The Sweet Spot Remodeling Blog

Feb 1 2010 3:39PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Jonathan Sweet

We continue to get more evidence that remodeling is becoming the dominant portion of the residential construction industry. 

The GDP numbers that came out Friday put the home improvement portion of residential investment solidly ahead of single-family construction for the fourth quarter of 2009 -- and that's with a nice boost for construction from the homebuyer tax credits.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis puts home improvement at a $153 billion seasonally adjusted annual rate for Q4 compared to $111 billion for new construction.

This marks a full year that home improvement, as measured by the BEA, has outpaced single-family new construction. 

Jan 15 2010 8:24AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (6) |

By Jonathan Sweet

In case you missed it, the U.S. Senate hates you. 

The news broke while I was on vacation, so I never addressed it here in the blog, but when the Senate passed the health care reform bill just before Christmas, it included an odd provision that singled out the construction industry for more onerous treatment. 

Any construction company that employs more than five people would have to provide insurance under the amendment from Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., but companies in any other industry would only have to provide insurance if they have more than 50 employees.

(You can read more here and ...Read More

Jan 8 2010 7:59AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Jonathan Sweet

Despite a lot of focus on how different the millenials or echo boomers are from previous generations, their attitudes on many things are remarkably similar to those who come before them (especially the Gen Xers), according to a new Pew Research Center study.

(The Millenials are roughly those born from 1980 to 2000.)

For example, they are no more likely to have a positive view of social media sites than those 30 to 49: 45 percent of those in both age groups say sites such as Facebook and Twitter are a change for the better. The big difference comes with the over 50 crowd: less than a quarter of them say it's a good thing.

They also are only slightly m...Read More

Jan 7 2010 8:56AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Jonathan Sweet

Despite significant government intervention in the housing market thus far, some members of the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee think that if more isn't done, any nascent recovery could flicker out.

That's according to an article in today's New York Times:

If they are wrong, and the modest pace of economic growth slows or mortgage markets significantly deteriorate, “a few members” of the Federal Open Market Committee believe that “more policy stimulus” may be desirable, the Fed minutes said.
But one member of the panel took an opposite view, sayi...Read More

Jan 4 2010 8:35AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (1) |

By Jonathan Sweet

More regulation would have been the best way to avoid the housing crash, Ben Bernanke told the American Economic Association yesterday.

Monetary policy, in the form of lower interest rates, wasn't responsible for the run-up in prices, Bernanke said, citing examples in other countries. Instead, it was the government's failure to regulate "exotic" mortgages that caused the unsustainable boom and eventual crash.

The picture that emerges is consistent with many accounts of the period: At some point, both le...Read More

Dec 17 2009 12:21PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Jonathan Sweet

Zillow.com is out with its list of the 10 cities that have seen the biggest increases in home prices over the last year.

Charleston, WV, led the way with a 17 percent increase in 2009, followed by New Orleans (14.2 percent), Wilmington, DE (13.4 percent) and Amherst, NY (12.5 percent). 

The report also broke down the top performers by region, with Pasco, WA, topping the West and Mequon, WI, topping the Midwest. 

The big thing most of the cities have in common is that they are not the major metros that benefited from the price run-ups earlier this decade, or are isolated suburbs in those metros.

Dec 9 2009 7:28AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Jonathan Sweet

The Home Star program may become a reality after it was proposed yesterday by the President in his speech calling for new programs to cut the jobless rate. It's still unclear exactly how big the program would be. 

The original program proposed by Efficiency First called for $23 billion in credits and incentives for home owners to weatherize and improve the efficiency of their homes, but some reports yesterday were putting the figure at $10 billion. We'll have to see what gets through Congress. 

We'll have more coverage of this here on HousingZone as things develop, as well as in the January issue of Professional Remodeler. 

Dec 6 2009 11:53AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Jonathan Sweet

Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious Materials, who we've written about here on Housing Zone frequently, has been named Inc. magazine's Entrepreneur of the Year. (The issue's not online yet, but the dead-tree edition is out.)

