Patrick L. O’Toole is editorial director and publisher of Professional Builder, a 77-year-old publication that is read by 112,000 builders each month. In this capacity, he is also responsible for the editorial direction of Professional Remodeler magazine and HousingZone.com. Previously, O’Toole served as editor and publisher of Qualified Remodeler magazine. He started his career as a reporter for the Associated Press in Chicago. He holds a B.A. from Miami University and a masters degree in journalism from Columbia College.
Several of us at Professional Builder are traveling the country this spring, speaking at The Pro Expos presented by Pella. The events are being held in 30 cities. For us, it is an invaluable opportunity to connect with builders, architects, and developers and to hear their strategies and tactics for managing through the downturn.One of the...
On a snowy Washington morning last December, a group of us from Professional Builder had the privilege of spending a couple of hours with NAHB chief lobbyist Joe Stanton and key members of his staff. The purpose was to conduct an interview, which appeared in PB in February. Our aim was to simply get an update on upcoming issues facing builders. We...
1. Forget about it.
(For those in the Northeast, fuggedaboudit.)
Typically associated with senility and soft-mindedness, forgetting may be an asset in the coming months and years. Builders and remodelers must somehow purge the memory of the go-go housing market of 1995 to 2006. We will not see its like again for some time. But the memories of...
When this magazine was launched as Practical Builder in the spring of 1936, the outlook for Americans and the rest of the world was far bleaker than what we face today. Back then we were in the throes of an extended economic downturn that would only subside after World War II ended nine years later. Since that time — 1945 to the present...
Two years ago, at the height of the global financial crisis, investor Warren Buffett pulled out this gem of a quote to describe the situation. “It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked.”
And while this is an accurate expression of what happens to weak businesses when there is a downturn in the business cycle, it...
Demographics locally have always figured into a builder’s planning. Nationally, demographics do something different. They help paint a picture of a housing market in the aggregate. Major trends and themes emerge from these national statistics. Over the last 15 to 20 years, legal immigration and the massive shift toward western and southern...
As we consider the array of possible scenarios for the timing of a full-blown housing recovery, the most optimistic estimate seems to be 2012. That is the first year in which most of the adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) written during the final days of the housing boom will have adjusted for the last time. ARMs typically adjust for three or...
In 2004, I wrote a column marveling at the effectiveness and exceptional liquidity of the mortgage market in the United States.In particular, I admired the ‘creativity’ of mortgage bankers to find new ways to put home-improvement and new construction dollars into the hands of homeowners.Back then the go-go housing market fueled an...
Print
Email
