The Job Offer
The Job Offer Letter. In its simplest sense, the template for a job offer letter might be fairly generic. Hitting the right hot buttons for a job offer letter requires some thought and preparation. The same process that goes into composing a job offer letter is similar to that of selling a new home: The best sales counselors spend a great deal of time on the front end leaning what the buyer wan...
Web Site Check-up
Florida technology services company, DiscoverTec LLC, specializes in Web site design, hosting and maintenance. The firm, through its director of Web development Jesse McKay, recently shared its guidelines for firms thinking of updating their Web sites. To determine whether it's time for an update, McKay says, "A static Web site — your typical five-page electronic brochure — may only...
Can't Buy Me Love!
Imagine with me, for a moment, if Paul Tagliabue, Commissioner of the National Football League, were to receive a letter like this from an upset Detroit Lions fan*: Dear Mr. Tagliabue, I am a long-time, loyal fan of the Detroit Lions — owner of one of the worst records in football for more than a decade.
Understanding TMDL Compliance
To help builders comply with the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program established under the Clean Water Act, the NAHB has posted a 32-page TMDL Tool Kit on its Web site. The tool kit — available as a free PDF download — is a useful tool to help builders analyze maximum allowable pollutant loads as well as helping document how they will manage those loads, both of which are requir...
Changing Alliances
Sitting in the audience at a recent real estate forecast meeting, one of the speakers offered this insight: "The lack of prime terra firma on which to build and develop is one of the biggest problems confronting industry players." Not exactly news, is it? However, what followed the statement, which by now sounds obvious to most builders, cast a new light on the land issue.
Nominate a Landscape Architect
April is National Landscape Architecture month — a fitting time to draw attention to the importance of home builders to the American Society of Landscape Architects, and a new opportunity involving the professional society's annual awards program. According to ASLA's latest Business Indicators Survey, residential projects comprise 40 percent of annual billable hours by landscape architect...
Power to the People!
Whoever said charity begins at home was one-upped last October 3 when millions of Americans watched crews from Shea Homes donate thousands of dollars in time, resources and labor to build a new house for the Garay family of Los Angeles on ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. When HomeAid America and ABC offered Shea CEO Bert Selva the opportunity, he says he "couldn't say no" to helping this n...
Subsidizing Sprawl?
The Michigan Land Use Institute's Follow The Money report blasts decades of "profoundly misguided" state policies in Michigan that amount to "subsidizing sprawl" while fostering obesity and white flight from neglected cities. If research bears these claims out, then suburban builders could suffer when infrastructure expansion fails to keep pace with market demand.
Financial Management - Part 3
In Financial Management - Part 1, we discussed the importance of setting up a solid accounting system to accurately measure what has happened in the past so we can make better decisions for the future. In Financial Management - Part 2, we discussed the importance of: We also introduced Chris Smith, a 45-year old custom builder who has been in business for six years.
Second Home Purchases for Investment are on the Rise
A National Association of Realtors' (NAR) study of second home purchases recently revealed a wave of new speculators in the real estate market. With investment home sales making up 23% of the real estate market, homebuyers are turning to real estate more and more as a vehicle for financial investment to diversify their portfolios.
