The Nail - April, 2012 by Home Builders Association of Middle Tennessee (HBAMT)

THE

NAIL The official magazine of Home Builders Association of Middle Tennessee President Dan Strebel Vice President James Franks Secretary/Treasurer Michael Dillon Executive Vice President John Sheley

Editor and Designer Jim Argo Staff Connie Nicley Pat Newsome

CONFERENCE ROOMS AVAILABLE Need space for an upcoming meeting, seminar or special event? Call the Home Builders Association and reserve one (or both) of the spacious, first-floor conference areas. Located in the heart of Brentwood at the HBA’s first-class office building, each room makes an ideal venue for both business and social engagements alike.

Boardroom Members Non-members -

$350* $600*

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 of Middle 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.

Classroom Members Non-members -

$250* $500*

Rooms are reserved on a first-come, first-serve basis. Call (615) 377-1055 for availability and reservation information. *Each room requires a deposit of $100 (refundable) and half the amount of the rental fee due prior to date of occupancy. Boardroom furniture may not be taken from the room or rearranged. The Home Builders Association of Middle Tennessee

9007 Overlook Blvd., Brentwood, TN 37027 615/377-1055 Fax: 377-1077

April 2012 z The NAIL 3

FEATURES

Miss the first round? Second Round of the Piedmont Natural Gas Bass Trail Tournament: Tuesday, April 17th.

8 NAHB’s Green Conference held in Nashville this year, April 29-May 1st. Register now for NAHB’s annual Green Conference, coming this year to the Nashville Convention Center.

10 First round of the Piedmont Natural Gas Bass Trail Tournament in the books The tournament returned March 20 to kick off its 2012 run at Mason’s Boat Dock. Check out all the scores to see which teams started the year at the top of the leaderboard.

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

ON THE COVER: The NAHB’s 2012 Green Building Conference & Expo will be held at the Nashville Convention Center. For more details see page eight (8) of this issue.

April 2012 z The NAIL 5

NEWS&INFO

Steve Bertasso, Erin Richardson, Travis McCloskey (left) Contesse talk prior to the Green and Stefan Peter-C Building Council’s March meeting. McCloskey, Jenn Air Market Manager, Nashville, delivered a program titled “2012 Appliances for the Green Home.” Bertasso, VicePresident, and Peter-Contesse, Secretary/Treasurer, join GBC President Erin Richardson in leading the council in 2012.

NAHB index shows Nashville housing market improving ashville is among 5 Tennessee housing markets showing measurable improvement in March, according to the National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI), released last week. The index identifies metropolitan areas that have shown improvement for at least six months in housing permits, employment and housing prices. “Nashville first appeared on the IMI in November of last year and continues to show improvement in all three of the statistics independently analyzed by the index as indicators of improving economic health,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. The Nashville market has experienced a 1.9% increase in single-family permits since March of 2009, a 5.4% increase in employment since September of 2009, and a 1.9% increase in housing prices since February of 2009. Given these numbers, the NAHB is expecting the local housing industry to show steady improvement in the months ahead. “Our latest forecasts project Nashville's single-family housing starts to increase 13.3% this year and 40% in 2013,” Crowe said. “These num-

NAHB forecasts Nashville’s single-family housing starts to increase 13.3% this year and 40% in 2013. 6 The NAIL z April 2012

bers would outperform our national projections for the same period.” Local builders have already started to notice an increase in buyer traffic and home sales. “Closed sales for January and February of this year were up 24.1% over the same period in 2011,” confirms Trey Lewis, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Ole South Properties, Inc. “Likewise, pending sales during this same period increased 84.7% over the prior year.” Lewis credits many factors as contributing to these numbers. “Historically low interest rates, rising rental rates, business relocations, and positive job growth are all influencing our new home sales figures,” Lewis says. With existing homes sales on the rise new home production will continue to improve. “Nashville recorded 730 starts in the fourth quarter of 2011, the highest level for that quarter in 3 years,” said Jason Brown of Metrostudy, a national housing data and consulting firm. “As inventory continues to dwindle, organic growth has begun to fuel resurgence in demand for new starts.” Other Tennessee markets joining Nashville on the NAHB's IMI include Chattanooga, Clarksville, Kingsport and Memphis. Nationally, the index reached an all-time high with 99 markets. A complete list of all 99 metropolitan areas currently on the IMI, and separate breakouts of metros newly added to or dropped from the list in March, is available at: www.nahb.org/imi.

