Highlights on Housing:

•Housing Affordability Index (HAI) for Wisconsin last fall was 245 up 19 points from the previous year, which means more homes are available for a median income family.
(A median income family can buy 245% of the homes available on the market)

•Wisconsin homes are far more affordable than the nation in terms of the housing index. The National score is 198.

•Caps are now in place on property tax bills will help keep homes more affordable in Wisconsin. Plus the largest component of those bills, the school taxes dropped last year 1 percent.

•Interest rates for a 30 year mortgage are at 3.875%. Over the last 20 years the average 30 year mortage interest rate was 7.305%. (From 1991 to 2011) That’s almost half!

•Existing homes sales are up this past fall 14.8% compared the previous year.

•In the South Central Region of Wisconsin (our market) our sales were up 25.2 % the second largest gain in the whole State compared to the previous year.

•National unemployment rate has dropped to 8.6%.

•Consumer confedence is on the rise. Up 9.3 points from November 2011 to December 2011.

•Wisconsin if far below the National average in term of forclosures. Almost a half a percent less difference.

•Wisconsin’s per capita income fell .2 % over the last 3 years while the national average fell 1.2%. Although seeing this number decline is not good Wisconsin is a whole percent higher than the nation which means we have maintained a steady in terms of income and employment.

•Total existing homes available on the market dropped in November 5.8%. This shows both that people are buying homes and the inventory levels are declining. Both good signs.

•New home sales rose for the 3rd consecutive month.

•30 year mortgage interest rates are the lowest in 10 years. Heck they are the lowest in over 40 years.

Here are the 30 year mortgage rates over the last 3 years or so.

‘Charts Reproduced with the permission of Mortgage-X.com’

Here are the 30 year mortgage rates over the last 20 years.

These are all very good signs indeed. One last tidbit before I go. Did you know housing accounts for over 17% of our economy? Perhaps 2012 will be the year housing pulls the economy out of the recession.

1/20/2011 Update
•Housing starts rose in December 4.4% from previous year.

•Only 23% of renters are happy with their current residence.

•1/3 of homebuyers would prefer to buy new homes if they bought another home.

Article Sources:

http://www.realestateabc.com/outlook.htm

http://www.freddiemac.com/pmms/pmms30.htm

http://www.wra.org/WREM/Jan2012/

http://mortgage-x.com/

1.     Open House apps

-You can brose REALTOR, Truila, or Zillow app on your phone and find open houses in that area.  It will give you a nice map to find the home and also the open house hours that you can visit.  You can practically plan out your whole day with this.  Belman Homes makes sure to put thier listings on this site and keeps their open models up to date.  Be warned though, not every property that is open is listed through these apps so you may still want to bring that newspaper along for the ride.  

2.     QR codes

-Agents are putting specific codes on their listings that will direct you to the specific information on your home.  These can also be placed by new products in the home to provide consumers with more information on line with a quick click.   

3.     Color Snap

-Get the Color snap app by Sherwin Williams and snap and save the colors you most like on homes you for when you re-paint or build your new home.  You can bring your saved colors into the store for an easy way to pick out your next wall color.  

4.     Real Estate Apps

-Real Estate Apps such as Truila, Homes.com, New Home Source, and Zillow also offer you the ability to search based on your current location and your pre-determined price range.  By touching little flags on your screen you bring up all sorts of properties available, prices, and detailed information that is posted up on those sites.  

5.     What’s that Payment again?

-Quickly figure out your mortgage payment, taxes, and insurance with an app on your phone so you know right away if you can afford the home or not.  

6.     Sex offenders

-I am not kidding they actually have an app that identifies nearby convicted sex offenders.  It shows where they live and even provides a mug shot so you can identify them walking down the street.  It’s scary and it is also no laughing matter.

7.     Who needs a check?

- Collect a payment right from your smart phone or Pad on service work or put a deposit down with your sales rep.   

