March 2018 reporter

NORTH TEXAS HOMEBUILDERS ASSOCIATION

4410 Fairway Boulevard Wichita Falls, TX 76308

Volume 11, No. 3 • March 2018

P: 940.692.2211 F: 940.692.2214

www.nthba.com

From the President The weather in North Texas never ceases to amaze me. With the arrival of our crazy weather, marks the start of the busy season for our Association and Industry. New home construction is off to a great start on the national level and this trend is holding true for our local market. New home residential permits are up compared to this time last year, and with abundant water in our reservoirs and a strong consumer confidence level, expectations for a stellar year are warranted for the industry.

The NTHBA is working toward making some exciting changes.

The Board of Directors just approved a new logo for the association, recommended by the Publications & Communications Committee. The Parade of Homes and Special Events Committee will be having a Parade of Homes Kick-Off dinner event rather than the normal luncheon. We have taken a supportive role of the Wichita Falls ISD Career Education Center and donated funds to help the construction department begin building their first new home. These are just a few of the items that have been on the agenda.

The NTHBA is still working with City Staff on the Subdivision & Development amendments as well as helping construct a new appeals process with public works. The 2018 Parade of Homes has been scheduled for June 1st, 2nd 3rd & 8th, 9th 10th. We are tentatively looking at 11 entries this year. The Membership Committee is working on a blueprint for an exciting, competitive membership drive, and Teri is working closely with Lt. Colonel Thorp and the 363rd Training Squadron keeping us involved with one another. The Young Professionals will be scheduling their upcoming annual Sporting Clay Shoot.

The Board of directors strives to make every year more productive than the previous year. We are always continuing to look for ways to gain a positive presence in the community and help educate the public on the mission of the Home Builders Association. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please feel free to contact Teri, myself or any of the members on the Board of Directors and let your opinion be heard.

Special Thanks to our 2018 NTHBA Partners: Platinum Atmos Energy Gold Union Square Credit Union Guarantee Title Silver American National Bank First National Bank Texoma Community Credit Union

What’s

INSIDE

• Dates To Remember

• Community Development Director • Ladder Safety • Chamber of Commerce Article • A Popular Bridge to Homeownership for Younger Buyers

2018 Dates to Remember April 3, Parade Entry Deadline April 5, General Membership Luncheon May 1, Housing Guide Information Deadline May 3, General Membership Luncheon May 31, Parade of Homes Kick-Off Dinner June 1-3 & 8-9, Parade of Homes Aug. 7-10, TAB Board & Committee Meetings Aug. 8-9, Sunbelt Builder Show Aug. 27, Annual Golf Tournament

2018 Calendar of Events

General Membership Meeting April 5th, 2018 11:30 AM Kemp Center for the Arts 1300 Lamar

Speaker:

Jana Schmader

Executive Director of Downtown Wichita Falls Development, Inc.

Topic:

Membership, Meetings & Education......................March 6 Committee Meeting................................................11:00AM

Bond Issue

Parade of Homes & Special Events........................March 7 Committee Meeting................................................10:00AM

Helping Build Our Community Since 1907

Budget & By-Laws...................................................March 14 Committee Meeting................................................10:15AM Board of Directors...................................................March 14 Meeting.....................................................................11:00AM TAB Winter Committee & Board.......................March 21-23 Meeting....................................................................Austin, TX

March Birthdays Nathan Moore.............................................................7 Lane Landes.................................................................7 Donnie Park...............................................................15 Wayne Pharries..........................................................15 Teri Gibson..................................................................15 Jose Garcia................................................................19 Tim Sawyer..................................................................22 Jennifer Blackwell......................................................23 Steven Hinson.............................................................31 Happy Birthday!

Renewals Guarantee Title............................................Eric Nelson Guarantee Title.........................................Kolter Lukert Guarantee Title............................................Julia Griffin Lance Friday Homes...............................Dianne Brock Thanks for Renewing!

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One of the things I’ve never understood about Wichita Falls is our road situation downtown. Do I have a stop sign, or not? Does the car coming towards me know what to do? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stopped at an intersection on Indiana trying to figure whether or not I had the

right of way.

The good news is that this problem is over! Based upon a recommendation from the downtown steering committee, the city is changing all the intersections in the downtown core to four-way stops. This will not only make it easier to drive downtown, but it’ll also make the district much more pedestrian-friendly…which is what you want in a downtown. In all, 12 intersections between 7th and 15th Streets at Indiana, Ohio and Lamar will be changed to four-way stops. This is an easy and quick way to make a much-needed improvement to downtown. Stay tuned - there’s more on the way.

