Matt Cobb, Stephen Wisdom Acquire Southern Traditions Window Fashions

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GREENVILLE, SC – Matt Cobb and Stephen Wisdom have purchased Southern Traditions Window Fashions from company founders David and Cheri Burriss. Established in 1993, Southern Traditions Window Fashions offers sales and installation of interior and exterior window solutions for residential and commercial applications. An HBA of Greenville member, the company is an exhibitor in the Southern Home & Garden Show.

Cobb oversees all sales and marketing functions of the newly acquired company and Wisdom oversees all operations including installations, customer service and office management. The company is located at 319 Garlington Road, Suite B-12, in Greenville.

Cobb most recently owned and operated an Allstate insurance office in Greenville. A graduate of Clemson University with a B.S. in Marketing, Cobb owned Magnolia Lane Shutters for three years and was a salesman for Southern Traditions from 2005 until 2009.

Wisdom is a 15-year employee of Southern Traditions, handling installations and customer service functions. He previously was an operations manager for Circuit City in Anderson.

Southern Traditions Window Fashions offers a wide selection of blinds, shades, plantation shutters, exterior shutters, custom drapery and valances for residential and commercial clients. The company is an authorized dealer for Hunter Douglas, Graber, Kirsch, Levolor, Comfortex, Lutron and Insolroll. Southern Traditions also is part of Exciting Windows!, a national network of window fashions companies.

For more information, call (864) 286-0044 or visit www.Shutters4U.com.

Flood Management Program is updated for Greenville County

Greenville County, in cooperation with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is updating its flood management program. The updates include:

• Revising the Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM), which include, in some cases, additional limits on construction in certain areas
• Updating public educational programs which include information on building in flood-prone areas
• Creating a resource page where property owners may determine if their property is in a floodplain

Greenville County has created a resource page on its Flood Management Program that includes important information about building in flood-prone areas. Click here to visit the Flood Management Program page at greenvillecounty.org.

For example, did you know that a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA), or floodplain, is defined as having a one percent annual chance of flooding. The standard was chosen as a compromise between the need for building restrictions to minimize potential loss of life and property and the economic benefits to be derived from floodplain development. Development may take place within the SFHA, provided that development complies with local floodplain management ordinances, which must meet the minimum Federal requirements. Flood insurance is required for insurable structures within the SFHA to protect federally funded or federally backed investments and assistance used for acquisition and/or construction purposes within communities participating in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

OSHA Delays Fall Protection Guideline Changes

Under pressure from Home Builders and your HBA, the Federal Occupation Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has given Home Builders and remodelers a reprieve from new, more stringent fall protection regulations that were expected to take effect next week.

The previously announced phase-in period for home builders to comply with the new Compliance Guidance for Residential Construction has been extended until March 15, 2013 to allow the industry more time to learn about the rule and get compliance assistance from the federal agency.

"We are very pleased that OSHA heeded our calls," said NAHB Chairman Barry Rutenberg, a longtime advocate of sensible, practical regulations that protect workers from falls – the most-cited violation by OSHA in residential construction.

NAHB has long held that the new regulations -- including requirements that all residential construction companies must ensure that any employees or subcontractors doing work that’s six feet above ground or floor level must be protected with guardrail, safety net or personal fall arrest systems -- could actually cause greater danger on the job site than using alternate methods that home builders say are safer.

NAHB again made that argument and asked for the delay as recently as Dec. 10, sending a letter and petition to OSHA officials asking them to reopen the rulemaking and try again to create a rule that applies to home builders, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach that is better suited to commercial contracting.

"NAHB’s builder and contractor members make safety a priority and regularly take steps to reduce or eliminate falls during residential construction activities and comply with OSHA’s fall protection standard. However, after years of interpretations, compliance directives, and guidance documents that have failed to ensure compliance and improve safety, NAHB is convinced that the most beneficial way to address falls in the residential construction industry is for OSHA to promulgate a standard specifically tailored for residential construction," the letter said.