Great attention for the industry, as Surace was recognized for his efforts to create eco-friendly building materials at Serious Materials, as well as the company's creating of new "green collar" jobs. Serious Materials has also gotten a lot of media attention this year for reopening shuttered plants in Chicago (Republic Windows & Doors) and Pennsylvania (Kensington Windows).

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Nov 20 2009 7:50AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Jonathan Sweet

Don't forget, you've got only one week left to get your comments into the EPA on the proposed changes to the lead paint rules.

More on this from my post last week.

Nov 18 2009 9:02AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (3) |

By Jonathan Sweet

The New York Times today has more on the so-called "Cash for Caulkers" program (more officially known as Homestar).

It's a program that's been proposed by both venture capitalist John Doerr and former President Bill Clinton that would offer homeowners money for weatherization as part of another stimulus package. The program would give tax breaks to pay for upgrades and energy audits.

It's a great idea -- it creates business for remodelers, creates jobs and makes homes more efficient. People like to talk about building more energy efficient homes, but the reality is that even building every one of the 500,000 or so homes being built more efficiently will make only a tiny dent in energy usage compared t...Read More

Nov 10 2009 2:20PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (4) |

By Jonathan Sweet

The comment period is now open for the EPA's proposal to eliminate the opt-out provision from the new lead paint rule set to take effect next April.

You've got until Nov. 27 to let the government know how you feel about this proposed change. Guidelines for commenting can be found here from the EPA. NAHB has also put together a sample letter for its members than can be accessed from its site.

In case you haven't been following this closely, a review of what's going on:

Last year, the EPA announced new rules for renovation in pre-1978 homes. (Fo...Read More

Nov 10 2009 9:12AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Jonathan Sweet

While the new home buyer tax credit helped boost sales in the third quarter of the year, its impact was mostly psychological and it stole from future sales, according to analysts.

The WSJ Development Blog on a recent report from Deutsche Bank:

Deutsche Bank estimates that the first-time home buyer tax credit worth up to $8,000 cost around $43,000 per home buyer, or around $15 billion for the estimated 350,000 home buyers who wouldn’t otherwise have purchased a home without the tax credit. The report estimates that just around 5% of all sales ...Read More

Nov 9 2009 1:21PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Jonathan Sweet

A round-up of the news and views around the Web today affecting the housing industry:

• Online referral service ServiceMagic says its quarterly Home Remodeling and Repair Index shows homeowners are more confident about the value of their homes and that the company is seeing a "continued recovery" in the home improvement market.
• Calculated Risk on the increasing evidence that we're looking at a jobless, or even worse, a "job-loss" recovery.
• In an examp

...Read More

Nov 5 2009 9:30AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Jonathan Sweet

A remodeler I talked to last week at the Remodeling Show said, "Things are slowly getting less worse."

That sentiment seems to be echoed by those remodelers that make up NAHB's Remodeling Market Index. The quarterly indicator was up slightly for the third quarter from 39.8 to 38.1 -- still well below the 50 mark that indicates an even market. (Any number below 50 indicates that more remodelers say the market is getting worse than it is improving.) The RMI hasn't topped 50 since 2005.

The "future indicators" index was up to 38.7 from 34.2

Just like the consumer confidenc...Read More

Nov 2 2009 10:18AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (1) |

By Jonathan Sweet

The headline says it all folks. That was the general feeling I got from talking to remodelers and exhibitors there. We all had such low expectations going in, that it ended up being just a little better.

There actually were people there, but not as many as past years. Getting around the show floor was definitely not a challenge. You could easily see everyone you wanted to talk to in just a day and that's with the Deck Expo included.

I tried to keep you updated on what was going on through Twitter, but in case you didn't follow me there, here are some of my impressions:

• Interesting (and good) trend: Exhibitors were much more focused on how they can help remodelers with things like training programs and sales support than wi

...Read More