May 8 2008 9:08AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

I missed my usual Multi-link Monday this week, but I did want to share some of the things that caught my eye lately:

• Calculated Risk takes a dismal look at the remodeling market, predicting that home investment will drop 15 to 20 percent before the worst is over. That's after the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported a 2 percent drop in home improvement spending in Q1 2008 from Q4 2007. CR's prediction is significantly gloomier than yesterday's NAHB projections that I wrote about here.
• On the other hand, a

...Read More

May 7 2008 1:16PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

Harvard remodeling guru Kermit Baker took a look at which markets are most and least vulnerable to a downturn in the remodeling market today as part of an NAHB teleconference on the remodeling market featuring Baker, NAHB chief economist David Seiders and NAHB Remodelers Chairman Lonny Rutherford.

The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies came up with the list by analyzing home prices and existing home sales. Those that had the biggest increase in prices and smallest decrease in sales were the strongest or least vulnerable to a downturn; those with the biggest decrease in prices and sales were the most vulnerable. No real surprises on either list, but here you go:

Most vulnerable to a downturn:

• Detroit
• Las Vegas
• Phoenix
• Almost everywhere in California and Florida

Least v...Read More

May 1 2008 1:25PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

At the NAHB board meetings this morning, NAHB staff gave a thorough presentation on the new lead paint regulations that were officially published last week. (You can get the details here from Mike Morris's blog when the rules were initially issued.)

Here's some key things you need to know:

• The law takes effect April 22, 2010
• It applies to all pre-1978 homes, but if there are no children under 6 in the home, the homeowner can sign a waiver excusing the remodeler from meeting the remediation standards.
• In order to work on these homes, the remodeler must have a certified lead paint specialist on staff.
• The new federal pamphlet on the law will be available in Jun

...Read More

Apr 30 2008 8:33PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

I'm in Washington, D.C., for the NAHB board meetings that start tomorrow, and I'll be posting later on any news out of those, but here's some other news from the capital.

In advance of the meetings, NAHB had its annual Legislative Action Day today where members go visit their local reps and senators to try to advance their agenda. Here's CNBC's coverage of the news, as well as some information that I hadn't heard before: that NAHB almost got themselves in trouble with the Justice Department earlier this year with the group's comments when it stopped political donations from its PAC.

You can read more here. 

Apr 29 2008 8:11AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

A recent survey from AOL/Zogby explores many parts of housing and has some bad news for the housing industry. 
 
Here are some notable results. I find the first three to be the most worrisome:

• 56 percent think home ownership is attainable for most people
• Only 56 percent think their home will be worth more or the same in five years (that's right -- 44 percent think it will be worth less)
• 50 percent of current homeowners would buy another house if they sold today (this is downright scary) 
• 31 percent think they're home is worth m

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Apr 28 2008 9:52AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

Here are some links that caught my eye in the last week:

• The Consumer Rights Watch blog takes a look at where the three remaining candidates stand on the foreclosure crisis. The post was written by Mark Ireland, a former assistant attorney general in Minnesota. He also references a great resource here from the NY Times that details the short- and long-term proposals that the candidates have for housing (and other issues).
• This is a couple of weeks old, but I just stumbled on it: Despite the downturn, just more than half of Americans think it's

...Read More

Apr 25 2008 1:34PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

We hear so much about remodelers that are leaving clients in the lurch, it's good to see some coverage of a remodeler doing some good. Here's one just the road from me who's getting some positive attention. Bradford & Kent in Downers Grove, IL, recently remodeled a veteran's home in Naperville.

You can read more here and for more on remodelers giving back to their communities, you can read my article on that from last fall here and the related blog post ...Read More

Apr 24 2008 9:36AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

The NAHB is holding its construction forecast conference today in Washington. No big surprise, but chief economist David Seiders said this morning that he doesn't expect new construction to recover until at least early next year and that the current recession will last into the summer.

You can read more here.

Apr 23 2008 2:31PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

Yale economist Robert Shiller (of the well-known Case-Shiller price index) said yesterday that the current home price drop will be worse than the 30% drop of the Great Depression. He said that the government bailout plan being debated in Congress needs to be passed so thousands won't lose their homes.

Read more here.

Apr 21 2008 1:52PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

Here's your latest round-up of interesting home-related news and links:

• The Calculated Risk blog looks at why they think Harvard's prediction for the decline in the remodeling market is too optimistic. They cite falling home prices, dropping sales at the big boxes and past remodeling downturns as the reasons.
• The homeowners who sued their real estate agent because they thought they paid too much for their house have l

...Read More

Apr 18 2008 7:12AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

With the downturn in remodeling, marketing is more important than ever. So here are what I think are some of the best marketing articles we've run over the last couple years: (click on the boldface type to read more)

• Personalized license plates
• Creating a strategic marketing plan
• Marketing to Generation X
• Using e-newsletters and producing a

...Read More

Apr 17 2008 8:30AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

We just published our annual Business Results study. If you haven't read it yet in the April issue, you can do so here.

We made several changes this year based on feedback we received on past surveys. We also expanded our prospect base, which seems to have given us a better picture of the industry as a whole.

So what do you think? Is this information useful to you? Is there something we're not asking that you'd like to have us ask? Is there something we're reporting that you couldn't care less about?

Either post your comments here or drop me a message at jonathan.sweet@reedbusiness.com.

Apr 16 2008 3:26PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

In a statement that isn't much news to most people, the NAHB now believes we're in a "mild recession," according to chief economist David Seiders.

The group cited a "flurry of recent negative economic news," including rising energy prices, more negative signals from the residential market and plummeting consumer confidence as the reasons behind the shift.

Read more here.

Apr 16 2008 8:11AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

If you didn't get your taxes done on time yesterday, I can't help. But if you missed yesterday's deadline for our Best of the Best competition, I've got good news.

We've extended the deadline for our annual competition to May 15. Winning awards is one of the best ways to market your company, so if you've got some nice projects, I'd recommend jumping in this year.

To enter or see past winners, click here.

Apr 15 2008 9:20AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

K/BIS was here in Chicago over the weekend, so I made my way to my first one in quite a few years. (The birth of my daughter, far-flung locations and a job that doesn't center around kitchen and bath products have conspired to make me miss the last several.)

I'm not going to get too much into the products that were introduced. I'll be leaving it to Products Editor Nick Bajzek, who will be writing about the show this week on his blog, The Product Guy.

Instead, here's some general impressions. First of all, turnout was great. It seemed busier than IBS was in February. (It's a smaller show, so fewer people, but more crowded.) The companies I visited were very happy with the traffic. A lot of press there as well, so that's good news about getting the mes...Read More