Nail august 2013 by Home Builders Association of Middle Tennessee (HBAMT)

August, 2013

The NAIL 1

2 The NAIL

August, 2013

The NAIL 3

THE

NAIL The official magazine of Home Builders Association of Middle Tennessee President James Franks Vice President Michael Dillon Secretary/Treasurer Trey Lewis Executive Vice President John Sheley Editor and Designer Jim Argo Staff Connie Nicley Pat Newsome

THE NAIL is published monthly by the Home Builders Association of Middle Tennessee, a non-profit trade association dedicated to promoting the American dream of homeownership to all residents ofMiddle Tennessee. SUBMISSIONS: THE NAIL welcomes manuscripts and photos related to the Middle Tennessee housing industry for publication. Editor reserves the right to edit due to content and space limitations. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to: HBAMT, 9007 Overlook Boulevard, Brentwood, TN 37027. Phone: (615) 377-1055.

4 The NAIL

August, 2013

FEATURES 8 Sign up now to participate in LP Building Products Golf Tournament!

The LP Building Products Golf Tournament and Summer Blowout is set for August 16. Sign up now to play or sponsor by returning your completed registration form to the HBAMT.

10 Fish Fry at Piedmont Natural Gas a big success

Piedmont Natural Gas, title sponsor of the 2013 Fishing Tournament, hosted the event’s Annual Fish Fry at their Nashville offices last month.

DEPARTMENTS 6 News & Information 13 SPIKE Club Report 14 July Calendar 14 Chapters and Councils

ON THE COVER: Don’t miss the LP Building Products Golf Tournament and Summer Blowout, Friday, August 16 at The Legends Golf Club in Franklin, Tennessee! August, 2013

The NAIL 5

news&info

HBAMT Vice President Mike Dillon talks with guest speakers Kristin Eastman and Kimberly Hood from the Tennessean Media Group. Eastman and Hood delivered a presentation at the August meeting of the Sales and Marketing Council about social media.

Improving markets list Includes 247 metros in August

total of 247 metropolitan areas across 49 states and the District of Columbia qualified for inclusion on the National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI) for August, released today. While this is eight metros shy of the number listed on the IMI in July, it is approximately three times the number of metros that qualified for the list in August of 2012. The IMI identifies metropolitan areas that have shown improvement from their respective troughs in housing permits, employment and house prices for at least six consecutive months. Three new markets were added to the list and 11 dropped from it in August. Newly added metros this month include Kankakee, Ill., along with Atlantic City and Ocean City, N.J. “In all, 244 metros that were listed as improving in July retained that status in August, and this is an encouraging sign of the continuing housing recovery,” noted NAHB Chairman Rick Judson, a home builder from Charlotte, N.C. “That said, we know that the pace of improvement is being hampered somewhat by challenges that builders and buyers are experiencing with regard to the availability of credit, materials, lots for development and labor.” “While the number of improving housing markets this August remains well ahead of the same month

As house prices return to more normal levels in fully recovered markets, further IMI advancements will be more modest. 6 The NAIL

August, 2013

last year, the index is affected by seasonal softening in home prices just as we saw happen in 2012. The metros that fell off the list this month originally qualified with very small home price improvements that have since slipped back,” explained NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “As house prices return to more normal levels in fully recovered markets, further IMI advancements will be more modest.” Even with the small decline in the IMI this month, close to 70 percent of all U.S. metros are represented, and the geographic distribution of entrants continues to be very widespread,” said Kurt Pfotenhauer, vice chairman of First American Title Insurance Company. “These facts should be reassuring to today’s prospective home buyers.” The IMI is designed to track housing markets throughout the country that are showing signs of improving economic health. The index measures three sets of independent monthly data to get a mark on the top Metropolitan Statistical Areas. The three indicators that are analyzed are employment growth from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, house price appreciation from Freddie Mac and single-family housing permit growth from the U.S. Census Bureau. NAHB uses the latest available data from these sources to generate a list of improving markets. A metro area must see improvement in all three measures for at least six consecutive months following those measures’ respective troughs before being included on the improving markets list. A complete list of all 247 metros currently on the IMI, and separate breakouts of metros newly added to or dropped from the list in August, is available at www.nahb.org/imi. n

Allie Phipps, Tamrya Shade and Jess Dillon represent the Tennessean Media Group, sponsors of the August meeting of the Sales and Marketing Council.

