Welcome to the newest Sales and Marketing Council members.

Please help us welcome our newest members-

Mattie Sanders, Mungo Homes
Nicole Brown, Mungo Homes
Jimmy Matthews, Mungo Homes
Amanda McCall,  Prime Lending
Jennifer Winton, Allen Tate Realtors
Melissa Tomberg, Allen Tate Realtors

Thanks for renewing-

Matt Vaughn,  Brand Mortgage
Melissa Morrell, Berkshire Hathaway C.Dan Joyner
Melissa Tofield,  Allen Tate Realtors
Deanna Philips,  Mungo Homes

Earn Your CAPS at IBS

The number of adults over age 65 will increase dramatically to around 80 million between now and 2050. Seeing as most wish to remain in their homes as they age, clients will need skilled remodelers to make the necessary home modifications that allow them to age in place.

The Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist designation is your opportunity to reach this fast-growing demographic. And you can earn it in one weekend as part of the 2017 NAHB International Builders’ Show® Pre-Show Courses this January in Orlando.

Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist includes three required courses:

• Business Management for Building Professionals, Saturday, Jan. 7, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
• Marketing and Communications Strategies for Aging and Accessibility (CAPS I), Sunday, Jan. 8, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
• Design/Build Solutions for Aging and Accessibility (CAPS II), Monday, Jan. 9, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.

Provide a growing population the renovations they need — and build your business at the same time. Regsiter for these courses today.

To register for the international Builders' Show, click here.

DID YOU KNOW? The Professional Women in Building Council is offering travel grants to its members who wish to attend the International Builders' Show in Orlando. Contact Abbey if you are interested.

Have a legal question? The Legal Hotline Has Your Answer

With educational and networking opportunities, several savings programs, and targeted marketing possibilities, it seems that being a member of the Home Builders Association of Greenville has endless benefits. But have you heard about our Legal Hotline? Submit a question to the legal hotline and receive a quick, confidential answer from a qualified attorney at Gallivan, White & Boyd, P.A..

You can access the legal hotline here, or contact your Home Builders Association of Greenville if you have any questions regarding the process at (864) 254-0133.

HBA Legal Counsel Ron Tate addresses the membership regarding the Legal Hotline at a recent general membership meeting.

Free Greenbuild Expo Pass for HBA of Greenville Members

Home Builders Association of Greenville members can register for the annual Greenbuild International Conference and Expo — which takes place Oct. 5-7, 2016 in Los Angeles — and be eligible for a free pass to the show floor on Oct. 5 and 6.

That’s normally a $100 ticket, but because of the Top Tier Partner status the National Association of Home Builders has arranged, it’s a free member benefit this year.

This year’s show features the KB Home ProjecKT, focused on affordable high-tech design, and other events and exhibits that appeal to residential builders, a growing focus of the annual green show.

To take advantage of the member discount, register using this portal. Early-bird registration for the full conference, which includes education sessions, ends Aug. 1.

Your HBA's Legislative Efforts Save You Money, More

In 2016, your Home Builders Association worked diligently to advance the issues most important to our members. The HBA was actively engaged in more than 170 bills during the 2015-16 legislative session to promote and protect the vital work of home builders and developers across South Carolina. 

Our efforts included:

• Successfully opposed mandated residential fire sprinklers in the building code: Over $180 million in annual savings;
• Supported a budget proviso for state-specific high wind and seismic zone mapping: Over $150 million in annual savings;
• Passed one-year Multiple Lot Property Tax Discount extension: $1.9 million in annual savings;
• Supported a bill that prohibits the abusive actions of entities commonly known as "patent trolls:" More than $500,000 annually.

These items along with other legislative and regulatory issues including building and energy codes, Home Owners Assocation reform, storm-water and septic tank policies and impact fees created a total savings of over $400 million for 2016 alone! That is a savings to S.C. homeowners of more than $14,285 per house in unnecessary regulatory costs. This success is is attributed to you, our members...Thank you!

Your HBA influences government on all levels. Our goal is to protect affordable housing and to stop needless regulatory costs, which ultimately trickles down and affects everyone who works in the home.

If you know someone who makes their living in the construction industry, but is not a member, ask them why. Keep our industry strong and ask that they join the HBA today to make sure they have a job tomorrow!

