An article in today’s Wall Street Journal shed light on investors who are buying foreclosed homes, fixing them up, and renting them out. Flippers and speculators were blamed for inflating the housing bubble of the past 10 years; now they’re getting prospective buyers, who are afraid of missing out on cheap homes, off the fence. How times have changed.
Investors buy...
The past few years have been excruciating for the National Association of Home Builders’ International Builders’ Show. However, the falling attendance and exhibitor space that has plagued recent shows has stabilized, and the overall mood of the trade show has improved dramatically as remodelers and builders have garnered more business recently.
IBS 2013 saw 50,000 attendees visit more than 900 exhibitors over the course of the three-day event. Even though many remodelers were in...
“I’ve got a 40-page company policy and about 40 Hispanic employees. Any advice when it comes to translation?”
This question came at me during the Q&A session following a Landscape Spanish Seminar I hosted outside Chicago last week.
The courtyard, an ancient concept for bringing natural light into homes while preserving privacy, is in full flower in America today as lots get tighter and the popularity of outdoor rooms increases. Courtyard homes have been around for years in those parts of the U.S. that get plentiful sunlight for a good part of the year (such as California and Colorado). But there’s no reason a home in Massachusetts or Minnesota can’t have one too, as long as it’s designed properly.
Obviously a...
Wanted: Woman who could get me out of a third world prison.
This is how Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon.com, articulated what he was looking for in a wife. Before this explanation, he started with the adjective “resourceful.”
Last June, Retrofit Chicago’s Commercial Buildings Initiative was launched as part of the Obama Administration’s Better Buildings Challenge. Today 32 buildings are participating in the CBI, a voluntary effort to increase energy efficiency in commercial buildings larger than 200,000 square feet. The goal is to reduce energy use by at least 20 percent within five years.
The buildings participating in the CBI include some of Chicago’s most...
As I travel the country working with builders I am always on the lookout for emerging trends. There is a hot one cooking right now—decorative ceilings.
This trend is borne from another—the open floor plan. Consumers love the open floor plan concept. One room flows into another. The kitchen and dining space meld with living areas. Living in an open floor plan (for most buyers) is functionally ideal. There is a problem with the open plan concept, however; the individual spaces tend to...
In 2008 the Dallas Cowboys were the featured team on HBO’s Hard Knocks. Hard Knocks is the reality documentary series that takes you behind the scenes during an NFL training camp.
Yesterday I attended a Construction and Safety Expo outside Chicago. General contractors, Sub-contractors and Safety Suppliers were dishing on their skills, networking and drinking by noon.
A little off the beaten path—but well worth the drive—is Mason City, Iowa, home to the last standing Frank Lloyd Wright hotel. My partner and I had the pleasure of staying at the Historic Park Inn last week. The 1910 landmark is so named because of its location across the street from Mason City’s Central Park.
As part of a $20 million renovation, one of the historic suites was restored to 1910. Of...
