Tom McHaffie awarded Certified Green Professional (CGP) Designation

Indianapolis, April 28, 2009 – Tom McHaffie, of Thomas R. McHaffie and Company, Inc., recently became one of the select group of professional builders, remodelers, and other industry professionals nationwide who completed the course work required to earn the Certified Green Professional (CGP) designation. CGP graduates have knowledge of the best strategies for incorporating green building principles into homes.

The CGP program is administered by the Indiana Builders Association (IBA) Housing University in conjunction with the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) University of Housing.

In three days of course work, the CGP curriculum incorporates a variety of information tailored to green building and business practices. The CGP curriculum incorporates training by leading building industry practitioners and academics on a range of topics, including strategies for incorporating green-building principles into homes using cost-effective methods of construction, and how green homes provide buyers with lower maintenance and good indoor air quality. Techniques are also discussed for competitively differentiating your home products with increased indoor environmental quality as well as energy and resource efficiency.

CGP program graduates are required to maintain their designation by completing 12 hours of continuing education every 3 years a portion of which pertain to green building activities.

The Indiana Builders Association is a statewide trade organization representing Indiana’s home building, remodeling and light commercial construction industry. Established in 1952, the IBA has over 5,000 members in 31 local affiliate organizations. IBA and its affiliates are associated with the National Association of Home Builders in Washington, D.C.

Record Low Rates Hard to Ignore

The following contains excerpts from an article appearing in "Nations Building News". It looks more and more like we're seeing the bottom of the rates...and the good deals, to me. Rates are at record lows, house prices are down...but on the rise!

"The housing market heard encouraging news last week on both mortgage interest rates and housing prices, suggesting that now is a good time for prospective buyers who have been sitting on the fence to make their move.

For the week ending on Thursday, March. 26, the average interest rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to another record low in Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, hitting 4.85%. That was down from 4.98% the previous week and 5.85% the same time a year ago.

Freddie Mac’s weekly survey dates pack to 1971 for interest rates on 30-year mortgages. One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 4.85% last week, down from 4.91% the week before and 5.24% a year earlier. Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, attributed the latest downswing in mortgage rates to the recent announcement by the Federal Reserve that it intends to purchase Treasury securities over the next six months and a subsequent decline in bond yields. Nothaft said that there is about a two percentage point difference in today’s fixed rate on a 30-year mortgage and its recent peak of 6.63% last July. This amounts to a monthly savings of $225 in mortgage payments on a $200,000 loan, he said.

Statistics for February on both new and existing home sales, he said, which both climbed about 5%, indicate that “potential home buyers are taking notice of these historically low mortgage rates.” While no one can tell for certain just how low mortgage rates will fall, prospective buyers who are holding out for even further declines may be disappointed. John Koskinen, the interim chief executive of Freddie Mac, said that home loan rates are near their bottom and any further decreases are liable to be small, according to a Reuters report on March 27. Earlier in the week, on March 24, the Federal Housing Finance Agency's monthly House Price Index showed U.S. home prices rising 1.7% on a seasonally-adjusted annual basis from December to January."

INDIANAPOLIS IS #8 HEALTHIEST HOUSING MARKET FOR 2009

The Healthiest Housing Markets for 2009
Builder, in conjunction with Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, debuts its metric for determining markets with the best and least potential.
By:
Boyce Thompson

8. Indianapolis, Ind.
2008 total building permits: 7,004
Builders are still pulling permits at a relatively healthy rate in Indianapolis, despite a virtually flat job market. Unlike other major markets that have become multifamily-oriented, single family still accounts for two-thirds of home building activity. Ultra-affordable housing accounts for some of the activity—the median price of a home here is only $117,900, making it one of the most affordable markets in the country. As a result, home prices have declined only 4.5 percent in the last year. At the top of the market in 2005, builders in Indianapolis took down 15,619 permits, so activity is down 55 percent, slightly better than the national average. Unfortunately, the relative health of the market wasn’t enough to keep Davis Homes, one of the area’s largest private builders, from going out of business last year.

klinger lake aereal photo

klinger lake aereal photo, originally uploaded by tom mchaffie.

Here's an aerial photo of beautiful Klinger Lake, near Sturgis Michigan. Less than a 3 hour drive from Indy. It features spring fed crystal clear water on 850 acres, which is big enough that us old guys have a hard time skiing even half way around it.

New Lake Cottage on Klinger Lake in Sturgis Michigan

And here's the perfect cottage being built on Klinger Lake, just for you to start enjoying in the Spring of 2009! Built with quality and plenty of room for family and guests, the cottage features 5 bedrooms with the master on the main floor/a big open Family Room/Eating Area/Kitchen with a $1,000,000 view of Klinger Lake! Call or email Tom McHaffie for details (317-848-7003, tom@tommchaffie.com)

Best Home improvements to make in a recession

http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/29/home-improvements-recession-lifestyle-real-estate_0129_home_improvements.html

Social Networking

I heard a story about a guy who "twittered" a message while his plane was skidding off the runway at Ohare recently. I really didn't know what twitter was, but learned it was some kind of a system to send out updates on your "status" via your mobile phone. I figured it must be pretty important, if a guy chose this as what could have been his last act.

Then today I got an email from the Custom Home Builder site, talking all about Social Networking for builders, and specifically about all the national builders using twitter. I must say, I still don't get it...but I did get it (twitter) since it was free...same as this blog spot. I hope they're both worth more than they cost. Stay tuned!