Don’t miss the NAHB’s Annual Green Conference, being held this year in Nashville. The conference will run April 29 through May 1 at the Nashville Convention Center. For more details see page 8 (eight) of this issue.

Ted Fellman (above) led a program conducted by the Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA) tailored specifically for association members. The event, “Increase Your Buyer Pool with THDA Financing Options,” was held March 20 at the HBAMT offices. Special thanks to the THDA for making the informative presentation and for sponsoring the event.

Nationwide housing starts decline, builder confidence unchanged ationwide housing starts edged down 1.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 698,000 units in February, according to newly released figures from the U.S. Commerce Department. This was the second-best pace of new construction since October of 2008 following an upwardly revised 706,000-unit pace in January. “Builders are reporting increased buyer interest and are expecting demand for new homes to improve in the coming months, but continue to exercise caution regarding new projects until that interest translates into more signed sales contracts,” noted Barry Rutenberg, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Gainesville, Fla. “This process is certainly being slowed by today’s overly tight lending conditions, the difficulty of obtaining accurate appraisals on new construction and competition from distressed properties that can make it tough for prospective newhome buyers to sell an existing home.” “NAHB’s most recent builder surveys have shown steady improvement in builder expectations for the next six months, and today’s report reflects that optimism in the permit numbers, which are up across the board and are typically the most statistically reliable data,” noted NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “At the same time, we believe that January’s exceptionally good weather was a factor in pulling some single-family starts activity forward that might otherwise have occurred in February.” Following four consecutive months of gains, single-family starts declined 9.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 457,000 units in February. Meanwhile, multifamily starts, which tend to display greater volatility from month to month, gained 21.1 percent to a 241,000-unit rate – their fastest pace since November 2011. Regionally, starts activity was mixed in February, with the Midwest and South posting gains of 3.0 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively, and the Northeast and West posting respective declines of 12.3 percent and 5.9 percent. Nationwide permit issuance, which can be an indicator of future building activity, rose 5.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted 717,000 units in February – the strongest pace since October 2008. This gain was reflected across both sectors of the market, with single-family permits up 4.9 percent to 472,000 units (best pace since April of 2010) and multifamily permits up 5.6 per-

cent to 245,000 units (best pace since October 2008). Permit issuance was also up in three out of four regions of the country in February, with the Northeast posting a 14.3 percent gain, the Midwest a 14.7 percent gain and the West a 12.8 percent gain. Meanwhile, the South posted a 1.9 percent decline in permit issuance following a significant gain in the previous month.

Builder confidence unchanged Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes was unchanged in March from a revised level of 28 on the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). This means that following five consecutive months of gains, the HMI is now holding at its highest level since June of 2007. “While builders are still very cautious at this time, there is a sense that many local housing markets have started to move in the right direction and that prospects for future sales are improving,” said Rutenberg. “This is demonstrated by the fact that the HMI component measuring builder expectations continued climbing for a sixth straight month in March, to its highest level in more than four years.”

“Builder confidence is now twice as strong as it was six months ago, and the West was the only region to experience a decline this month following an unusual spike in February,” observed Crowe. “That said, many of our members continue to cite obstacles on the road to recovery, including persistently tight builder and buyer credit and the ongoing inventory of distressed properties in some markets.” Derived from a monthly survey that NAHB has been conducting for more than 20 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. While the HMI component gauging current sales conditions declined one point to 29 in March, the component gauging sales expectations in the next six months gained two points to 36 and the component gauging traffic of prospective buyers held unchanged at 22. Regionally in March, the HMI gained five points to 25 in the Northeast, two points to 32 in the Midwest and two points to 27 in the South, but fell 10 points in the West following a 22point gain in the previous month.

MTSU’S WINNING STUDENTS The MTSU student team that took first place honors at the 2012 International Builders Show, from left to right: Jonathan Jones, Maverick Green, Kelly O’Leary, Paige Parham, Patrick Turner and Andrew Ethridge. Middle Tennessee State University’s Land Development/Residential Building Construction Management Team placed first out of forty teams at the NAHB Student Chapters Residential Construction Management Competition. For more see the March issue of The Nail.