8.     Feng Shui

-Use an app to find your best direction to face for both prosperity and success.  This app will assist you with placing your furniture in your home and orientating things to improve your energy and flow.  

9.     Design and Decorate

-The Dream Home app gives you ideas and inspiration for decorating your home.  You can even upload your own pictures to play with.  

10.  Calculate on the Go

-There are apps to help assist with calculating geometry, volume, weights, and loads to assist a contractor working on your home.    

11.  Realty Companies    

-Larger Real Estate Firms are developing their own apps to showcase their listings and make it easier for their buyers to find their ideal property.    This is also a nice valued added feature for their listing clients and becomes a way to differentiate your business.

12.  Renters not ignored

-Need a place to stay for a while before you find your dream home?  Get the apartment app from rent.com to surf pictures, rent per month, amenities and more.   

13.  Parade of Homes

-Some local home associations have even taken mobile with their parade of homes posting homes, maps, builder’s models, and photos on an easy access app.  

14.  Can I  see that again?

-Agents and contractors can also load their inventory on a tablet and set it up during showings for customers to browse their work. 

15.  I have the power!

-One of the very coolest and techy uses of your mobile phone is in the home electronics department.  For example Control 4 allows you to integrate your remote controls with your smart phones so once you have the app you can control your TV, video, lighting, thermostats and more right from you mobile device whether you are at your home or not.   We displayed this system in our 2011 Parade of Homes model the Tuscany.

I was just informed at our Metropolitan Builders Association Green Council Meeting on 11/8/11 that the Focus on Energy new home certification program that is currently in effect and used by many Wisconsin area builders is going through yet another change for next year.  According to Kevin Hogan of Focus on Energy and WEC the programs current provider, the programs Administration and Implementation of the program have both been sent out to bid and WEC will no longer be running the Administration portion of the program.  They are still waiting to hear if they are in the running to continue with the implementation of the program.  

How does this affect new home certification?

•Any builders who are applying for rebates under the Focus on Energy program must have their paperwork in by January 30th 2012.  

•Any homes in process that are to be certified must be completed by March 31st 2012 tto receive the certification.

The new Administrator of the program will be Shaw Envionmental and the implementor portion is still up for bid.  There will be a program going forward but until the other portion of that equation is figured out we have no idea what possible changes could be made.  This could mean different criteria for homes and testing, different rebate structures, and possibly a reduction in emphasis on education.  

Belman Homes will continue to monitor this development and update this blog with more information as it comes available.  We remain committed to offering independant third party testing and verification on all of our energy efficient homes in Wisconsin.   

Screened In Porch

This crowd pleaser is a great space to enjoy the outdoors rain or shine with or without the bugs.  Built right off the home with a nice roof over the top and a stunning stamped concrete floor you are sure to have many fond memories out here.  (And a good less bug bites too)

Theater Room

Why pay $50 for a family of four to see a movie and get a bucket of popcorn when you can relax in the comfort of your own home with stadium seating, leater recliners, a blue ray projector screen and 5.1 surround sound?  This amazing space is going to help you create a lot of fond memories.  You can even watch your favorite sporting events down here.  

Mudd Room

Anyone that has a family will appreciate this space.  A place to sit down, take of your shoes, hide them, and hang up your coats and cell phones instead of leaving it littered all over the back hall.  

Built in Media Center

Keep your TV and all your components hidden carefully in this custom made media center.  On the other side of the fireplace you can enjoy your bookcases.  Fill them with your favorite collection or just decorate it with your favorite knick knacks.  

Loft Desk Area

This is a nice touch.  You can keep an eye on your childeren on the computer and still be in the same area as them.  It’s a great place to do your homework, pay some bills and still feel like you are part of your families activities.

(not pictured)

His and Hers Walk in Closets

Perhaps we should change the name to Hers and Hers?  Having two separate closets is a great way to keep everything oraganized.  Also check out the built in storage cabinets and mirrors.  You can fold you clothes away nicely and tie your tie in front of the mirror.  