Let's build something extraordinary!

Henry Florsheim President & CEO henry@wichitafallschamber.com PS – The downtown steering committee is working on many different pieces of the revitalization puzzle: streetscapes, infrastructure, marketing, what else we want to see downtown, and how to pay for it. If you’ve got questions about any of it or would like to get more involved, let me know.

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Committee Reports The Membership, Meetings & Education Committee have been working on scheduling speakers for the 2018 General Membership Luncheons as well as this year’s Christmas Party. The committee will be putting a blue-print together to have a membership drive in the months of April and September. We are looking forward to the fun and excitement that will accommodate these drives. Information will be announced at the April General Membership meeting as well as sent via email and in the Reporter.

The Parade of Homes & Special Events Committee have been making decisions on this year’s Parade of Homes and Kick-Off Dinner. This year we will be holding an evening dinner rather than the day time lunch. We are hoping this will allow more members to attend especially those who graciously sponsor the event. It will be held on May 31st at the Elks Lodge with a social hour beginning at 6 with a cash bar and dinner at 7. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend.

The Publications & Communications Committee received approval from the Board of Directors on a new logo for the Association. Insert new logo here.

Other changes the committee is making is the redesigning the membership directory to give it a fresh, clean, professional look. The committee is also looking at our Web site and Facebook page to find other ways to utilize it for communication purposes.

The committee has a goal to make the NTHBA be more prevalent in the community.

The Young Professionals Council met to determine a date to schedule their annual Sporting Clay Shoot.

They have tentatively set a date of Friday, April 20th pending confirmation of the facility. Information will be sent out via email as soon as confirmation is received. The council will be revisiting to schedule another Texas Hold Em Poker Tournament and other events later in the year.

Please be sure to look for information in your emails, the reporter, Facebook and the Web site.

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Continues on page 7

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Community Development Director Dana Schoening speaks to NTHBA February 2nd.

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Being on the job with the City of Wichita Falls for only 4 months. Dana Schoening who was recently hired to fill the position of Director of Community Development, was very kind to accept an invitation from the North Texas Home Builders Association to speak at the February 2nd general membership meeting.

Dana told the audience you can determine a community when you start looking for a house.

He said, Wichita Falls is clean community with a high urban standard of development.

The position Dana filled as Director of Community Development had not been filled since 2011. He noted that was when NTHBA member Dave Clark retired from the position.

The City has 2 key objectives for filling the position. One is to build Wichita Falls from the inside out which paves the way for number two, bring people to Wichita Falls.

Wichita Falls is fortunate to have a great seasoned staff which assembles Dana with a good workable team.

Dana mentioned the things that have been happening lately. Residential building is on the uptick from the last 10 years with an average of 95 new properties. The evaluations of properties is increasing significantly. On the commercial side, however, it has dropped from an average of 94 in 2008 to 54 in 2017. It is taking a long time for the commercial building to come back but 3 out of the last 5 years the commercial evaluations have increased.

Continues on page 7

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Continued from page 6

Dana said it’s time to move things forward.

Wichita Falls has been flat for the past 57 years.

Population in 1960 was 101,724 while we remain at 104,704 in 2017. He said it’s time to commit and grow. The stage is being set with the Downtown Steering Committee, the Wichita Falls Economic Development Commission, Downtown Wichita Falls and the Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce working together.

Here are just a few ways the city intends to achieve these goals: 1. The intent is to bring back listening sessions in March to bring regular stake holders together to see how the city can improve 2. Continuous Process Improvement a. Downtown Development b. Neighborhoods 3. Promote Growth Opportunities: a. Changing the process of how contractors work with the city regarding such items as: Conditional use permits, Site Plan revisions, building permits

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Everyone seems to be in agreement that Downtown is the heartbeat of the community. It says a lot about the community so it is crucial to create a vibrant downtown district. The City Council has authorized an oversight committee for this purpose. Freese & Nichols have been contracted with and have proposed vision 20/20 which consist of 3 primary products:

Downtown Zoning Greater downtown is considered 6th through 8th streets.

Scott Street is the gateway to the greater downtown area and the greater downtown area is broken into 4 different zoning districts. Northwest Convention District, Westside Institutional District, Central Office Retail/Entertainment District and Depot Square Historic District.

Continues on page 8

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Continued from page 7

Financing Incentives The city will continue utilizing funds to help offset cost to refurbish buildings downtown for bringing them up to code with such items as sprinklers. The mindset is the business will come and go but the buildings will remain.

