's interests first.

To order a copy of “Sweet Success in New Home Sales” online, click here, or call 800-223-2665.

Bill Webb has generously donated his royalties to the NAHB National Housing Endowment for construction trades training. [return to top]