Compartment Bath

Not only does this bath have two separate vanities but two separate preparation areas.  This is great if you have two children (or adults) that need to get ready at the same time.  Shower in one room while the other brushes their hair.  This is sure to save your family lots of time on those busy mornings.  As you can see above this bath offers two distinct areas your private bathing area as well as twin separate vanities.  This is sure to keep the peace in your family.  

Bonus Room

This huge room can be whatever you want it to be.  We show it here as a work out room, or it could be a game room, play room for your kids, or whatever you can dream up.  This amazing room is inexpensive square footage and is built over the garage area.  You will really enjoy this space.

Study

Out are the separate dining rooms and living rooms but in are the first floor home offices.  This room is tucked right off the foyer and is your semi-private retreat for catching up on a litte work or surfing the internet.  It is still right off the kitchen so you are close to your family and the stepped ceiling and crown molding offer a rich touch.  

All these great spaces make a great family home that helps you save time and enjoy a modern lifestyle.  The Tuscany is truely a home you can grow into and adapt as the years go by.  

The model is currently being shown M-F 4-8 and Sat.  Sun.  & Labor day 11-5 p.m.  during the 2011 Metropolitan Builders Association Parade of Homes. Visit our website for more details or view photos of the Tuscany here.

See what Tony Clark of Real Milwaukee Fox 6 thinks of our finished basement in the Tuscany model at the 2011 Metropolitan Builders Association Parade of Homes in Pewaukee. This video aired 8/22/2011 at 9:30 a.m.

Watch Video

Here Tony goes nuts over our Great Room and tries our our Kohler digital shower. Unfortunately he gets all wet!

Watch Video

You can see this home at N23 W23827 Talon Ct. in Pewaukee Wi. It is open 4-8 P.M. Monday-Friday and Saturday and Sunday 11-5. The Parade of Homes closes 9/11/2011.
For more information on our home please visit our website

The Craftsmenship of Belman Homes

Job Finished Woodwork:

All the woodwork on a Belman Home is shipped unfinished to the job site.  There it is carefully sorted and stained to the color of your choice by hand by our skilled painting crew.  From there we install it and then carefully hand sand it, sand coat it and varnish on the job site for an impeccible fit and finish.  This provides a smooth tight miter joints.

Custom Made Cabinets

We are one of very few builders that custom make our cabinets specifically for the job.  Each home is carefully measured after the home is framed.  You will see in the picture above that we are showing off the wood dove tail drawers with the soft close mechanisims.   There is also an amazing pull out spice rack, custom wood vent hood and roll out shelves, pull out garbage cans and many more hidden gems.  Check out the detailing on the crown molding on the top of the cabinets.  Here we are using an alder wood with a rich warm color.  

Brick Archways

This brick archway between the theater room and the bistro area is a fine touch and an example of the fine masonry work that our mason can do in our homes.

Stone Floors

This is not tile in the Tuscany.  It’s real stone.  This amazing floor is installed in a roman pattern with variable sizes and helps create the authentic tuscan look that we were going for.  The attention to detail is simply amazing.

Accent Corbles

One of the most unique touches on our Parde model is the custom made maple corbles that we installed under the archways.  This is an incredible touch that ads warmth to the home.  We had a similar bracket made to support the snack ledges in the kitchen.

Hand Troweld walls

Most Tuscan homes have plastered walls and we have replicated this texture which will whisk you away to a different time and place. You are sure to love the finished look.

Solid Maple Doors

Our Parade Model features real, solid maple doors that are job hung.  These doors are so heavy that we have to install an additional hinge on the doors!  We hand route and hang each door on site the old fashioned way; the way it’s supposed to be done.  

I hope you enjoyed our feature on our 2011 Parade of Homes Model. Stay tuned for our last segment where we discuss the layout of the home and all the great living spaces in our Tuscany model.

