| October 19, 2009 |
By Joe Robson
NAHB Chairman and
Jerry Howard
NAHB President and CEO |
|
|
Keeping home builder messages front-and-center
and in the public eye, NAHB President and CEO Jerry Howard met with editors of The Wall Street Journal this week to discuss our goals within the Revive Housing, Restore America campaign.
 Jerry traveled to New York to meet with editors of the country's most influential business newspaper and explain how congressional action on NAHB’s housing priorities will help move housing and the economy to higher ground. This important outreach should help ensure that the builder's perspective on current conditions in the housing market and economy is understood and appropriately conveyed in the media. In fact, excerpts from Jerry's interview were included in three news stories the very next day – one in The Wall Street Journal, another on the Dow Jones newswires and one particularly good piece in the Journal's online news blog.
Progress in Congress
Meanwhile, our campaign goal to achieve an extension and expansion of the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit continues to gain traction in the halls of Congress. Just last week, extending the tax credit's effective date was high on the agenda when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with President Obama to discuss options to further stimulate the economy and create jobs. In a statement after the White House meeting, Reid said the government “should continue efforts to strengthen the housing market by extending the home buyer tax credit.” Pelosi told reporters that Congress is considering extending the tax credit and that “the question is, would that be just first-time home owners or would you open it up to other purchasers of homes?” Both statements come on the heels of a recent acknowledgment by the White House that “there has been quite a bit of success” with the home buyer tax credit thus far. Going forward, rest assured that NAHB will continue to press Congress and the Administration to take action on the tax credit and our other campaign goals; read more about our Revive Housing, Restore America campaign online, or send any questions you may have to: MondayMorningQuestions@nahb.com.
|
 |
NAHB member Tom Gipson has been named the "Ultimate Volunteer"
 in a nationwide contest run by the ABC television show "The View." This great win will do much to expand public awareness of home builders' charitable efforts in their communities nationwide. Tom is being recognized for founding the nationwide Builder Blitz program in partnership with Habitat for Humanity. In 2006, he recruited more than 1,000 home builders to construct 459 Habitat homes in a single week – the largest one-week blitz in Habitat's 30-year history. Another 269 homes were built in 2008, despite the housing downturn. As Tom said when he found out he won the contest and would be appearing on "The View" this Monday (Oct. 19), "This whole thing is about the more than 1,500 builders who have stepped up to the plate to help build these homes. It speaks so well of the generosity of our industry." After being nominated for the honor by his local EO, the HBA of Raleigh-Wake County's Tim Minton, Tom was selected as one of 10 finalists from more than 1,000 contest entries nationwide. Then, in a week of public voting on the show's website, more viewers chose him over any other finalist to receive the award. NAHB Chairman Joe Robson congratulated Tom on his win, saying that "His national recognition represents the dedication of home builders across the nation to community service." Read our press release for more, and try to catch Tom on The View on Oct. 19! Send inquiries to MondayMorningQuestions@nahb.com.
[return to top]
|
|
An EPA Science Advisory Board handed a win to NAHB members
 with its recent decision that the agency's new method for estimating the damage caused by an excess amount of nutrients in a body of water is not based on sound science. According to the peer review board, the methodology in question, called conditional probability, does not establish any demonstrated environmental gains from reducing nutrients. This review board was convened by the EPA at the urging of the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Harrisburg, Pa., with the assistance of NAHB and other organizations after EPA Region 3 officials began to use the faulty methodology to develop extremely low Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) thresholds for Paxton Creek in the southeastern part of the state. Critics charged that the methodology was never broadly reviewed by the scientific community and that it was controversial, primarily because it incorrectly assumed that nutrients are toxic to insect life.
Now that the peer review board has said that the conditional probability method is untenable, it is up to the EPA to reject that opinion, make improvements to the method before reissuing it, or scratch it altogether. Hopefully the agency will do the right thing and seek a new scientific method to ensure that the money spent on reducing pollutants will truly lead to improvements in degraded water bodies. Because the EPA will likely be writing a number of new TMDLs designed to reduce nutrient discharge to a variety of U.S. water bodies in the future, the review board's decision to send the EPA back to the drawing board is an important one for NAHB members nationwide. Read more in NBN Online, or send questions to MondayMorningQuestions@nahb.com.