SMC Board Members Jody Derrick, Debbie Reeves and Trey Lewis chat following the July meeting of the council’s Board of Directors.

New home sales jump 8.3 percent in June

ales of newly built, single-family homes surged 8.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted, annual rate of 497,000 units in June, their fastest pace in the last five years, according to data released today by HUD and the U.S. Census Bureau. “New-home buyers are returning to the market in larger numbers as firming prices, shrinking inventories of homes for sale and improving local economies convince them that now is the time to make their move,” said Rick Judson, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Charlotte, N.C. “Meanwhile, the very low supply of new homes on the market is indicative of the difficulty that builders are having in keeping up with demand due to availability issues with regard to materials, credit, labor and lots for development.” “The takeaway from this report is that the housing recovery is solidly on track and isn’t going to be derailed by slightly higher mortgage rates,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “After years of fence-sitting, buyers are back and are ready to move forward with an investment in homeownership.” Looking ahead, he said he anticipates further, though more incremental gains in sales through the end of this year. Three out of four regions saw solid gains in new-home sales activity in June, with the Northeast, South and West posting increases of 18.5 percent, 10.9 percent and 13.8 percent, respectively. The Midwest posted an 11.8 percent decline following an above-trend bump in activity in May.

The inventory of new homes for sale declined to 161,000 units in June, marking a razor-thin, 3.9-month supply at the current sales pace. The months’ supply of homes for sale has not fallen below this level since March of 2004. Builder Confidence rises six points Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes rose six points to 57 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) for July, released today. This is the index’s third consecutive monthly gain and its strongest reading since January of 2006. “Today’s report is particularly encouraging in that it shows improvement in builder confidence across every region as well as solid gains in current sales conditions, traffic of prospective buyers and sales expectations for the next six months,” noted NAHB Chairman Rick Judson, a home builder from Charlotte, N.C. However, he cautioned that

Remodeler confidence rebounds in second quarter

onfidence in the remodeling market rebounded in the second quarter of 2013 with the Remodeling Market Index (RMI) rising six points to 55, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The rise in existing home sales and increased demand for remodeling projects contributed to the positive report. An RMI above 50 indicates that more remodelers report market activity is higher (compared to the prior quarter) than report it is lower. The overall RMI averages ratings of current remodeling activity with indicators of future remodeling activity. “Remodelers are feeling optimistic about the home improvement market during what

has turned out to be an uneven recovery,” said NAHB Remodelers Chairman Bill Shaw, GMR, GMB, CGP, a remodeler from Houston. “The RMI future market results are especially promising. Not only do remodelers have projects booked for the next few months, but they also have more work coming in the door.” The future market indicators component of the RMI increased to 56 from the previous quarter level of 48. Current market conditions rose from 50 in the previous quarter to 54. All of the indicators of future activity (i.e. calls for bids, work committed for three months, backlog, and appointments) were over 50 for the first time in eight years.

“This positive momentum could be disrupted by threats on the policy side, particularly with regard to the mortgage interest deduction and federal support for the housing finance system.” “Builders are seeing more motivated buyers coming through their doors as the inventory of existing homes for sale continues to tighten,” noted NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “Meanwhile, as the infrastructure that supplies home building returns, some previously skyrocketing building material costs have begun to soften.” Derived from a monthly survey that NAHB has been conducting for 25 years, the NAHB/ Wells Fargo Housing Market Index gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months as “good,” “fair” or “poor.” The survey also asks builders to rate traffic of prospective buyers as “high to very high,” “average” or “low to very low.” Scores from each component are then used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as good than poor. All three HMI components posted gains in July. The component gauging current sales conditions rose five points to 60 – its highest level since early 2006. Meanwhile, the component gauging sales expectations in the next six months gained seven points to 67 and the component gauging traffic of prospective buyers rose five points to 45 – marking the strongest readings for each since late 2005. All four regions also posted gains in their HMI scores’ three-month moving averages. The Northeast showed a four-point gain to 40 while the Midwest reported an eight-point gain to 54, the South posted a five-point gain to 50 and the West measured a three-point gain to 51. n

“Remodelers’ positive sentiment is directly related to increased demand for their services. Rising home prices are making remodeling jobs possible for more homeowners while existing home sales provide additional momentum as home owners prepare their homes for market,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. n

August, 2013

The NAIL 7

8 The NAIL

August, 2013

The NAIL 9

The gettin’ was good at the Fish Fry buffet line where Uncle Bud’s kept the great food coming. Shown in line: John Whitaker, Jimmy Franks, Charles McGuire and Pam Thomas.