Stop on out and see our home at the 2011 Metropolitan Builders Association Parade of Homes.  For more details visit our website at: http://belmanhomes.com/ or for more information on the Parade or to purchase tickets visit  http://www.mbaonline.org/

This is the first entry in a series about some of the cool new features you will find in Belman Homes Tuscany model as part of the  2011 Metropolitan Builders Association Parade of Homes.  In this section we will be discussing some of the exciting technology you will want to explore in our home.  Some things are new things and others you might have seen before but this technology will make your life around your home more enjoyable, convenient, and healthy too!

(Tuscany Model by Belman Homes)

1.  Kohler Digital Shower

Imagine hopping into your shower in the morning, hitting a button and having a customized experience.  Pick from multiple shower heads, set the temperature of your water and go!  Each family member can have their own settings too.  This is a must see!

2.  Broan LunAura Fans

What is so cool about a bath fan?  Well this LunAura fan is very cool.  First it operates at .3 scones which is barely audiable.  Second, it works as a ceiling light.  Big deal.  Third it is a LED nightlight that bathes your bathroom in a blue tone scientificly designed not to stimulate you and wake you up in the evening.   How cool is that?

3.  Velux No Leak Electric Skylights

Velux has created the “No Leak” skylight.  We feature 2 electronic operating attic skylights.  With the simple push of a remote you can open your skylight, and lift your internal blinds.  If rain comes while you are away it senses it and automaticly shuts the skylight.  

4.  Whole House Audio

Turn on audio in your home from a touch of a button.  Easily control the volume, the station, and the source.  Plug in your i-pod, hit your play list and away you go!  This is great for mood music or if you are having a party.  You can also hook up  your DVD player, TV, or any other media you want to hear from.

5.  Home Theater

With a touch of one button you can activate your theater system.  Sit back and watch your blueray movie on a projection screen with full 5.1 surround sound.  

6.  Kinetico Non-Electric Water Softener

This is an amazing water treatment device.  It runs on only 14 lbs of salt and uses no electricity.  Best of all it runs on demand so that you are not wasting water during pre-timed cycles and give you superior water treatment.

7.  Sun Tunnel

Take a dark room and make it bright.  There is no greener way to light your home.  I kid you not, everyone that leaves the bathroom thinks they left the light on!

8.  Lennox HRV

With new homes being constructed more and more air-tight, fresh quality air in your home is a concern.  Poor air quality can lead to you getting sick and long term health risks.  Bring in a constant supply of fresh air into your home without losing the energy efficiency of  your heating and coolings system. It is another great way to incorporate green building in your home.  

Thanks for viewing and check back in a few days for our next feature about the unique craftsmenship that went into our model.

1.   Low Prices on Construction Labor

We have seen some of the lowest prices on the labor portion of new construction in over 10 years.  Some of our best tradesmen are working for grocery money and to keep their crews busy.

2.  Historic Low Interest Rates

You can get 30 year fixed rates for in the 4% range.  Or many banks are offering ARM’s adjustable rate mortgages for under 4% that cannot go over 2% in five years.  So even if rates go crazy down the line your mortgage will not exceed 6% when you lock.  That’s crazy!

3.  Lot Prices have come down

It took awhile but lots prices have dropped significantly in 2011.  Discounts have ranged from $10,000 to upwards of $50,000. Developers are looking to lighten their property tax burdern and reduce inventory.  It is a good time to buy dirt.

4.  Good Lot inventory will dry up

Now this may take awhile but with the lower prices on lots and the lack of new developments being created, good lots are going to be harder and harder to come by.  Meanwhile those new lots are not being created.  Even if they are you are looking at a year and a half before you could realisticly get a develpment off the ground.  At somepoint demand will outpace replacement of supply.  Then of course pricing starts to rise.  Economics 101.

