Register now for Building for Boomers & Beyond
coming up April 28-30 at the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa in Indian Wells/Palm Springs, CA. Sign up by Saturday, April 12, to take advantage of the discounted pre-registration rate. NAHB Seniors Housing Council members receive a substantial price break over regular attendees.

Building for Boomers & Beyond: Emerging Trends, Evolving Markets is an event you can't afford to miss! The premier educational and networking conference for the 50+ seniors housing industry, the Symposium is expected to attract hundreds of builders, developers, architects, sales and marketing professionals, and others. Take advantage of 20 different educational sessions on topics such as design, development, management, marketing, research and trends, and sales.

From beginning to end, Building for Boomers & Beyond is packed with information that will help you be more successful. Learn from keynote speaker Mark Goldstein, of the Impact Presentations Group, about the incredible demographic shift going on in the United States and the implications and opportunities it will have on the building industry. Also, benefit from the personal experience of California builder Ralph Spargo and his Standard Pacific team in the development of their Talega community. This interactive session, Under the Microscope, A Case Study: Creating An Infill Active Adult Neighborhood, is a fitting conclusion to what promises to be an informative three days.

Make sure to sign up for several special events. Reserve a spot for you and your foursome at the first annual Symposium Golf Tournament on Sunday, April 27. Tee up and network with Symposium attendees on one of Indian Wells' top courses. Also, sign up for the popular community bus tour on Monday, April 28. The tour is quickly filling up, so make your plans today.

For a complete list of sessions and activities, check out the Symposium brochure. You also can register online — it's the quickest and easiest way to make your reservations. Call NAHB's University of Housing at 800-368-5242 x8338 for more information.

Make your plans to attend Spring Board
on May 7-11at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC. Registration for NAHB's Spring Board of Directors Meeting will run through Friday, April 25. Find out more about how to register or to finalize your travel plans.

The NAHB Seniors Housing Council will conduct its committee meetings on May 7-9 at the Marriott Wardman Park and NAHB's National Housing Center. Members are invited to get involved with a committee and take an active role in the Council  A complete Spring Board schedule, including Seniors Housing Council meetings, is available online.

The Council will sponsor its Leadership Dinner at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 8, at Ruth Chris Steakhouse. Cost is $70 for Council members. Please contact Eucklan Matthews-Jones at 800-368-5242 x8220 by Friday, May 2, to make your reservation. [return to top]

AARP names 15 best places to live for boomers
in its May/June issue of AARP The Magazine. AARP compiled its list of highly livable towns according to a range of criteria that included affordability, community life, and access to outdoor recreation, among others. Loveland/Fort Collins, CO, both suburbs of Denver, were ranked No. 1 in the nation for their proximity to Rocky Mountain National Park and Colorado State University and the presence of a vital art scene. Bellingham, WA, situated on a bay between Seattle, WA, and Vancouver, BC, was No. 2. Rounding out the top 5 were Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC, at No. 3, Sarasota, FL, at No. 4 and Fayetteville, AR, at No. 5. The article also identified several interesting trends, most notably that fewer than one out of 20 boomers move across county lines each year and that even less cross state lines to relocate. A complete list of the cities is available at www.aarp.org. AARP The Magazine is free to AARP members.  [return to top]

Learn more about rental housing for seniors
by joining the Council's Rental Seniors Housing Committee. At the upcoming NAHB Spring Board of Directors Meeting, the committee will host a program that includes a national demographic overview of the seniors rental housing market. Nationally recognized market researcher Margaret Wylde, of ProMatura Group, LLC, will reveal the latest research and trends. Also included will be a case study of a market-rate rental community. The meeting will take place from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Friday, May 9, at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Lanai 152. Council members interested in the rental seniors housing market are invited to attend. [return to top]

Thanks to the Council's 2003-04 sponsors
for their generosity and support of the Council's programs and services. Once again, Villas of America and 55andBetter™ Magazine are the Council's Exclusive Crown Jewel sponsors.

Diamond Sponsors include Del Webb, Fannie Mae, Professional Warranty Service Corp., and ProMatura Group, LLC. Other sponsors are as follows:

• Emerald — Builders' Design and Leasing, Feinberg & Associates, PC., and K. Hovnanian Companies
• Sapphire — The Whirlpool Corp.
• Ruby — Centex Homes, Kephart Architects, Inc., Mature Living Choices, and Trace Marketing, Inc.
• Opal — AdultHousingLeads.com, Orchard Development Corp., Louis Tenenbaum, LLC, and Wineman & Komer Building Co.

For more information about sponsorship opportunites or to receive a Jewels of the Industry sponsorship brochure, contact Marlene Adams at 800-368-5242 x8208 or madams@nahb.com. [return to top]

Incentives for builders to boost energy efficiency
were contained in legislation recently passed by the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee. Attempts to include especially stringent certification requirements opposed by NAHB were not successful in either the Senate or House. Both committees made significant cuts in their tax packages due to budget constraints.

The Senate package, which includes home energy tax credits at levels slightly lower than the House, features a $1,000 credit for builders who construct homes 30% more efficient than the 2000 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and $2,000 for homes at efficiency levels 50% higher than the code. For rental properties, the bill offers a tax deduction of $2.25 per square foot for buildings that are 50% more efficient than ASHRAE standards. The House package, which includes NAHB-supported home energy efficiency tax credits originally introduced by U.S. Rep Jerry Weller (R-IL), includes a $2,000 builder incentive for new homes that surpass efficiency levels of the 2000 IECC by 30% and a 20% credit up to $2,000 on projects that reduce energy consumption in existing homes. For budget reasons,  a commercial building deduction was removed from the House bill, but NAHB will lobby for its restoration when the House and Senate bills are considered in a conference committee.

The comprehensive energy bill could be decided on the House floor as early as this week, while the Senate bill likely won't be considered until early May. Contact Jason Lynn at 800-368-5242 x8307 for details. [return to top]

What you don't know about architectural design patents
can hurt you. Are you aware that a project you have built or plan to build might be in violation of a patent issued for the same design? It's true. In fact, many commonly used designs and configurations have been issued patents, largely because the U.S. Patent Office acknowledges its lack of expertise in building issues. Builders, developers, and architects, including those who build active adult or seniors communities, can find out how to protect themselves and what NAHB is doing to help in the March issue of NAHB's new bi-monthly briefing paper series called One Minute Report. Other topics that will covered in the series are visitability, paying for growth, building moratoria, green building, and more. NAHB members can subscribe to the series and get a copy of the latest report by contacting Laura Dooley at 800-368-5242 x8361. [return to top]

Member Advantage: Save 5% with AT&T Wireless
NAHB members can take advantage of a 5% discount on monthly cellular services available in all AT&T Wireless markets. Qualified charges for discounts include one-time charges for wireless service activation, conversion and rate plan changes, monthly wireless access, home wireless airtime charges, roaming airtime charges in AT&T Wireless markets, charges for billing detail, and charges for additional features such as voice mail.

For details on activating new AT&T Wireless Services, call 888-444-4410; be sure to mention code 50001515 and your NAHB membership. If you currently have AT&T Wireless Services and want to receive the 5% discount, call 800-459-6524 and mention the same code and your NAHB membership. Or visit AT&T Wireless' Web site at www.attws.com/specials/wap.

Click here for details on more than a dozen other money-saving Member Advantage discount programs or visit www.nahb.org to explore the numerous advantages associated with membership in your local, state, and national home builders association. [return to top]