| Street |
Markets were punished in March on worries that the weak housing sector could seep into the broader economy as our session and the quarter ended March 30, 2007. Standard & Poor reported its January housing index had the worst showing in 13 years. Pouring fuel on the bearish fire, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Congress that inflation was still too high for comfort.
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| Sell |
Too many home builders follow rather than lead when it comes to sales strategies. Rick Heaston discusses steps housing’s giants can take to stop covering up a sales problem and bring it out in the open.
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| M and A |
Merger and acquisition activity in home building will rise again, so says M&A experts Michael P. Kahn and Associates. Housing Giants columnist Jody Kahn Kline discusses the who, what, why and when of stabilizing the housing market.
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| Market |
Although we see signs of improvement in new- home sales, we believe these are primarily incentive-driven, and the market correction that began taking shape in 2006 is far from over. One reason we are cautious is that there are currently 2.1 million vacant homes for sale, which is 800,000 more than usual.
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| Moves |
Steven Fritz is the new president of Hovnanian Enterprises' Virginia division. In the newly created position, Fritz will be responsible for Hovnanian's development efforts in a territory ranging across northern Virginia from Arlington and Alexandria in the north to Fredericksburg in the south, and from the Atlantic all the way to West Virginia.
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| Spotlight |
Housing franchisers Ed Bacome and Phil Fankhauser of Dublin, Ohio-based Epcon Communities Franchising have perfected a simple by-the-numbers business model that may allow their franchises to dominate the empty nester/move-down niche in housing markets across the U.S.
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| From the Editor |
The graphic presentation of a magazine certainly matters — especially one with the lofty goal to become the preferred information resource for owners, CEOs and senior managers of America's largest production home builders.
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| Sell |
Builders with a stagnant sales strategy who seldom review their product are headed for trouble. As the housing economy and target customers change, builders must be willing to take a hard look at their operations to figure out how they should adapt. We discovered three builders who stepped out of their comfort zone to examine their sales strategies — and profited.
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| Letter to the Editor |
The content and new look of Housing Giants is great. The article "Beyond Zoning" (February) is very insightful. We truly are at a watershed time where post World War II Euclidean zoning is rapidly loosing favor because its failures have been all too painfully exposed. Over the next 10 years, zoning systems will radically change.
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