5.  New Homes Are Better

Sure, I am biased but new homes are desired more by consumers that existing homes.  Why?  Easy.  

a.  New Homes are clean and don’t have stains, smells, and marks of previous residents

b.  New Homes are more energy efficient.  New codes and building techniques have helped.  We have our homes independently tested and audited by a third party to ensure their efficiency and even provide a written report with potential cost savings.  You won’t get that with existing homes.

c.  New Homes are easy to buy.  They have been inspected by the local municipality and although you may still want an inspection, you don’t have near the issues as you would find on an older home.  New homes are also far far easier to deal with than say a short sale or foreclosure.  

d.  New Homes have warranties.  Even if a builder does not include a warranty most products do carry extended warranties to the customer.  Not all warranties are transferable but having some protection there is well worth the additional cost of a new home.

6.  New Jobs to Wisconsin means more people looking for homes

Part of the “Wisconsin is Open For Business” is taking effect.  Already roughly 15,000 jobs have been added.  We have seen transferee activity this year for the first time in 2-3 years which is exciting to say the least.  As some of the changes and credits start to help the local business they will begin to hire once again and bring well paid talented people back to Wisconsin.  They of course will need new homes, many of which will choose to buy new.  Even if they don’t the people selling those homes will need a place to go.  

7.  Inflation is on the horizon

Materials have still gone up but once the market gains more momentum prices will start to rise and rise quickly.  Also as builder and contractors get busier they will start to reduce discounts and incentives or raise prices.  Nobody wants to work for free forever.  Suppliers & manufacturers have a keen eye for these changes and will start to adjust their pricing up.  

8.  The Best are left

With many building companies, contractors leaving the industry with the slow down only the best have survived.  Right now most builders are only working with their top quality crews.  This ensures you will get a well built home.  Even small things like Realtors have improved.  When the industry is doing well people flood in.  Good and bad.  Lately with the decline in agents we are dealing with only the premier people.  People who are in this industry during the good and the bad and really care about what they do and how they do their job.  It makes a difference let me tell you. 

9.  Easy time to trade up

You may take a hit on the price of your existing home but if you are buying a larger or more expensive home you should get a bigger savings on the new purchase which will ease the financial blow that you might have lost on your existing home.  Keep in mind your home may never have really been “worth”  what that bank appraisal or that assesment letter you had in your file.  Your home is worth what someone is willing to pay for it.  If you didn’t have it for sale then then you don’t really know that it would have been worth that to begin with.

10.  Still a useable investment

What eles can you buy and borrow against, live in, use everyday and possibly still see growth in value?  Nothing but a home.  It amazes me how people can buy a new car and drive it off the lot and watch it lose 20% of the value in the first day.  Now people are complaining because the home that they lived in, cooked in, used the bathroom in (gross but I need to make my point here) is only worth the same or slightly less or more than what they initially paid for it. Think about that!  You would be thrilled if you bought a car, used it for two years and then sold it for the same price.  Why isn’t it like that with a home.  Deep thoughts here.

Now you have to realize that not every factor is going to be perfect when you decide to buy a new home but as you can see there are many positive reasons why now is a great time to buy a new home.

Let us know if Belman Homes can help you with that process.  

Okay so I thought this would be fun to share some thoughts on our Parade of Homes experience in a more candid way. Did you know that Belman Homes has never built a Parade of Homes model until this year? Sure we’ve done almost everything else along the way but didn’t find a need for us to do it. My interest was peaked last year when I was heavily involved on the Parade of Homes task force and initially on the site selection committee. One of the major barriers for us was that we don’t decorate our models. We tend to be nomads as builders and move from place to place. To top it off I made the decision to have our in house decorator, furnish it. She has never done a Parade model either. So here you have a rookie Parade Builder and a Rookie Parade Decorator? This could get interesting, right? Well, Nicole is very talented and has been great throughout the process and she got my vision right away and took off running with it.

