| Wall Street Report |
Despite a slip at the close of our trading session ending October 31, 2006, the stock market was on a tear, with the Dow reaching several record closes during the period.
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| Selling Strategies |
Ever heard the adage, "If you wrestle with a pig, you'll only end up getting muddy. And that's something the pig likes." It relates to home building: if you wrestle with your customer, you're going to end up getting muddy, and your customers won't mind a bit.
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| M and A Report |
We have seen a significant shift in structures this year in response to softer housing market conditions. Predictably, the structures now look like those we successfully used throughout the 1990s.
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| Market Intelligence |
Although the traditional housing market measures still apply, here is an additional supply/demand measure that also needs consideration.
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| Process Improvement Report |
Few builders take full advantage of value engineering. In most of the home building industry, value engineering's original promises of lower overhead costs and higher product quality remain largely unfulfilled unless collaborative efforts are taken.
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| CEO Spotlight |
Gen. William Lyon, the 83-year-old patriarch of the California housing industry, talks about the differences between having a public and private company and explains why he decided to bring William Lyon Homes back into the private realm.
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| From the Editor |
While we should never forget what this housing slump teaches us, it's really time to focus on the future and pay attention to subtle changes in the market we didn't notice during the long housing boom because we were all too busy taking orders and counting money
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