The Importance of Sales and Marketing

The article below details the importance of constantly improving your sales and marketing skills and consistently evaluating the housing market of your area. If these are skills you are looking to improve on, consider joining the Sales and Marketing Council of the Upstate, a council under your Home Builders Association. If you'd like current information on the Greenville housing market, look no further--every year your Home Builders Association of Greenville partners with GGAR and UMLA to host the Housing Market Forecast, where a national economist explains the figures of the current market in Greenville and shares their forecast for the upcoming year. That data is then compiled by your Home Builders Association and the shared with our members. You can find that document here.

From NAHBnow.com:

Many economists and industry pundits agree that for the foreseeable future, the housing market will continue to improve. But, there’s no doubt that home builders will still have to navigate fierce competition and deal with cautious buyers.

David Levitan, MIRM, CSP, CMP, and CEO of Levitan & Associates, said that although most housing markets are now performing well (compared to recent years), he has been asked to evaluate several communities across the country that are still not performing up to par.

What he found — almost across the board — was home builders and developers who have been doing business in their markets for years without having conducted any market research or developed a marketing strategy.

“The reason for the lack of sales was crystal clear, and not surprisingly, consistent throughout most of these communities,” he said.

Among the greatest offenses:

• Stale home designs that had not been changed for the past five years or more;
• Product lines that failed to provide a full spread of designs, styles and pricing;
• Less-than-ideal, non-competitive locations;
• Communities built within a short distance of four or more competing builders/developers with almost identical product offerings and more attractive incentives;
• Sales and marketing staff who had no training and minimal management support or supervision over the years;
• Outdated advertising, promotional strategies and budgets (e.g., referencing a 10-year-old budget, creating only minor changes to the company website, making feeble attempts at social media).

Because today’s market conditions and buyers are completely different, he said, leaning on the same old strategies has hindered their ability to grow, prosper and be profitable. To get back on track, Levitan recommends the following five steps:

Step 1: Do your research. For every new community you plan to build, analyze the market and determine the local economy and market conditions, examine site conditions, and investigate current and future competition. Doing this type of analysis helps define the playing field, and from there a realistic sales and marketing strategy for success can be developed, Levitan said.

Ask yourself the following questions: What is the quantifiable demand for the location, design and price? What portion of the demand is already being met? What is happening with the resale market – remember it is an integral component of the demand quotient. Where are the holes in the market?

Step 2: Review your own properties, products, company and brand identity. What are the comparative strengths and weaknesses of your location? How does the marketplace perceive your company? What impact do those perceptions have on your ability to do business? Have you created an identifiable unique selling proposition that is meaningful to the consumer? If not, you are simply another seller of the same product, probably offered at similar or higher prices.

Step 3: Use your research and review or SWOT analysis, to develop housing products that satisfy the needs of the market and are noticeably better in some way than competition.

Step 4: Create and implement a sales and marketing strategy for every new community BEFORE development starts. Use tools that will get your message to your target market in a cost-effective way.

Step 5: Take Step 4 further and create a new sales and marketing strategy that reflects current market conditions for every existing community you have in your portfolio.

While it may take a little time and effort to properly create a development and marketing strategy that will maximize sales and profitability, Levitan believes that the value of doing so is immeasurable.

Need Affordable Health Insurance Coverage?

Marsh, LLC, the world’s largest global insurance broker and risk management adviser, has collaborated with NAHB to give members exclusive access to affordable health care insurance coverage through the Health Insurance Services affinity program at http://Marsh.NAHBExchange.com.

Launching Nov. 2, this secure website allows you and your family to shop for a range of benefits options—from major medical, short-term medical, and Health Savings Account plans, to income protection, critical illness, dental, vision, life insurance (including term and whole policies), and accidental death and dismemberment plans.

Use decision-support tools available on the website to compare plan options and costs. Then dial a toll-free number, or click online to receive a call to the number of your choice, to talk to a licensed counselor for personalized support. The counselor will answer your questions, walk you through your options, and hold your hand through the decision-making and benefits enrollment process.

All plans offered through the Individual Exchange are compliant with the Affordable Care Act and meet the requirements of the law’s individual mandate (which states that most Americans must have health insurance coverage or pay a tax penalty).

Open enrollment, your once-a-year opportunity to enroll in medical insurance coverage for 2016, began Nov. 1, 2015 and runs through Jan. 31, 2016. If individuals choose not to enroll during this open enrollment window, they will have to wait until the fourth quarter of 2016 to sign up for medical coverage for 2017.

Members, employees and families can check out the health insurance solutions available by visiting http://Marsh.NAHBExchange.com or calling 855-292-8849 to speak with a licensed health insurance counselor.