What to Expect in March
In its announcement Dec. 11, OSHA indicated that more time was needed to make sure the construction industry knows how to comply with the rule.

"The agency will continue to work with employers to ensure a clear understanding of, and to facilitate compliance with, the new policy," the press release said.

"OSHA will also continue to develop materials to assist the industry, including a wide variety of educational and training materials to assist employers with compliance, which are available on the Web pages for residential construction and the Fall Prevention Campaign.

The continuation of the temporary enforcement measures through March 15 "include priority free on-site compliance assistance, penalty reductions, extended abatement dates, measures to ensure consistency and increased outreach," the OSHA release said.

NAHB has provided its members an array of resources — including a sample fall protection plan, a residential fall protection fact sheet and an OSHA fall protection webinar replay — to help builders with this transition. They can be found at www.nahb.org/fallprotection.

More Inspections, More Fines
Not only do builders have to understand these changes to the fall protection guidelines, they need to know about all other workplace hazards that can lead to fines from OSHA, and be aware of plans for more inspections that are on the horizon.

In 2011 fines doubled from 2010, averaging $2,132 per violation. That means that a builder that gets 10 violations in one visit could see a bill for more than $21,000 in fines from the agency.

NAHB held a webinar to help builder members prepare for a possible OSHA inspection, which gave these tips:

• Review your written safety program
• Conduct an assessment to identify and correct safety hazards on the job site
• Understand any OSHA national and local emphasis inspection programs
• Develop procedures – and your company philosophy – for when OSHA comes knocking, and train your employees in those procedures
• Update records and make sure they are readily available (300 logs, training records, etc.)
• Conduct appropriate safety training for employees

In addition to fines, an injury or fatality on the job site carries significant costs. The National Safety Council estimates that the per-case average cost of wage and productivity losses, medical expenses, and administrative expenses to an employer would be $53,000 for a disabling injury and $1.35 million for a fatality.

“With OSHA’s stepped up enforcement and increases in the overall dollar amount of penalties, builders need to be prepared,” said Rob Matuga, NAHB’s assistant vice president of labor, safety and health. “Employers taking some simple steps to pre-plan for safety, such as identifying and correcting safety hazards on the job site, will go a long way toward reducing the likelihood of an accident occurring, and therefore eliminate the potential sources of loss.”

Federal vs. State Programs
Not all states follow the federal OSHA programs. Many builders/members are operating in approved state plans. South Carolina operates its own occupational safety and health program under a plan approved by the U.S. Department of Labor.More safety resources can be found on NAHB’s website at www.nahb.org/

Survey of Building Officials Find a Majority Oppose Mandatory Fire Sprinklers in New Single-Family Homes

In a recent survey conducted by the Building Officials Association of South Carolina, 53 percent of those answering the survey oppose mandating the installation of automatic fire sprinklers in new single-family homes. However, 67 percent support mandatory fire sprinklers in town houses. The survey also found that 70 percent of those surveyed support requiring home builders to give the home buyer the option to install fire sprinklers in their new home.

Maximum Conforming Loan Limits for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to Remain Unchanged in 2013

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today announced that the maximum conforming loan limits for mortgages acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2013 will remain at existing levels. In most of the country, the loan limit will be $417,000 for one-unit properties. The loan limits are established under the terms of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA), and are calculated each year.

In all counties in the Upstate the loan limit for single-family residences is $417,000, and $533,580 for duplexes.

The law sets loan limits as a function of median home values in local areas. While some counties saw increases in home prices in 2012, no loan limit increases were evident after other HERA terms such as the statutory ceiling and floor were taken into account.

A list of the 2013 maximum conforming loan limits for all counties and county-equivalent areas in the country can be found here. The maximum conforming loan limits for one-unit properties, which generally have applied to loans originated since October 1, 2011, are $417,000 in most locations, but are as high as $625,500 in certain high-cost areas in the contiguous United States.

For loans originated prior to October 2011, the maximum loan limit was as high as $729,750 in the contiguous U.S. That higher “ceiling” limit was permitted under legislation that is not
applicable to loans originated in 2013.