Fish Fry fun in the sun! Lamar Morgan of Piedmont Natural Gas welcomes fish fry attendees to the event.

iedmont Natural Gas sponsored and hosted the Annual Fishing Tournament Fish Fry Tuesday, July 16 at their Nashville offices. Big crowds filled the event tents, enjoyed live music and made multiple trips to the buffet line where Uncle Bud’s kept the dishes filled with fried fish, chicken hush puppies and all the delicious items you’d want at a good old fashioned fish fry. Special thanks* to Piedmont Natural Gas for being such great hosts at this event and for sponsoring the 2013 Fishing Tournament. The last round of this year’s tournament is set for Monday, September 30th. See page fifteen (15) of this issue for more details, or visist the tournament page online at www.hbamt.org/fish.html. n *Special thanks also to Jerry Deal for sharing his photos with us! 10 The NAIL

August, 2013

Above: under the tent where big crowds enjoyed the fixins. Below: Leslie Hubbell, Pam Thomas and Delores Dockum, Piedmont Natural Gas.

Above: David McGowan, York Bennett and Terry Cobb. Left: HBAMT President Jimmy Franks.

August, 2013

The NAIL 11

Todd Spann.

George Ralls took home a new fishing pole, one of many fishermen who won door prizes during the festivities.

Joe Reese, Hubbell.

Leslie Hubbell presents a door prize to Charles McGuire.

Dennis Jenkins, Danny Talley. 12 The NAIL

August, 2013

Danny Barksdale, Kevin Israel.

SPIKE REPORT Life Spikes

Seventeen SPIKES (in bold) increased their recruitment numbers last month. What is a SPIKE? SPIKES recruit new members and help the association retain members. Here is the latest SPIKE report as of June 30, 2013. Top 20 Big Spikes Jim Ford 912 Virgil Ray 817 Bill King 776 Mitzi Spann 651 Jim Fischer 566 Terry Cobb 563 John Whitaker 346 James Carbine 326 Jennifer Earnest 306 Dan Stern 306 Bruce Hancock 297 Kevin Hale 285 Tonya Jones 271 Reese Smith III 259 David Crane 222 Steve Moody 219 Sonny Shackelford 214 Michael Apple 185 Cyril Evers 181 Jackson Downey 174

Davis Lamb 174 Jim McLean 164 Louise Stark 163 Tim Ferguson 155 Harry Johnson 146 Steve Cates 140 C.W. Bartlett 138 Tonya Alexander 125 Steve Hewlett 119 Tom Kelley 115 Carmen Butner 102 Johnny Watson 101 Sam Carbine 98 Bill Kottas 97 Lee Santiago 95 Trey Lewis 93 Dave McGowan 93 B.J. Hanson 91 Kim Dykes 89 James Franks 82 Duane Vanhook 79 Jordan Clark 77 Randy Parker 75 Erin Richardson 72 Jeff Slusher 70 John Baugh 68 Don Bruce 62 Jim Ford, Jr. 62 Hill McAlister 57 Joe Morgan 54 Gerald Bucy 53 John Broderick 52 Beth Sturm 50 Wiggs Thompson 50 Al Davis 47 Sheila Rawlings 47 Bernie Laine 46

Greg Langley 46 Benny Sullivan 46 Kim Nichols 45 Bryan Edwards 44 David Hughes 44 Andrew Neuman 44 Kay Russell 44 Peggy Krebs 39 Lori Fisk-Conners 38 Chuck Clarkson 36 Brad Butler 35 John Ganschow 35 Andy Wyatt 35 Al Hacker 34 David Lippe 34 Ray Edwards 32 Dan Strebel 32 Steve Wheeley 30 Alvin Basel 29 Matt Burnett 25 Spikes Christina Cunningham 17 Jess Dillon 16 Frank Miller 16 Tracy Lomax 14 Don Mahone 12 Marty Maitland 12 Frank Tyree 11 Michael Dillon 10 Pam Smith 10 Don Alexander 7 Kelvey Benward 7