Value of Membership: Appraisal Reform

Builder Review continues its highlight of the more than 100 initiatives by your HBA that have saved HBA members during the last year.  Below is another way your HBA is saving our members money.

Taking the Lead to Ensure that Appraisals Accurately Reflect Market Values. Acting aggressively to identify solutions to improve the accuracy of appraisals, NAHB’s Appraisal Working Group is focusing on changes in the areas of regulation and oversight, appraisal practices and standards, appraiser education and experience requirements, and data and technology. Meanwhile, NAHB is calling on Congress and regulators to strengthen appraiser qualifications, develop new appraisal standards and oversight, and create an expedited appeals process.

NAHB has developed tools to help members secure accurate appraisals and continues to hammer home the message to lawmakers, regulators, banks and the appraisal industry that distressed properties should not be compared to new homes. Builders should not be losing sales to an appraisal process gone awry. NAHB continues to make progress with regulators and members of the appraisal industry to correct these major flaws in the appraisal process, ensure that appraisals accurately reflect
true market values and prevent builders from losing sales due to faulty appraisals. For more information, go to www.nahb.org/appraisals.

Value of Membershp: Keeping Credit Flowing

Builder Review continues its highlight of the more than 100 initiatives by your HBA that have saved HBA members during the last year.  Below is another way your HBA is saving our members money.

Keeping Credit Flowing for Home Builders. Ensuring there is sufficient credit to produce new homes is essential to keeping builders in business. Because the difficulty of accessing and maintaining construction credit continues to be a major obstacle for home builders and the housing recovery in general, NAHB has been aggressively pushing for solutions to this crisis on both the regulatory and legislative fronts. NAHB-introduced legislation to help resolve the credit crisis is pending in both houses of Congress.

Meanwhile, NAHB is leading the effort to help its members find alternative sources of financing so that they can obtain the necessary financing they need to stay in business. NAHB has identified several companies that are offering financing to builders, and we have provided members with a list of nontraditional lenders willing to finance home construction. NAHB also has developed a web-based toolkit for people seeking AD&C funds from local investors such as family, friends and other high net worth individual investors. That toolkit is now available at nahb.org/FundingToolkit. The bottom line: Mortgage liquidity is the lifeblood of the housing industry. If builders can’t get housing production loans, they can’t build homes and they can’t stay in business. For more information, go to www.nahb.org/adc. 

Value of Membership: Homeownership Campaign Reached 25 million Americans

Builder Review continues its highlight of the more than 100 initiatives by your HBA that have saved HBA members during the last year.  Below is another way your HBA is saving our members money.

Homeownership Campaign Reaches More than 25 Million Americans. NAHB launched a nationwide Protect Homeownership campaign in 2012 to safeguard the mortgage interest deduction and other pro-housing policies. The successful campaign attracted thousands of policymakers, business owners, community leaders and consumers to learn the facts, sign a petition and attend rallies in political swing states this election year. Overall, NAHB was able to reach more than 25 million Americans through newspapers, radio and television news and social media. Our efforts to elevate housing on the national agenda sent a powerful message to the media and members of Congress: Americans value homeownership, and lawmakers need to support pro-housing policies that will create jobs, help local communities to flourish and make it easier for buyers to purchase homes.

Value of Membership: Cost-Effective Building Codes

Builder Review continues its highlight of the more than 100 initiatives by your HBA that have saved HBA members during the last year.  Below is another way your HBA is saving our members money.

Working for Flexible, Cost-Effective Building Codes. Keeping building codes flexible, cost-effective and product-neutral remains a top NAHB priority. Every year, your HBA analyzes thousands of proposed codes from mandatory fire sprinklers to energy conservation rules and prevents requirements that could add tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of building a new home without any appreciable benefit to home buyers.

According to the NAHB Research Center’s 2012 IECC Cost Effectiveness Analysis, the additional cost to build a home to the 2012 IECC relative to the 2006 IECC is $7,034. The majority of that increase – $5,668 – is associated with the changes between the 2009 and 2012 versions of the IECC. NAHB’s successful effort to prevent widespread adoption of the 2012 IECC energy code in several states was a victory for sensible, flexible, cost-effective regulation.  South Carolina is one of the states that has locked in the 2009 IECC.

In addition, your HBA has amended the 2012 IRC to insure that automatic fire sprinklers will not be mandated in new homes in South Carolina.  Two dozen additional amendments also approved for the residential code are set to be adopted with the code on July 1, 2013.