Street Scape

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The streetscapes will consist of areas with landscaping, benches, lighting as well as narrowing the streets and widening sidewalks.

Having these types of streetscapes allow people to see they are entering somewhere special. People will want to walk around and spend their day leisurely in this area. The area will provides excitement and activity. It will have more of a family atmosphere with more event taking place.

Mr. Schoening also mentioned like most everything it will have a cost with it and you always have to weigh the odds. Dana’s position is to advocate for the transformation of downtown to create growth.

Another objective is to help clean up the town by going into neighborhoods and instilling neighborhood pride.

Ways to do this are understanding needs and opportunities and seeking partnerships with organizations and volunteers to facilitate improvements by neighborly influence, using leaders in the neighborhood to take lead by example, educating citizens of what resources the city has to offer and through proper code enforcement and getting violation numbers down.

Continues on page 10

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Continued from page 8

In conclusion, Dana mentioned, other areas have been successful in revitalizing their towns by starting with their downtown areas and making it the hub of their towns which in turn creates growth and prosperity with so many different organizations working in the same direction to gain growth, Wichita Falls has and is seeing many major projects

A Popular Bridge to Homeownership for Younger Buyers

How tough is the housing market?

Most Americans – 61% – who intend to buy a home in the next 12 months have been searching for a whopping three months. Or more.

That finding comes from a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Home Builders, and includes people who are searching for both new and previously-owned homes.

What's making the house-hunt take so long?

Some 42% of respondents told NAHB they “can’t find a home at a price I can afford,” while 36% “can’t find a home with the features I want” and 34% “can’t find a home in the neighborhood I want.”

And even if would-be buyers can overcome all those obstacles, nearly 30% said they ‘continue to get outbid whenever I make an offer.”

On Wednesday, the National Association of Realtors said that home purchase contracts signed in January had been on the market for only 42 days, one of the shortest periods for any January since NAR started keeping track in 2011.

Sales were down in January even though Realtors® are reporting stronger buyer traffic. “It’s very clear that too many markets right now are becoming less affordable and desperately need more new listings to calm the speedy price growth,” NAR said in a release.

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Even though millennials had the largest increase in homeownership rate among all age groups in 2017, many would-be buyers continue to feel stuck on the sidelines because of the limited number of entry-level homes.

Most builders know there’s strong demand for entry-level homes, but the rising costs of construction are making it much more challenging to generate large enough margins to build smaller, single-family detached homes.

Enter the single-family attached homes — aka townhomes. A growing number of buyers are drawn to the relatively large amount of space in a typical townhome, and the potential to still be located within a medium-density, urban neighborhood.

More builders are recognizing the cost benefits of townhomes as well. According to NAHB analysis of Census data, townhome construction in 2017 was up 7% from 2016.

“After a soft patch [in mid-2017], the market share [of new townhouses] is rising again,” wrote NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz in the Eye on Housing blog. “I expect future gains as townhouses are a useful bridge from rentership to homeownership for younger prospective home buyers in high-cost markets, among other market opportunities.”

After a dramatic decline during the recession of the late 2000’s, townhouse starts have experienced a steady resurgence. For more analysis, go to Eye on Housing.

Stay Safe on That Ladder As the snow melts and warm weather approaches, many home owners’ thoughts turn to a traditional activity this time of year: spring cleaning.

But whether you enjoy getting your house in order or would rather tackle only the bare minimum of necessary chores, it’s important to work safely – especially if that work involves dragging out a ladder.

March is Ladder Safety Month. The Ladder Safety Institute has some helpful tips for home owners that are worth reading before climbing that first rung.

Choose the right ladder. Ladders are designed to hold a specific amount of weight, or duty rating – not just for the person climbing it but for the paint cans or toolboxes he or she may be carrying. Stepladders are not designed to be leaned against a wall. And extension ladders need to be able to be extended far enough to safety reach rooftops or peaked ceilings.

Don’t overreach. American Ladder Institute treasurer Dave Plotner has seen this too many times: “You are standing on a ladder painting, your ladder is up against a wall, and you lean over to try to paint just a little bit further away instead of getting down and moving the ladder over to get closer.” The ladder tips over, you can’t help but fall, and that, right there, is the No. 1 cause of accidents.

Don’t climb too high. The top rungs add stability: Ladders aren’t meant to be climbed all the way up. “You aren’t supposed to stand on the very top or the next step down, but most people climb above the highest standing level,” Plotner said. Buy a longer ladder – or hire a professional.

Many accidents happen when people climb the ladder carrying equipment or tools in both hands, Plotner said. Swing a rope up around the top of the ladder and pull the tools up after you.