NAHB's plan for reforming the housing finance system

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) in March 2012 announced a new comprehensive framework for housing finance system reform that would transition Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to a new mortgage securitization system for single-family and multifamily conventional mortgages.

“Our plan seeks to overhaul the housing finance system to ensure that housing credit is available and affordable in the future and is delivered through a competitive, efficient, sound, safe and stable system,” said NAHB Chairman Barry Rutenberg, a home builder from Gainesville, Fla.

To achieve this goal, Rutenberg said the system must include private, federal and state sources of housing capital; offer a reasonable menu of sound mortgage products for both single-family and multifamily housing that is governed by prudent underwriting standards and adequate oversight and regulation; and provide a federal backstop to ensure that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages are available at reasonable interest rates and terms.

Replacing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with a new securitization system for conventional mortgages backed by private capital and a privately funded federal mortgage-backed securities fund must be done in an orderly fashion over time. During this phase-in period, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would remain operational until the alternative system is fully functioning.

Under this scenario, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be gradually replaced by private housing finance entities (HFEs) that would be chartered to purchase single-family and multifamily mortgages from loan originators and package the loans into securities for sale to investors worldwide. The federal government would guarantee the securities, not the mortgages.

The HFEs would only purchase mortgages that are well understood and have reasonable risk characteristics, such as standard 30-year fixed-rate loans. The HFEs would operate under the oversight of a strong independent regulatory agency to ensure all aspects of safety and soundness. NAHB believes the 12 regional Federal Home Loan Banks could serve as HFEs.

Federal support to the conventional mortgage of the future would consist of a privately funded insurance fund where the government would guarantee its solvency in a manner similar to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s backing of the fund that insures savings deposits. Under this system, mortgage originators would pay premiums to capitalize the insurance fund, which would cover losses and ensure full payment to investors. The federal government would be required to pay investors only if the insurance fund was depleted.

“The intent is for the government to be in a secondary position and to be the insurer of last resort in order to reduce the risk to taxpayers,” said Rutenberg.

NAHB’s housing finance reform blueprint also proposes to:

• Restart a carefully regulated fully private mortgage-backed securities system. NAHB believes reforms are needed in the system for rating mortgage-backed securities and is supporting the development of new securities ratings agencies that would use criteria developed by securities investors to assure objective evaluations and avoid conflicts of interest.
• Continue the role of the federal government housing agencies. The housing finance support roles of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Federal Housing Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Agriculture and the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) would be preserved.
• Enhance the position of state and local housing finance agencies (HFAs) as a source of housing funds. The HFAs should have a more prominent housing finance role through the development of original programs for new homes and multifamily rental units involving partnering with federal and private providers of housing capital.
• Expand the role of the Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) in the housing finance system. The FHLBanks should continue their current activities to serve as an ongoing liquidity source for institutions providing housing credit. Existing programs, such as the FHLBanks’ mortgage purchase programs, should be enhanced by allowing the banks to move beyond portfolio purchases to securitization.
• Repair flaws that produced the housing boom and bust. It is extremely important to continue and complete steps to close the gaps in standards and oversight that allowed and facilitated the improper and illegal activities in financial and mortgage markets. This should be done by undertaking a series of comprehensive reforms to ensure sound mortgage products and prudent underwriting; requiring sound mortgage securities structures and full transparency for investors; and imposing adequate oversight on previously unregulated segments of the mortgage and financial markets.

View the full white paper at www.nahb.org/GSEwhitepaper.

A Tax Profile of a Typical Mortgage Interest Deduction Beneficiary

A report by Robert Deitz, Ph.D., and Natalia Siniavskaia, Ph.D., of NAHB's Economics and Housing Policy Department, found that the overwhelming majority of taxpayers using the Mortgage Interest Deduction are middle class taxpayers.  The report demonstrates the importance of preserving the Mortgage Interest Deduction.

Click here to read the complete report by Dr. Deitz and Dr. Siniavskaia at NAHB.org.