Value of Membership: Sensible fall protection

We recently finished a short series of highlights of the more than 100 initiatives by your HBA that have saved HBA members during the last year.  But there are many others which have saved home builders about $7,250 per housing start in 2012, including both single-family and multifamily.

In the coming days we will highlight more of our initiatives.  Below is one of them.

Sensible Fall Protection Regulations from OSHA. NAHB is committed to training and educating its members on how to reduce fall-related injuries and to comply with OSHA regulations. NAHB has been working closely with OSHA on its fall protection regulations for the construction industry. These rules affect all segments of the industry, including single-family home builders, multifamily builders and remodelers. It is important that OSHA rules provide for safety and compliance without being excessively burdensome. NAHB is urging OSHA to review its fall protection standard to make it more effective, less burdensome, and more easily understood, implemented and enforced. The standard should also recognize that alternative fall protection methods should be a viable option in certain situations.

Value of Membership: $1,350 per home

We continue our series about how your HBA and its affiliate, NAHB, have logged significant victories advocating for members in the legal, legislative and regulatory arenas during 2012. 

Our advocacy efforts have saved the typical home builder about $7,250 per housing start in 2012, including both single-family and multifamily.

Elimination of accessibility porch requirement will save $1,350 per home. Some advocates have lobbied heavily in recent years to include provisions in the IRC to make all new homes “visitable” to disabled persons, regardless of whether or not disabled persons were likely to live in or visit the home. NAHB opposed these efforts and kept visitability provisions out of both the 2009 and 2012 IRC. One of the provisions that NAHB kept out of the code called for a zero clearance entrance, which in turn would require a 4x4 front porch to prevent water from entering the house. Using a front porch estimator available from A.D. Construction, Inc., NAHB staff estimated that the cost of the 4x4 porch needed for a zero-clearance entrance would average $1,350, and that a builder would save that amount on a home normally built without a front porch in areas that have adopted the 2009 or 2012 versions of the code.

Value of Membership: 6,300 new home starts saved

We continue our series about how your HBA and its affiliate, NAHB, have logged significant victories advocating for members in the legal, legislative and regulatory arenas during 2012. 
Our advocacy efforts have saved the typical home builder about $7,250 per housing start in 2012, including both single-family and multifamily.

Higher loan limit saves 6,300 new home sales in 2012. Home builders and buyers won an important victory in late 2011 when Congress restored higher loan limits through 2013 for FHA-backed mortgages. NAHB advocacy prevented the loss of 6,300 new home sales in 2012 and the 4 reduction of prices of another 20,000 new home sales. NAHB estimates three impacts from the higher FHA loan limits. (1) Sales of more than 1,300 newly constructed homes would not have occurred in 2012 if the loan limits had not been restored. (2) Just over 20,000 home sales would have occurred, but the higher finance costs would have reduced demand, lowering purchase prices by approximately 6% on average. (3) Finally, about 13,000 owners of existing homes in high cost areas would have been unable to sell their homes. That would have resulted in the loss of more than 5,000 new home sales to trade-up buyers. The total value for the industry was $1.904 billion in 2012.

Value of Membership: $200,000 per permit

We continue our series about how your HBA and its affiliate, NAHB, have logged significant victories advocating for members in the legal, legislative and regulatory arenas during 2012. 
Our advocacy efforts have saved the typical home builder about $7,250 per housing start in 2012, including both single-family and multifamily.

Supreme Court win could save $200,000 for those seeking wetlands permits. Agreeing with NAHB arguments (submitted in the form of two amicus briefs) that a property owner who receives a Compliance Order from the EPA should be able to obtain judicial review in court, the U.S. Supreme Court on March 21 handed down a unanimous decision in Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that brought relief to property owners on this matter. The case means that any builder who receives a Clean Water Act Compliance order can challenge that order in federal court. In addition, whereas builders have previously had no place to turn when the EPA or Army Corps determines that a wetland or water body on their property falls under the agency’s jurisdiction, they may now be able to seek relief in court. For builders who seek judicial review and win relief in court, savings from not being forced to file a wetlands permit can exceed $200,000.

Value of Membership: $6,316 per home

We continue our series about how your HBA and its affiliate, NAHB, have logged significant victories advocating for members in the legal, legislative and regulatory arenas during 2012. 
Our advocacy efforts have saved the typical home builder about $7,250 per housing start in 2012, including both single-family and multifamily.

