Inventory growth outpaces home sales surge

So the good news is existing home sales were up 7.6 percent for April -- no surprise. That was the last month home buyers could take advantage of the tax credit.

Unfortunately, more sellers than usual tried to get in on the game, too, with inventories surging 11.5 percent from March to an 8.4 month supply (up 2.7 percent from a year ago.) And with the impending crash in sales in wake of the credit's expiration, it could get ugly this summer.

We'll get our first official look when new home sales come out for May. Existing home sales will take longer to reflect the decline, because they are reported at closing, while new sales are reported at contract signing. That means home sales should remain inflated through June, although we're already hearing anecdotally about the immediate impact this is having on sales, with builders cutting prices to try to bring people in the door.

It's the reason I was against renewing the tax credit last time -- it's a temporary fix that simply moves demand forward and we're all going to pay for it now. (I'd link to one of my many rants against it, but HousingZone has been wiped from the face of the earth.)

Energy efficient remodeling PACE program may be dead on arrival

The White House's effort to encourage energy efficient remodeling through the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program may not be getting far, with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac expressing their opposition.

PACE would help homeowners make the improvements by allowing them to borrow money from local municipalities, then repay the cities, which would fund the program through the sale of municipal bonds. The problem mortgage lenders have with the deal is that those liens would become senior.

The Wall Street Journal's Development Blog has more details:

In somewhat-cryptic letters that Fannie and Freddie sent to lenders earlier this month, the companies reminded banks that their agreements don’t allow them to purchase loans that have a senior lien. “An energy-related lien may not be senior to any Mortgage delivered to Freddie Mac,” the company said. Both firms said they would provide “additional guidance” if the PACE programs move beyond the “experimental stage.”

The letters suggest that Fannie and Freddie won’t allow borrowers with a PACE lien to refinance or sell their properties unless the liens are paid off. Proponents say the liens need to be senior or they won’t attract sufficient interest from bond investors. The Department of Energy, meanwhile, issued revised guidelines for municipalities that use the program.

This makes perfect sense. With all the foreclosures these days, why would any lender want to accept this deal? Unfortunately, this will probably end up shooting any chance of a large-scale program of energy-efficient loans.

It's official - Professional Remodeler to relaunch

Still a few details to be worked out, but we're set to restart the magazines under the ownership of MB Media.

The plan right now calls for a July relaunch of the websites, followed by Aug/Sept print issues.

Former publishers buy Professional Remodeler, other construction titles

Two of our former publishers at Reed, Tony Mancini and Rick Blesi, have purchased 13 construction brands that RBI had shut down, including Professional Remodeler, with the intention of restarting them.

I don't know all the details yet, but will share as soon as I do. Folio has a little more information.

Good news for the industry and good news for us former employees!

A social media sherpa for remodelers

Diving into the social media pool can be a daunting task for remodelers. Most are scared by what it takes to get the company's up to speed on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc., not to mention crafting a regular blog.


We did some research on social media that was going to appear in the never-published May issue of Professional Remodeler. In that survey only 12 percent of remodelers said they have a company blog (only 67 percent said they had a website for that matter) and just over half of remodelers use social media sites for business or personal purposes.


Unfortunately, social media and networking is an increasingly important part of getting your marketing message out, so you can't just ignore it.


If you're looking for help, there's a great resource available: Deep Brook Media. (Full disclosure: The company is run by Paul Deffenbaugh, my former boss at Reed.) Paul has years of experience in residential construction both in the field and as an editor at Professional Builder and Remodeling magazines.


If you're serious about social media, check out what Paul can offer. He's also got a good blog on his site where he writes about social media and the industry in general.

Good news as more RBI pubs find new life, Professional Remodeler next?

Still no official word on Professional Remodeler, but things are moving along. Nine of the 23 discontinued brands have been bought up in management buyouts, and more are expected to close this week, according to an article at Folio.com.

I still have a lot of hope we're going to see something happen with Professional Remodeler. I know of three groups (one internal, two external) interested in buying the Reed Construction Media group, which includes PR. I'm not going to say anymore than that right now because I've been asked not to by people involved, but suffice it to say there are good reasons to be optimistic. Keep your fingers crossed!

Book Review: Caught by Harlan Coben

I warned you when I started this blog that it wasn't going to be all about remodeling.

So if you're not interested in my opinion on books ... move along, nothing to see here.

One benefit of finding myself suddenly jobless is that I've got time to burn through that pile of unread books. A rather, uh, large pile to be certain. And that means, book reviews!


Caught is Harlan Coben's latest "trouble in suburbia" thriller novel, and that's really the problem. It's not that the book isn't good, there's just a been there, done that feel to it. Caught focuses on the disappearance of 17-year-old Haley McWaid, and sexual predators uncovered by Wendy Tynes, host of "Caught in the Act," and how the two become intertwined.

Coben is still a great writer, and you'll burn through the book quickly, but in the end I was left with a kind of "meh" feeling. I finished it just two days ago and the plot is fading away in my memory.

If you're already a Coben fan, it's probably worth picking up, but if you're new to Coben, I'd recommend starting with his far superior Myron Bolitar books (Deal Breaker is the first).

Remodeling still bigger than new construction

For the sixth quarter in a row, investment in home improvement has topped that of new construction. (h/t to Calculated Risk for crunching the numbers from GDP residential investment.)

This is where the longterm growth is in the housing industry. Once the recession ends and unemployment goes down, we're poised for a big comeback in the remodeling industry. New construction? I've got my doubts. But remodeling is in great shape for the longterm. An aging housing stock, desire to be in closer suburbs and the city core, the green movement -- all factors that have us set for a nice rebound.

(You know, sure would be a great time to restart a remodeling trade pub -- just saying)

Fight back against casino developers in Gettysburg

The group of developers that tried four years ago to build a casino next to the Gettysburg battlefield are back.

This time, they've applied for a gaming permit to build the casino only half a mile from one of the most important historic sites in the country. For years, the battlefield and surrounding area have been marred by some horrible commercial sites, but the government and preservation groups, such as the Civil War Preservation Trust, which I'm a proud member of, have done a great job over the last few years restoring the area.

I've got nothing against casinos or development, I just don't see the point of putting something like this in the shadow of this hallowed piece of American history.

You can visit www.civilwar.org/nocasino for the latest information on the fight to stop what would be a terrible mistake. We did it four years ago, and we can do it again.

Lead paint rules finally getting some consumer attention

Now that the new lead paint rules have been in place for a little over a week, it seems like it's finally getting some attention from the consumer-oriented media.

The Chicago tribune had an article today on the new rules (even quoting the research we did at Professional Remodeler earlier this year). It's good to see the information finally getting out there, especially as remodelers have been trying to get the media to cover this for months.

Other outlets, including the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Baltimore Sun and Atlanta Journal-Constitution have covered it in recent days as well. Still, most remodelers I've talked to say that the average homeowners has no idea this is going on. Hopefully, some more media coverage will help to change that.