Archive for May, 2010

Mid 2010 New Home Market Recovering

Sunday, May 30th, 2010

Sales of new single-family houses in April 2010 showed a 47.8% increase above the April 2009 estimate.

This positive news is per a May 26, 2010 U.S. Census Bureau report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, authored by Erica Filipek and/or Stephen Cooper, Manufacturing and Construction Division.

According to the Census Bureau’s statistics, this represents a 14.8% increase in sales above the revised March annual projected rate of 439,000 up to 504,000 adjusted annual projected sales.  The figures in either the HUD reports or in the NAHB (National Association of Home Builders) reports need to be looked at carefully, especially the footnotes. (more…)

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Global Home Architects

Friday, May 28th, 2010

Rand Soellner HOME ARCHITECTS TM provide residential design services for clients, no matter where their property is on the face of the Earth.  Soellner has been making an effort to insure that clients from all over know that he is available to design their houses, anywhere on the planet.

Does this mean that Soellner clients have to pay for Soellner to travel there?  Not necessarily.  Soellner prefers to visit client sites in person, whenever that is possible.  However, if clients do not wish to incur this expense, this architect has technological tools that allow him to visit your land in virtual reality.  This is supplemented with your digital photography and digital video that you can e-mail to the architect, along with your surveyor’s electronic survey on AutoCad. (more…)

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Flex Space in Home Design

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

Today’s Smaller Home Design Schemes Benefit from Flex Space Architectural Concepts.

Hundreds of years ago, the Japanese understood that they were an increasing population on relatively small islands, compared with the other mainland continents.  Flex Space in home design was used by their population, in the form of simple rectangular houses arranged in rigorous grid modules (in their floor plan layout), with Shoji screens.

Oriental Historical Cultures, Multi-functional Rooms and Flex Space In-home Design

Shoji screens are made of rice paper and wooden frames and act as sliding walls or sliding doors to partition rooms off from adjacent rooms.  Why?  (more…)

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Affordable Homes Inventory Declining

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

The Inventory of Affordable Homes is Declining

CNNMoney.com, a service of CNN, Fortune & Money, just reported today (5/11/2010), that the inventory of affordable homes has fallen substantially from just several months ago, along with another more expensive range of housing.

What Does This Mean for America’s Housing Economy?

It appears that soon, the housing construction market should be improving.  Why?  Because in our free market  society, we operate by the laws of Demand and Supply (not the other way around, which got us into our current housing slump).  Affordable homes are a substantial portion of America’s housing needs.  Some people call these Starter Houses, because young couples with modest income want the American Dream: their own home, but they cannot afford to buy larger, more luxurious residences.  So, they shop for smaller houses that give them what they can pay for now. (more…)

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Home Remodeling Rebound Now Underway

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

Home Remodeling Rebound in Progress According to Harvard Study

On April 15, 2010, Harvard’s Remodeling Futures Program at their Joint Center for Housing Studies indicated that a home remodeling rebound is now underway, according to their LIRA (Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity).  This announcement should be welcome news for all Americans, since much of the United States’ economy depends on a healthy housing construction market.

“Home improvement spending will recover this year,” reported the study.  Housing improvement spending is recovering this year, and the dramatic change will become visible during the 3rd quarter, with even greater spending on residential improvements forecasted for the the 4th quarter of 2010.  This appears to be a trend, indicating that Warren Buffett’s predictions of a housing market recovery occurring during 2010 and residential market problems being “largely behind us” by early 2011, to be correct. (more…)

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Residential Fire Sprinklers Coming

Monday, May 3rd, 2010

 

Yes, It’s True: They’re on the Way.

It’s been talked about for decades: residential fire sprinklers.  I have known of only one municipality that actually required it before now, and that was in Altamonte Springs, Florida.  Well, it’s going to be a whole new ball game soon.  The ICC’s (International Code Council) April 15, 2010 press release explicitly states that their 2009 IRC (International Residential Code) requires this.

residential fire sprinklers

Fire Sprinkler Image, Courtesy of Allied Fire Protection, Inc.

YES, WE ARE TALKING ABOUT FIRE SPRINKLERS FOR HOUSES. We are not talking about irrigation sprinklers outside of your new house.  No.  The IRC is requiring that the Interior of new homes have fire sprinklers.  A friend of ours and fellow architect, Nazim Nice, with Motion Space Architecture, has speculated that the added cost to home construction may be between $0.80/sf (square foot) to as much as $4/sf.  The actual cost, of course, will depend on what the actual fire sprinkler subcontractor who works for your general contractor decides to price your system at. Also, Nazim Nice’s original post on this subject has served as our inspiration. (more…)

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