Fire sprinkler victories will save $6,316 per home in areas where the victories have been achieved. Since a requirement for residential fire sprinklers was adopted in the 2009 and 2012 IRC, NAHB’s Construction, Codes and Standards staff has worked with state and local associations to defeat mandatory sprinkler requirements in many states. The Construction Codes and Standards staff maintains an online record of states where sprinkler mandates have been defeated. In these areas, builders will save an average of $6,316 per home, based on the average in the Fire Protection Research Foundation’s “Home Fire Cost Assessment Study” (which includes costs of design, permits, additional equipment needed, and increased tap and water fees; but not a builder’s overhead, profit margin, or possible increases in financing costs or broker fees).

Value of Membership: $260 per room

We continue our series about how your HBA and its affiliate, NAHB, have logged significant victories advocating for members in the legal, legislative and regulatory arenas during 2012. 
Our advocacy efforts have saved the typical home builder about $7,250 per housing start in 2012, including both single-family and multifamily.

We saved Remodelers $260 per room on lead testing requirement. In a victory for NAHB Remodelers, the EPA rejected a proposal to add third-party clearance testing to the Lead: Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule, a requirement that would cost NAHB members $260 per professionally remodeled room (923,000 rooms in 2012). This issue concerns a requirement for a “swipe test” following professional remodeling in all pre-1978 houses. This rule was expected to cost $260 per professionally remodeled room and that, according to the EPA, would cost $400 million nationwide.

Thus, annual savings are: $260 x the number of rooms to be professionally remodeled in 2012 = Total 2012 savings. NAHB estimates that 60% of remodeling work was done professionally (2009 American Housing Survey) and that 1.5 million rooms were remodeled in 2012. That saved the industry $240 million in 2012.

Value of Membership: 10,100 new home starts saved in 2013

We continue our series about how your HBA and its affiliate, NAHB, have logged significant victories advocating for members in the legal, legislative and regulatory arenas during 2012. 
Our advocacy efforts have saved the typical home builder about $7,250 per housing start in 2012, including both single-family and multifamily.

Flood insurance win will preserve 10,100 new home sales in 2013. NAHB advocacy averted the loss of approximately 10,100 new home sales that would have been prevented by the expiration of the NFIP. The National Flood Insurance Program has endured many short term lapses in recent years, which caused costly delays for home builders and buyers and even resulted in canceled sales. Reauthorizing the program for five years will prevent such lapses and the resulting delays and sale cancellations.

NAHB also worked with lawmakers to successfully remove unfair requirements that would have caused countless owners of property behind dams or levees to purchase coverage regardless of flood risk.

NAHB’s efforts on the National Flood Insurance Program saved NAHB members $2.42 billion in gross revenue in 2013 by preserving the sales of approximately 10,100 newly constructed home sales that would not have occurred otherwise due to higher costs for home buyers in these areas ($60,000 on average).

Value of Membership: $230 per member per year

We continue our series about how your HBA and its affiliate, NAHB, have logged significant victories advocating for members in the legal, legislative and regulatory arenas during 2012. 
Our advocacy efforts have saved the typical home builder about $7,250 per housing start in 2012, including both single-family and multifamily.


Our advocacy on form 1099 reporting requirements saved each member $230 per year.  Another example of savings comes in tax policy. Expanded 1099 reporting requirements in the tax code would have required companies to file a 1099 form for every corporate purchase over $600 in 2012. NAHB strongly objected to the reporting requirement, and it was removed. This saved members roughly $230 – and countless administrative headaches – per year.

Value of Membership: $1,970 per home built

Your HBA and its affiliate, NAHB, has logged significant victories advocating for members in the legal, legislative and regulatory arenas during 2012. It leveraged the association’s power to testify before Congress and shine a light on key issues, got pro-housing bills introduced and passed, challenged regulations that do more harm than good, and leveled the playing field against powerful interests that could put struggling builders, remodelers and their suppliers out of business.

Our advocacy efforts have saved the typical home builder about $7,250 per housing start in 2012, including both single-family and multifamily. Each day for the next several weeks we will an example of our policy victories that led to big savings for builders and remodelers. Note that the dollar values below are based on averages across the industry. These numbers do not necessarily apply in all areas of the country.

NAHB challenge to EPA stormwater regulations saved builders $1,970 on each home built. NAHB actions related to EPA stormwater regulations helped builders with their bottom line. Following regulatory and legal challenges by NAHB, the EPA acknowledged that the government did not have sufficient data to support a numeric limit for stormwater discharges. EPA then withdrew its onerous proposed numeric limit, an action that saved builders $1,970 on each home built in 2012.