Homebuyer Tax Credit Can Immediately Help Thousands of First-Time Homebuyers to Buy a Home
Speaking to the National Association of Home Builders Spring Board of Directors Meeting, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan announced Friday that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will allow homebuyers to apply the Obama Administration's new $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit toward the purchase costs of a FHA-insured home.

National Instructor to Teach NAHB Course at Convention
The Home Builders Association of South Carolina has secured national instructor Mike Weiss to teach the NAHB University of Housing’s Diversification: Capitalizing on New Business Opportunities course on Thursday, June 23 at the state convention in Greenville.

Do You Facebook?: Part Two in a Series of Five Articles on the Impact and Use of Social Media
It’s happened. My parents (ages 61 and 53) are on Facebook. They’re writing on my wall, posting photographs of their last vacation, and calling to ask me why my status says that I’m drinking a nice Pinot Grigio on a work night. It’s clear that the state of social networks has shifted—and for me, it’s happening decidedly close to home.

HBA Spartanburg Announces Showcase of Homes Winners
The Home Builders Association of Greater Spartanburg held the annual Showcase of Homes last month in Shallow Brook and presented the winners at the 38th Annual May Outing.

Columbia HBA Announces Tour of Homes Award Winners
Teams of judges roamed the Greater Columbia area to judge homes on the 2009 TOUR OF HOMES. The annual scattered-site showing offered nine Featured Communities and 54 new homes located throughout the greater Columbia area.

Fall Home & Garden Show a First for Mt. Pleasant
The Charleston Trident Home Builders Association is excited to announce the first annual Mt. Pleasant Home & Garden Show. This fall, crowds will gather east of the Cooper to see what’s new in home design both indoors and out. There will be rows upon rows of local merchants selling their wares.

Columbia Home Builder Moves Up In National Rankings
The Mungo Companies are pleased to announce that they’ve been ranked 38th on the national 2008 Builder 100 Listing by Builder magazine. The ranking, which is based on total closings for all builders, is up from 70th in 2007.

April Single-Family Starts Rise for Second Straight Month
Production of single-family homes edged upward in April as builders responded to improving conditions for new-home buyers, according to figures released by the U.S. Commerce Department recently.

Confidence of Builders Continues to Grow in May
Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes climbed for a second consecutive month in May to the highest level since last September, according to the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), which was released on May 18. May’s HMI rose two points to 16.

Remodelers See Early Signs of Recovery in First Quarter
The residential remodeling market showed significant signs of improvement during the first quarter of 2009, according to the latest NAHB Remodeling Market Index (RMI). The index showed current market conditions rising to 34.5 in the first three months of this year, up from 25.5 in the final quarter of 2008. Remodelers’ future expectations jumped to 30 on the index, up from a historic low of 18.6 for the previous quarter.

Advanced Green Building Courses to Be Available in 2010
The NAHB University of Housing is revising the 2006 Green Building for Building Professionals course to incorporate information on the National Green Building Standard approved by the American National Standards Institute and the accompanying online scoring tool, which allows builders anywhere to design, build and score green projects and then certify them through NAHBGreen.

Members Get NAHB Discount on Some Designations
The National Association of Home Builders recently announced that candidates who complete the requirements for the National Sales and Marketing Council and 50+ Housing designations and submit their graduation application before June 30, 2010 will pay a reduced graduation/application fee.