March 2012 z The NAIL 7

NEWS&INFO

NAHB’s Green Conference in Nashville, April 29-May 1st he green share of new single-family residential construction has grown dramatically—increasing from two percent in 2005 to 17 percent in 2011, according to McGraw-Hill Construction. Builders and remodelers looking to expand their knowledge of building green, and find out where the market is going, are invited to attend the 2012 National Green Building Conference and Expo in Nashville April 29-May 1. Held this year at the Nashville Convention Center, the annual conference will feature an exhibit hall with the latest cutting-edge green products, a wide variety of education courses, unmatched networking opportunities and notable speakers and special events. “More and more homes are becoming green and energy-efficient, whether by consumer demand or code requirement,” said Eric Borsting, Chairman of the National Green Building Conference and Expo. “This is the way the industry is moving, and this conference is the best place for any building professional to get ahead of the game and learn about best green practices and techniques. With its unmatched networking opportunities, education courses, impressive tour of homes and exhibit hall, this

event is not one to be missed.” The educational courses offer participants a deeper knowledge of the building science of green and provide the analysis of the green building market—the economic impact, the policies and the latest building techniques and trends. The Energy & Environmental Building Alliance (EEBA) will offer a new special education track, EBBA: Houses That Work. These sessions will serve as in-depth workshops on topics including air-sealing homes, proper HVAC System Replacement techniques to maximize energy efficiency, and Remodeling for Energy Efficiency. Another special event this year is the SmartMarket Report presentation from McGrawHill Construction, Waste Management, Inc. and NAHB, where the three groups will reveal the findings of the latest survey on green building trends. Attendees will also have the opportunity to take part in a green tour of homes. The tour will showcase several local green built homes, and participants will be able to talk to the builders to learn about the rationale behind the design, green building certifications they used and the value the homes bring to their owners. For more information, or to register, please visit www.nahb.org/greenbuildingconference.

THE NATIONAL GREEN BUILDING CONFERENCE & EXPO PROVIDES exceptional building science and technology knowledge on the principles and trends of green building. The knowledge you gain here will help you sell more green homes and projects and build an educated client base. z z z z

You'll see green principles applied during the Green Building & Technology Home Tour. You'll talk about products—their uses and performance—in an exhibit hall that is completely dedicated to green home building suppliers. You'll recognize your industry peers for their achievements during the National Green Building Awards. You'll get contacts, resources and ideas good for your customers and your bottom line. The 2012 National Green Building Conference and Expo Nashville Convention Center - April 29-May 1st

8 The NAIL z April 2012

Bass Trail begins! Round one of the 2012 Piedmont Natural Gas Bass Trail Tournament was held March 20th at Mason’s Boat Dock.

he 2012 Piedmont Natural Gas Bass Trail Fishing Tournament launched March 20 on Kentucky Lake at Mason’s Boat Dock. The first of five qualifying tournaments to be held prior to the Grand Finale this fall, round one found event sponsor Piedmont Natural Gas well represented on the leaderboard with three of the top four spots at the end of the day. Jerry Bell and Rob Hall took first place honors overall following the afternoon weigh-in. The Piedmont Natural Gas team bested the field after totaling 19.52 lbs worth of catches. Second place was reeled in by Piedmont representatives Danny Barksdale and Bill Ingham. The duo weighed in with catches totaling 11.43 lbs. Mike Hollingshead and Sam Lashlee of the Smyrna Ready Mix boat secured third place honors with a weigh-in of 16.89 lbs. And fourth place bragging rights went to Piedmont’s Tommy Lynch and Scott Mrzena who weighed in with 15.92 lbs. The first “Big Fish Award” of the year also went to Piedmont’s Bell and Hall, whose 8.33 pounder helped them reach the winning score. A complete list of posted scores are listed to the right. The scoreboard includes only those teams who chose to weigh-in and therefore does not include every fishing boat that participated during the tournament. Special thanks once again to tournament sponsors Piedmont Natural Gas. Our next tournament will be held Tuesday, April 17 at Fate Sanders Marina. See page eleven (11) for your registration form.

10 The NAIL z April 2012

Company/Boat

Fishermen

Pts

Piedmont Natural Gas

Jerry Bell & Rob Hall

19.52 lbs.

