As of May, I have served one half of my term as President. I am not counting the days until I move to Past President but actually reflecting on the past six months and looking forward to the opportunities in the next six months. I am both excited and pleased by the strength of our association and the continued support offered by our membership and Board of Directors.
At our April Board Meeting, we reviewed the financial position of our association and I am happy to report that we are still running on a slight positive for the forecasted year. Our membership is holding steady and we are hopeful to see some modest growth in membership by year’s end. NAHB just recently announced a membership incentive, whereby they will give $75 of the national dues back to the local association for each member in 2012 over the 2011 membership level for that local association. We are evaluating different means of increasing our membership and will certainly be seeking your help.
As President, I have been planning my own membership drive (with your help). At one of the upcoming meetings, I will be asking each of you to identify several key business partners that you think should belong to LOABA. Once we have aggregated the responses to find out how many of our members trade with these businesses, we will then personally contact these businesses and let them know how important our association is for their business and about the great benefits of membership in LOABA.
To recap these benefits, I am using some text I wrote for the 2012 Directory. “The benefits of being a member of the Lake Oconee Area Builders Association are many. Networking with fellow builders and associate members is a great way to strengthen your position in the marketplace by building new relationships. There are many educational opportunities to help with various licensing continuing education requirements. Current events, codes, and other important information, which affect our industry, is shared and discussed. There are events throughout the year, which are not only fun, but also a great opportunity for you to market yourself and your business to potential customers. As a member of the local association, you are also automatically a member of the Home Builders Association of Georgia and the National Association of Home Builders. These two organizations go to great lengths to support our industry on a state and national level and do an excellent job at working with legislators to better direct legislation and code changes that affect our industry, so any changes are positive for our businesses. Lastly, as a local, state, and national member, you are eligible for many rebate programs and insurance programs that cannot be obtained any other way. If you take minimal advantage of just a few of these programs throughout the year – you can easily save more than the cost of membership!”
The economic forecast for housing continues to look cautiously better according to several sources. I will offer several highlights from recent articles.
National Association of Realtors– Monthly data for NAR showed single-family home sales in March were up 5.9 percent from the previous year. NAR also reports that total housing inventory is down 21.8 percent from March 2011 while existing home prices are up 2.5 percent, all signs of continued housing recovery. Also from NAR, sales of investment and vacation homes jumped in 2011, with the combined market share rising to the highest level since 2005.
Urban Land Institute– Real estate economists and analysts are expecting significant turnaround in the national economy and the real estate market with the next three years. Leading real estate economists and analysts believe housing starts will double to 800,000 by 2014, while apartment rental will slow down. Home prices will stop declining this year and begin to rise in 2013, with prices increasing by 3.5 percent in 2014. Improved job prospects and strengthening consumer confidence will likely bring buyers back to the housing market.
NAHB– According to NAHB surveys, builder confidence is still higher than 2011 levels although the April survey yielded slightly lower confidence than in March. This is partly because interest expressed by buyers in the past few months has yet to translate into expected sales activity, but is also reflective of the ongoing challenges that are slowing the housing recovery – particularly tight credit conditions for builders and buyers, competition from foreclosures and problems with obtaining accurate appraisals.
RealtyTrac– Foreclosure activity for the first quarter of 2012 is the lowest since the forth quarter of 2007. While this is great; RealtyTrac also warns that foreclosure starts (filings, etc.) have increased for the third straight month ending in March – meaning there are still more foreclosures to come and Georgia is still in the high category of one foreclosure in every 300 housing units.
Not to leave you on a sour note – we have scheduled the annual LOABA Golf Tournament for October 2, 2012 at Harbor Club. We will also have a general membership meeting that day, sponsored by Smith Communications and catered by Georgia Butts – all will take place at Harbor Club just prior to the golf outing. The Associates Council is busy planning some additional fun activities for the meeting as well.
Our next membership meeting will be held on May 1 and is being sponsored by Embry Transport / Embry Farm Service. The meeting will be held at the farm location on Highway 44 between Lake Oconee and Eatonton. It will be a great outdoor venue for spring and I look forward to seeing you there!