August, 2013

The NAIL 13

AUGUST Calendar Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Membership Mixer at the HBAMT

LP Building Prioducts Golf Tournament

20 Dickson County Chapter meeting

27 Metro/Nashville Chapter meeting

Remodelers Council meeting

Green Building Council meeting

Sales & Marketing Council meeting

Chapters & Councils CHAPTERS CHEATHAM COUNTY CHAPTER Chapter President - Roy Miles: 615/646-3303 Cheatham County Chapter details are being planned. Next meeting: to be announced. Chapter RSVP Line: 615/377-9651, ext. 310 DICKSON COUNTY CHAPTER Chapter President - Mark Denney: 615/446-2873. The Dickson County Chapter meets on the third Monday of the month, 12:00 p.m. at the Ponderosa Restaurant in Dickson. Next meeting: Monday, August 19. Topic: SkyeTec, an indoor environmental consulting firm, will deliver a presentation for meeting attendees. Price: FREE, lunch dutch treat. Chapter RSVP Line: 615/377-9651, ext. 307 MAURY COUNTY CHAPTER Maury County Chapter details are currently being planned. Next meeting: to be announced. Chapter RSVP line: 615-377-9651, ext. 312; for callers outside the 615 area code, 1-800-571-9995, ext. 312 METRO/NASHVILLE CHAPTER Chapter President - John Whitaker: 615/843-3300. The Metro/Nashville Chapter meets on the fourth Monday of the month, 11:30 a.m. at the HBAMT offices. Next meeting: Monday, August 26. Topic: “Local Housing Market Update,” with special guests from Infosource. Price*: to be announced. Chapter RSVP Line: 615/377-9651, ext. 304

14 The NAIL

August, 2013

ROBERTSON COUNTY CHAPTER Next meeting: to be announced. Robertson County RSVP line: 615-377-9651, ext. 313. SUMNER COUNTY CHAPTER The Sumner County Chapter meets on the fourth Tuesday of the month, 11:30 a.m. at the new Hendersonville Library. Next meeting: to be announced. Chapter RSVP Line: 615/377-9651, ext. 306 WILLIAMSON COUNTY CHAPTER Chapter President - BJ Hanson: 615/884-4935. The Williamson County Chapter meets on the third Tuesday of the month, 11:30 a.m. at the HBAMT offices. Next meeting: to be announced. Price*: to be announced. Chapter RSVP Line: 615/377-9651, ext. 305 WILSON COUNTY CHAPTER The Wilson County Chapter meets on the second Thursday of the month, 11:30 a.m. at the Five Oaks Golf & Country Club in Lebanon. Next meeting: to be announced. Chapter RSVP Line: 615/377-9651, ext. 309 *Builders free pending sponsorship. COUNCILS CUSTOM BUILDERS COUNCIL The CBC meets on the second Tuesday of the month, 11:30 a.m. at the HBAMT offices. Next meeting: to be announced. Council RSVP Line: 615/377-9651, ext. 311

GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL Council President - Erin Richardson: 615/883-8526. The Green Building Council meets on the fourth Wednesday of the month, 11:00 a.m. Next meeting: Wednesday, August 28, at the HBAMT offices. Topic: to be announced. Price: free for Green Building Council members pending sponsorship; $20 for non-members with RSVP ($25 w/o). Council RSVP Line: 615/377-9651, ext. 308 HBAMT REMODELERS COUNCIL Council President - Don Mahone. The HBAMT Remodelers Council meets on the third Wednesday of the month, 11:00 a.m. at varying locations. Next meeting: Wednesday, August 21. Location: to be announced. Price: free for RMC members with RSVP; $15 for non-members with RSVP ($20 w/o). Council RSVP Line: 615/377-9651, ext. 301 MIDDLE TENN SALES & MARKETING COUNCIL Council President - Trey Lewis. The SMC meets on the first Thursday of the month, 9:00 a.m. at the HBAMT offices. Next meeting: Thursday, August 1. Topic: “Social Media; what tools are in your toolbox?” Price: FREE for SMC members thanks to the Tennessean Media Group ($10 w/o RSVP); $20 for non-members with RSVP ($25 w/o). Council RSVP Line: 615/377-9651, ext. 302.

August, 2013

The NAIL 15

16 The NAIL

August, 2013