In these muddy spring days, people doing outside work on a ladder may think that first placing a piece of plywood or other substrate on the ground and setting the ladder atop it will keep them safer because the ladder’s feet are less likely to sink into the ground. Not a good idea at all, Plotner says, unless the ladder is anchored to the substrate. An extension ladder with a leveling system is a much safer alternative. Or, he suggests, “wait till the conditions improve.”

Please take every precaution to stay safe or consider hiring a professionals who can help you with these spring cleaning chores – so you can keep your feet on the ground.

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Phone (940) 692-5734

Wichita Falls

Fax (940) 692-0391

Texas 76308

Lane Landes, Owner

tco@wf.net

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Member Advantage at a Glance

www.nahb.org/ma

Amazon Business - Create an Amazon Business account and gain access to the NAHB Amazon store which offers recommended products tailored to your industry’s needs while unlocking additional business savings. Sign up here, www.amazon.com/NAHB Capital One Spark Business Card -With the Spark® Cash credit card, you’ll earn unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase—plus, there is no annual fee to use your card. Click here to learn more: https://captl1.co/NAHB Houzz –Free access to the concierge service, instant approval into the Houzz Trade Program giving trade-only discounts up to 50% off, plus special discounts on local advertising. Visit www.houzz.com/NAHBmembers FCA US LLC - A $500 cash allowance for members, employees and household family members. This offer is good toward many new models in the Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep®, Ram or FIAT® vehicle lineup and is stackable with most current local or national incentives. Visit www.nahb.org/fca to learn more.

Lowe’s - Visit www.LowesForPros.com/NAHB or call 877-435-2440 and register to save 2% on your Lowe’s Accounts Receivable (LAR) or Lowe’s Business Accounts (LBA) purchases and free delivery on purchases over $500. Save an additional 5% every day at the store when you mention the 5% at time of purchase and when using your LAR or LBA. General Motors – General Motors is proud to offer NAHB Members a Private Offer of up to $1,000 on your next Chevrolet, Buick and GMC vehicle. Visit www.nahb.org/gm to learn more.

UPS Savings Program & YRC Freight - UPS discounts of up to 36% on a broad portfolio of shipping services. Savings of at least 70% on less-than-truckload shipments 150 lbs. or more with UPS Freight and YRC Freight. Visit www.1800members.com/NAHB or call 1800-MEMBERS (800-636-2377) for more information.

GEICO - Exclusive NAHB discounts for members on auto insurance. Visit www.geico.com/disc/nahb or call 800-368-2734. Mention NAHB for auto, homeowners, and commercial auto quotes.

2-10 Home Buyers Warranty - Visit www.2-10.com/NAHB or call 855-280-1328 to receive exclusive access to discounts on select products, including the Builder Backed Service Program and the systems and appliances warranty.

TSYS (formerly TransFirst) - Payment solutions with average savings of 16% per year. Web/mobile tools, credit card and eCheck processing and more. Free "Savings Analysis" call 800-613-0148 or visit www.tsysassociation.com/NAHB. Dell - Up to 30% off on all Dell computers. Call 800-757-8442 and Mention NAHB or visit www.dell.com/nahb.

ConstructionJobs.com - NAHB offers a recruitment tool to all NAHB members in their search for new employees. NAHB members enjoy a 20% discount off standard rates. Visit: https://www.nahb.org/en/members/member-discounts/archived-webpages/nahb-career-center.aspx to connect with top talent and top employers in the construction industry today.

Hertz - Up to 20% off on rental cars and FREE Gold Plus Rewards membership. Visit www.hertz.com/nahb, or call 800-654-2200 and use CDP# 51046.

Avis - Up to 25% off car rental base rates and FREE Avis Preferred Service membership at www.avis.com/nahb, or call 800-331-1212 and use AWD code G572900.

Budget - Up to 25% off car rental base rates and FREE Budget Fastbreak at www.budget.com/nahb, or call 800-283-4387 and use BCD code Z536900.

Office Depot - Office Depot – Save up to 80% in-store or online. Free shipping on orders of $50 or more. Visit www.officediscounts.org/NAHB or call Jeremy Kirkland for assistance with your business account; 855-337-6811 Ext. 2897 Omaha Steaks - Save 10%, in addition to any online specials. www.OSincentives.com/promo/nahb TripBeat- 25% discount on over 200,000 vacation rentals worldwide. Call 844-367-6433 and mention NAHB at time of reservation or go to www.tripbeat.com/nahb.

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Version 1.17.2018