Latest Verizon Promotions Available to NPP Members

As an HBA Member, you can avail yourself of specific offers and discounts to National Purchasing Partners (NPP). The promotions available to NPP members for the third quarter expire on September 30. Verizon Wireless offers such discounts:

• 4G Smartphone offers: You can get the Samsung Galaxy S III and the Droid Razr Maxx HD for $99.99, the Windows Phone 8X by HTC for $49.99, and several devices for free when you activate a voice with data plan.
  
• Bill Incentive Credit (BIC): $100/line on Smartphones, $75/line for basic phone service, and $25/line for Netbooks, Tablets and Internet devices with a monthly plan of $34.99 or higher.
  
• Internet Devices: Two of Verizon’s Jetpack 4G LTE Mobile Hotspots, the MiFi 4620LE and MiFi 5510L, are available to you for free when you activate a mobile broadband plan of $29.99 or higher.

Click here for an overview of Verizon's current promotional offers.

View the current Verizon MiFi promotions.


If you would like to further discuss your NPP membership, feel free to contact NPP directly at 800.810.3909 or e-mail customerservice@mynpp.com.

Accent Truss is looking for to add a skilled carpenter to their team

Accent Truss is looking to meet their demand and keep up the high standards they have for their craftsmanship and customer service. They plan to add another member to their team. This person would work in the shop as a skilled timber frame carpenter. Excellent wood working and carpentry skills, familiarity/experience with framing is required but equally important to they are qualities that matter just as much and maybe more than skill and experience. This person will need to have a positive outlook, a willingness to learn what they do and how they do it, like being part of a team, take direction well, and be able to do heavy lifting. Contact Accent Truss at info@accenttruss.com or call 877-898-5108. To learn more about Accent Truss, visit www.accenttruss.com and www.facebook.com/accenttruss.

NAHB: More Buyers Purchasing Homes Still Under Construction

In a recent Eye on Housing blog entry, NAHB's economists describe a significant shift in the marketplace whereby greater numbers of buyers are purchasing homes that are still under construction or not yet started versus newly completed homes that are part of a builder's inventory.

The experts attribute this emerging trend to several factors, including, for example, smaller inventories of completed homes (which have limited buyers' choices in that area) and also builder credit constraints that have led to a surge in construction-to-permanent financing. In any case, our economists note that the recent shift has been quite dramatic.

Whereas completed homes were half of all new-home sales in 2008, by mid-2013, that average had fallen to just 29 percent. In the same period, the share of homes sold but not yet started went from 21 percent of sales to 37 percent and the share of homes sold that were under construction went from less than a quarter of the total to more than one-third currently.

One likely explanation for what seems to be a long-term trend in favor of sales of unfinished homes is the rise in concentration of larger building companies, which can hold an inventory of models and available lots for buyers to choose from without having to risk building ready-to-occupy homes that might not fit buyers’ preferences.

Greenville housing market improves for 32 consecutive months

A total of 291 metropolitan areas across the country now qualify as improving housing markets, according to the National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI) for September, released today. This reflects a gain of 44 markets from August and marks the index’s highest level since it was initiated two years ago.

The Greenville MSA, which includes Pickens, Laurens, and Greenville counties, has been included on the Improving Markets Index since June 2011, and has seen increases in permits, jobs, and home prices for 32 consecutive months, one of the longest consecutive stretches of improvement in the country.

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. In September, 242 housing markets retained their existing positions on the IMI while 49 new markets were added and five were dropped from the list. Recent additions include such geographically diverse locations as Macon, Ga.; St. Cloud, Minn.; Brownsville, Texas; Spokane, Wash.; and Milwaukee, Wis.

“Just over 80 percent of the 361 metros tracked by our index are showing consistent growth in three key measures of housing market strength – prices, permits and employment,” explained NAHB Chairman Rick Judson, a home builder from Charlotte, N.C. “While there is still plenty of room for growth, this is an excellent indication of how the housing recovery has begun to take hold across more geographic areas.”

“The dramatic increase in markets qualifying for the IMI in September was partly due to a recent improvement in the way that Freddie Mac measures home prices, which resulted in stronger gains than previously reported,” noted NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “Even so, the broadened list of metros on the IMI continues to demonstrate the slow but steady gains that individual housing markets are making to bolster the national outlook.”

“With every state now able to claim at least one county that’s part of an improving metro, and 23 states having charted at least one new entry in September alone, prospective home buyers have good reason to be encouraged by this news,” said Kurt Pfotenhauer, vice chairman of First American Title Insurance Co.

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 291 metros currently on the IMI, and separate breakouts of metros newly added to or dropped from the list in September, is available at www.nahb.org/imi.

Builders: build a house for a customer who wants to burn it down

Home Builders, have you have wanted to build a house for a client who wants to burn it down?

The S.C. Fire Marshal's Office has requested a house plan of 1600 sf to 1800 sf.  They plan to use the plan for a request for proposals to build the house so that they can burn it  as a training tool.

If you are interested in assisting by furnishing the plan, contact Mark Nix.

New rules for E-Verify are effective September 9

The new Form I-9 document (expiration date March 31, 2016) used to verify the identity and work authorization of all new hires includes an optional entry line for employees to provide their email addresses. The voluntary electronic verification program, E-Verify, which can be used in addition to, but not replace the Form I-9 process, has a new data field that asks for the employee’s email address. When the employee provides an email address on Form I-9, employers who use E-Verify are required to enter it into E-Verify. In the event of an information mismatch, E-Verify will now send e-mail notifications to those employees. This new email notification does not replace the current process. Employers are still required to notify employees of the mismatch and their right to contest.

Effective Sept. 9, E-Verify has combined the Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC) Notice and Referral Letter into the new Further Action Notice, which appears when an employee receives a TNC. The employer must select the language of the notice (English or Spanish), print and give the notice to the employee. The Further Action Notice explains the reason for the TNC and the employee’s right to contest it.

If the employee decides to contest the TNC, the employer must print and issue the new Referral Date Confirmation Notice that informs the employee of the date by which they must initiate contact Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or the Social Security Administration (SSA) to begin resolving the TNC. For employees who have provided email addresses, E-Verify will also provide an e-mail notice informing the employee of the date by which contact must be initiated with DHS or SSA to resolve the TNC.

When first accessing E-Verify after Sept. 9, 2013, E-Verify users must complete a short tutorial and knowledge check about these changes.

Remembering September 11

It has been 12 years since terrorists hijacked four airliners and launched an unprecedented attack on America.  Nearly 3,000 Americans were killed in one morning.  Please join your HBA staff today in remembering those who lost their lives, and the families they left behind.  Click here for a timeline of events on September 11, 2001.