100

Piedmont Natural Gas

Danny Barksdale & Bill Ingham

16.93 lbs.

Smyrna Ready Mix

Mike Hollingshead & Sam Lashlee 16.89 lbs.

Piedmont Natural Gas

Tommy Lynch & Scott Mrzena

15.92 lbs.

Five Star Building Group Randall Herbert & Clayton Richardson 15.82 lbs.

Piedmont Natural Gas

Myatt Brown & Charlie Hooper

15.61 lbs.

Piedmont Natural Gas

Lamar Morgan & Joe Reese

14.57 lbs.

Piedmont Natural Gas

Jerry Deal & Kevin Tidwell

14.23 lbs.

Building Solutions by Spann Todd Spann & Bill Terry

14.11 lbs.

Piedmont Natural Gas

Gerald Griffin & JP Hooper

12.94 lbs.

Morrison & Fuson

Tommy Fuson & Gary Singleton

12.75 lbs.

Benchmark Construction Trey Bain & Nathan Vaughn

12.50 lbs.

Triton Stone & Granite

Trey Allen & Jim Ford, Jr.

11.65 lbs.

Piedmont Natural Gas

Kevin Dennis & Jasper Hatcher

11.08 lbs.

Piedmont Natural Gas

Donny Whitaker & Luke Whitaker

9.78 lbs.

Spencer Mill Woodworks Bob Farris & Todd Hill

8.91 lbs.

Spencer Mill Woodworks Ronnie Collins & Barry Welch

8.89 lbs.

Piedmont Natural Gas

8.58 lbs.

Five Star Building Group Jason King & JP King

5.72 lbs.

Bob Kennedy Builders

2.15 lbs.

David Francescon & Steve Francescon

Bob Kennedy & Donnie Kennedy

Fate Sanders Marina

Phone: 615-377-1055 | Fax: 615-377-1077

April 2012 z The NAIL 11

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 February 29, 2012. Top 20 Big Spikes Jim Ford Virgil Ray Bill King Mitzi Spann Jim Fischer Terry Cobb James Carbine Dan Stern Bruce Hancock Kevin Hale Tonya Jones John Whitaker Jennifer Earnest Bill Towe Reese Smith III Steve Moody Sonny Shackelford Michael Apple Cyril Evers Anne McKnight

909 811 776 591 566 561 318 306 297 283 271 267 263 262 256 219 207 185 180 179

David Crane Jackson Downey Jim McLean Louise Stark Davis Lamb Harry Johnson Steve Cates C.W. Bartlett Tonya Alexander Steve Hewlett Tom Kelley Tim Ferguson Johnny Watson Bill Kottas Carmen Butner Lee Santiago Dave McGowan Kim Dykes B.J. Hanson Randy Parker Erin Richardson Jeff Slusher Duane Vanhook John Baugh Jordan Clark Don Bruce Sam Carbine Jim Ford, Jr. Hill McAlister Joe Morgan Gerald Bucy John Broderick Al Davis Sheila Rawlings Bernie Laine

178 170 163 163 155 146 140 138 120 119 115 111 101 97 95 95 91 89 81 74 71 70 69 68 65 62 61 61 57 54 53 51 47 47 46

Greg Langley Beth Sturm Benny Sullivan Kim Nichols Bryan Edwards David Hughes Andrew Neuman Kay Russell Peggy Krebs Chuck Clarkson Wiggs Thompson Brad Butler Andy Wyatt Al Hacker Ray Edwards Dan Strebel David Lippe Steve Wheeley Alvin Basel John Ganschow Matt Burnett

46 46 46 45 44 44 44 43 37 36 36 35 35 34 32 32 31 30 29 29 25 Spikes

Lori Fisk-Connors James Franks Trey Lewis Jess Dillon Tracy Lomax Eric DeBerry Frank Tyree Marty Maitland Kelvey Benward Lou Farringer Ron Myers Pam Smith David Jones Bridget Thompson