[return to top]
|
|
An eleventh media teleconference this week
 shed light on the concerns of home builders in Minnesota and Illinois and the reasons that Congress needs to support our goals in the Revive Housing, Restore America campaign. A central focus of the teleconference, as in past regional events, was on housing's ability to generate new jobs at a time when national unemployment is approaching double-digits. Builders Ed Brady from Bloomington, Ill. and Monte Mraz from Pequot Lakes, Minn., joined with NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe to explain the necessity of extending and expanding the home buyer tax credit program; correcting the faulty appraisal process; improving housing credit conditions; and supporting Net Operating Loss Relief legislation in the House and Senate. Stay tuned for coverage of this event in the next Nation's Building News Online. Send questions to MondayMorningQuestions@nahb.com.
[return to top]
|
|
A new green building educational designation for lenders
 in the commercial, residential and construction fields has been launched by PorterWorks Inc., a consulting company based in Stanwood, Wash., and founded by NAHB Green Building Subcommittee member Dave Porter. The Green Lending Specialist designation is designed to be compatible with the NAHB Certified Green Professional (CGP) designation and similar programs for real estate agents and others in the building industry. The subject matter includes green building techniques and practices as well as additional information on rating systems, including the National Green Building Standard; appraising; green lending and energy-efficient mortgages; greening Multiple Listing Service providers; and marketing and educational tools. Lenders can find course dates and locations at www.porterworks.com and can also contact PorterWorks, Inc. at 360-631-5631 to schedule training.
[return to top]
|
|
NAHB's Construction Forecast Conference happens this Wednesday
 and hopefully you are already signed up to participate, either in person or online via the live webcast, on Oct. 21. This twice-yearly event brings some of the country's top economists and housing experts together to discuss current and future conditions in the housing industry and provide strategic advice to our members. This week's Fall Construction Forecast Conference will feature NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe along with Chris Varvares of Macroeconomic Advisers, Mark Vitner of Wachovia/A Wells Fargo Co., Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.com, Jay Brinkmann from the Mortgage Bankers Association, Carl Reichardt from Wells Fargo Securities, David Goldberg from UBS, Richard Brown from the FDIC and Amy Crews Cutts from Freddie Mac. Next week's edition of this report will contain highlights from the conference as well as links to comprehensive coverage in Nation's Building News Online, so stay tuned!
[return to top]
|
|
Strategizing for the future of the housing GSEs
is the title and purpose of a special Webcast that NAHB is hosting from 1:30-3:00 p.m. (ET) on Tuesday, Oct. 27. This will be a high-level discussion on policy-related issues and the future of the housing-related government sponsored enterprises (GSEs), including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The goal is to provide current information on the key elements of the debate, as well as assessments of the nature and likely results of possible outcomes. NAHB Chairman Joe Robson will moderate the discussion, with a panel of experts consisting of Michael Berman from the Mortgage Bankers Association, Lewis Ranieri from Ranieri & Co., Peter J. Wallison from The American Enterprise Institute, Geoff Bacino from Bacino & Associates, and Michael Oxley from Baker Hostetler. If you would like to participate in this special event, please RSVP using this link.
[return to top]
|
|
Shining another spotlight on home builders' good deeds,
 the popular television show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition will once again feature NAHB members participating in a great philanthropic effort. If you're among the many readers who check out this report before Monday morning, you may have a chance to catch the show, which airs Sunday, Oct. 18 at 8:00 pm central time on ABC. The show will feature a summer build event in which Cheldan Homes built a new home for Dallas Police Officer Carlton Marshall and his family. Approximately two years ago, Officer Marshall was shot in the neck while serving a narcotics search warrant. This severe injury has largely confined him to a wheelchair; meanwhile his daughter has also experienced serious health problems. The Cheldan Homes team worked around the clock to build a new home for this deserving family during six days of extremely hot temperatures (as in, 107-110 degrees!). The builders sought to address all of the physical challenges faced by the Marshalls by constructing a highly accessible, 4,080-square-foot residence that allowed the family to continue their own ongoing charitable volunteer work with horseback riding. If you missed the show this Sunday, you can read about it at: http://www.extremecheldan.com/.
[return to top]
|
|
For the first time ever at the International Builders' Show
 this coming January, a talented NAHB member – or someone in the immediate family of one of our members – will claim the honor of singing the National Anthem at Grand Opening Ceremonies after winning a special contest that's being promoted across our federation. The newly minted "nahb STAR" contest is open to amateur singers only, and it's already generating quite a bit of interest. To enter, you'll need to make and upload a video of your solo a capella performance of The Star Spangled Banner – see rules and details at www.BuildersShow.com/Star. When it's time to vote, your fellow NAHB members will have the opportunity to select the winner by logging on to the BuildersShow.com Web site and choosing their favorite; so let the competition begin!
[return to top]
|
|
|