I’ll have to admit there was a lot of pressure on the onset. It is a custom home with lots of new things in it? Can we get it done on time? What if there aren’t enough builders in the subdivision? Should we just dig it anyway? Why can’t they just make up their mind on the sites? Well, we pulled the trigger early and dug the hole before the subdivision was officially approved and I am glad I did. We would not have been able to pull off the quality and hand touches that would have been necessary to do it. Of course, right before the deadline lots of other builders committed to the site and everything went along just fine but it did cause me a Maalox moment or two along the way.

Then there was all the paperwork. This agreement has to be in by this date, artwork here, writing up there. This is too long, there’s not enough room. Your info disappeared from the system. Don’t do this don’t do that. Uh oh, now there is a new marketing gal. Your contractor did not drop off his paperwork yet to be included in the catalog and the deadlines tomorrow. Whew! Luckily, I am a planner and I like to get on things right away and move on so this wasn’t much of an issue. I liked the fact that the MBA had all the deadlines in writing. It kept me focused and motivated. If we were building 70-80 homes like we used to back in the day then I would probably be at my computer in the wee hours of the night doing this stuff much to the chagrin of my wife. Speaking of the MBA their staff has been terrific to deal with. Kylah has taken the ball and ran with with it, Angela when she was there was on top of everything and Helen really helped me with making sure my contractors were up to speed on their membership and help us obtain a Partners in Excellence status.

I will have to admit that designing and building the Tuscany Parade model has been a very fun and enjoyable process. I truly enjoyed sitting down with and counseling with each and everyone one of our contractors, suppliers and tradesmen throughout the process. It was great seeing all the new things that they can offer as well as get some suggestions on what we could do differently to achieve the objectives we have for our home. We truly have a talented pool of people we work with and I was amazed at their knowledge and expertise. We all get stuck in a rut from time to time and builders are often the same way. I was like the mad scientist and my office and the selection room were like my laboratory. I truly wanted to break the mold with our Tuscany home and I believe that we have. There are so many exciting things that we have added to this home that I cannot even list them. I feel like each time going through the home you will notice another detail. Nothing too crazy mind you. I am not trying to create some shock factor look at me type thing like what others have tried in the past. I think we have a very elegant, high quality, energy efficient and liveable home that will appeal to many demographics.

I know it sounds cliché but I built this home like it was truly my own. I picked things I really liked and made it a way that would suit my lifestyle and personality. Hopefully everyone will like my vision. If not, I may end up having to live there someday. (Okay twist my arm, it wouldn’t be difficult at all.)

Sure there have been hiccups along the way. Thanks to the thief for cutting the wire out of my home and causing $4000 worth of damage for a measly $100 of scrap copper and causing 2 weeks of delay. (I will find you some day and make sure you get what’s coming to you) ☺ Good thing we got that early start right? Thanks mother nature for 14” of snow right before we backfill the basement & for 90% humidity right when we were starting drywalling. Only in Wisconsin can we go from Artic to rain forest weather in a few short weeks!

As we round the corner and head near the finish line I pray mother nature makes up for its cruel ways and gives us dry days in July to pour the driveway and get the landscaping installed. I have managed to nearly get through the process and maintain my sanity and this is a credit to all of our contractors as well as Jeff our expeditor who has been on top of this home every step of the way. I can’t wait for the day when we open up the home to the public and hear everyone’s thoughts on our home.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to the Start of the Parade of Homes August 20th!

David Belman
Proudly to be “reasonably sane” home builder.

Visit our website for more information

On a typical year, our homeowner will save $756 on utilities for heating, cooling lights, and water heating than a standard code built home. Thats $63 a month! Enough to pay for couple bags of groceries, cable tv, or fill your car up with gas. (Well maybe not the last one if you have a SUV.) That information just amazes me. Why wouldn’t you choose an Energy Star or Focus on Energy Certified new home?

If you would like to find out more about saving money with a energy certified new home, send me an email (davidbelman@sbcglobal.net). I would be glad to share the full report.
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