24 24 22 16 14 12 9 8 7 7 7 7 6 6

2012 Showcase of New Homes

Showcase scheduled to return May 9 through May 20 of this year. Home builders, developers & REALTORS®, showcase your available properties while supporting the HBAMT’s Annual Showcase of New Homes! Set for two four-day weekends beginning Thursday, May 9 and ending Sunday, May 20, the scatter-site event features homes from all price points across the middle Tennessee area. DISCOUNTS! Suppliers, lenders, manufacturers, REALTORS® and many more recognize the advantages of promoting their products in big events like the Showcase and will offer discounts to get their products into your Showcase home. EFFECTIVE MARKETING! Because the Showcase is a scattered-site event, you can build or show the type of home you specialize in. MODEL HOMES ARE ENCOURAGED. LOW ENTRY FEES! You can be a Showcase Builder for as low as $1,000! For that low fee you get multi-media advertising by HBAMT, three yard and directional signs and a Showcase page in the Showcase Home Buyers Guide (plan book) which includes a color picture of your house, floor plan, description and directions.

Visit the Showcase of New Homes page at www.hbamt.net/HBAMT_Showcase.htm to download your registration forms today! Or call (615) 377-1055 and request the forms via fax.

April 2012 z The NAIL 13

APRIL CALENDAR SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

Dickson County Chapter

Bass Trail Tournament Round 2

Metro/Nashville Chapter

HBAMT Remodelers Council

Green Building Council

SMC Special Event with Mike Lyon

CHAPTERS & COUNCILS CHAPTERS CHEATHAM COUNTY CHAPTER Chapter President - Roy Miles: 615/646-3303 Cheatham County Chapter details are currently being planned. Next meeting: to be announced. Topic: 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, April 16. Topic: to be announced. 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. Price*: 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, April 23. Topic: to be announced. Price*: to be announced. Chapter RSVP Line: 615/377-9651, ext. 304 ROBERTSON COUNTY CHAPTER Next meeting: to be announced. Topic: to be announced. Price*: to be announced. Robertson County RSVP line: 615-377-9651, ext. 313.

14 The NAIL z April 2012

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. Topic: to be announced. Price*: 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. Topic: 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. Topic: to be announced. Price*: to be announced. Chapter RSVP Line: 615/377-9651, ext. 309 *Builders free pending sponsorship.

COUNCILS CUSTOM BUILDERS COUNCIL Council President - Alan Looney: 615/309-8200. The CBC meets on the second Tuesday of the month, 11:30 a.m. at the HBAMT offices. Next meeting: to be announced. Topic: to be announced. Price: 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. at the HBAMT offices. Next meeting: Wednesday, April 25. Price: free for Green Building Council members thanks to our sponsors; $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, April18. Location: Chris’s Custom Cabinets Topic: 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 - David Lippe. The SMC meets on the first Thursday of the month, 9:00 a.m. at the HBAMT offices. Next meeting: SPECIAL EVENT - “Browsers to Buyers” with author and sales trainer Mike Lyon. Thursday, May 3, 9:00AM to 11:00AM at Piedmont Natural Gas in Nashville. More details on page 4 (four) of this issue. Price: $15 for SMC members with RSVP ($20 w/o); $35 for nonmembers with RSVP ($40 w/o). Meeting sponsored by: The Jones Company, Norfolk Homes, Piedmont Natural Gas, Builder Designs, Lasso, and New Homes Directory. Council RSVP Line: 615/377-9651, ext. 302. Mike Lyon event RSVP Line: 615/377-9651, ext. 303.

Reach New HBAMT Members!

The 2012 HBAMT Membership Drive is gearing up for a strong showing this spring and your help is needed to fill this year’s New Member Coupon Book with fantastic offers! The Coupon Book is a strong recruitment tool and will be distributed only to those members who join during the Membership Drive. WOW them with your best deal to quickly make a new contact AND help the Membership Committee reach their recruitment goals for this year’s drive. Using the form below, return your COUPON offers to the HBAMT today! Deals contingent ONLY upon presenting coupon are preferred (i.e., no “with purchase” qualifiers) and all offers are subject to approval by the Membership Drive Committee.

2012 HBAMT MEMBERSHIP DRIVE - COUPON SUBMISSION FORM Your name ________________________________ Company ________________________________ Best contact: Phone ______________________________ Email ______________________________ Your coupon ______________________________________________ Coupon value $____________ Please describe your coupon offer in detail (terms, limits, expiration, etc) ________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ Return to: HBAMT - Home Builders Association of Middle Tennessee | 9007 Overlook Boulevard | Brentwood, TN 37027 Telephone (615) 377-1055 | Fax (615) 377-1077