Friday, September 4, 2015

September 2015





"Taking a Closer Look at Today's Home Buyers"

Don DiNovi, President
As the housing market continues its gradual recovery, who are today’s home buyers and what motivates them to make a purchase? Recent analysis from the National Association of Homes Builders of the latest American Housing Survey (AHS) provides insight into recent home buyers and the home buying process. Conducted in odd-numbered years by the U.S. Census Bureau, the 2013 AHS studied 13.7 million households that bought a home in the previous two years.

While the number of households buying a home had been falling since 2005, the number of recent home buyers actually doubled between the 2011 and 2013 surveys. Of these 13.7 million households, 43% were buying their first home, while 11% were purchasing a new home.

In general, new home buyers are older, make more money, and are purchasing bigger, more expensive homes. On the other hand, first-time home buyers are younger, make less money, and are purchasing smaller, less expensive homes.

Home buyers said the top two reasons for choosing a home were its size and room layout or design. The house’s price and the neighborhood came in tied for third. However, for first-time buyers, price was the top consideration. When asked about making their neighborhood selection, home buyers noted their top reasons for choosing a neighborhood as “the house itself” and safety. First-time home buyers, who have a median age of 32, also seem to prioritize a healthy home-work balance. Proximity to job and friends/family tended to be more important to this group of buyers. The size of a purchased home hasn’t changed much in recent years. In fact, the median size of all homes purchased has been 1,800 square feet since 2005. However, the median size of new homes bumped up from 2,100 square feet in 2011 to 2,200 square feet in 2013.



So how long does it take buyers to find the right home? Home buyers looked at 10 different homes before deciding which one to purchase. And when they’re ready to commit to their new home, about half of the buyers used their savings for a down payment while 17 percent used the sale of a previous home. Only 11 percent purchased their home without a down payment. This includes cases where a home was purchased in full with cash and when a home was purchased with a zero-down payment loan.



As economic and job growth continue, and interest rates remain low, more consumers are finding that now is a great time to buy a new home. Contact the Builders and Remodelers Association of Northern New Jersey to learn about new homes available in the Northern New Jersey area. 





I hope that all BRANNJ members and families had a wonderful summer!  Over the summer, BRANNJ has been working on developing a Young Professionals Group (YPG).  YPG’s mission is to encourage association participation by employees of member companies who are under 40 and would like to become involved in building industry peer to peer networking and information sharing, community outreach and development as future association leaders.  The YPG will have a launch meeting this fall, so please contact the BRANNJ office if you or someone from your company is interested.  
We also have several exciting events coming up starting with our annual Texas Hold Em Night on Friday, September 18th.  Invite your employees, colleagues and friends and join your fellow members and building industry peers for a night of great networking, camaraderie and fun!  I look forward to seeing you there.  Registration and sponsorship information for this and all upcoming events can be found in the Upcoming Events section below. We will include a full list of Texas Hold Em sponsors in our October newsletter.   

 As I mentioned last month, September is Association Appreciation Month. We owe a great deal to our hardworking associate members. They are the fuel that powers this great BRANNJ engine of ours!

Lastly, I would like you to read this article, "The Core, The Core The Core." It explains why most building industry professionals join our association but the real reason they need to embrace our association. Click here to read!
 

Premier Partner Spotlight is on...

Creative Design Construction and Remodeling is a Design-Build firm offering our clients a time and money savings "one-stop" shopping advantage" complete with our own award-winning in-house design team, cabinet department and showroom.  Creative Design Cabinet Solutions is the retail division of Creative Design Construction and Remodeling.  We offer stock, semi-custom and full-custom cabinetry for do-it-yourselfers, builders, architects, and interior designers.  We encourage the use of our cabinet installation team, or we can simply just deliver the cabinets to your location.



Statement from NAHB Chairman on the NLRB Decision Expanding the Definition of a Joint Employer (click here)

Statement from NAHB Chairman on the Recent District Court Decisions on EPA Water Rule (click here)

2016 International Builders’ Show Registration Opens (click here)



Save the Date!
Friday, September 18th ~ Texas Hold Em Night.  Join us for this annual fall favorite event whether you choose to play or just attend for dinner and networking.  Great marketing opportunities to sponsor for Northern NJ building industry professionals. 6:00pm 

Texas Hold 'em Registration forms (click here)
Texas Hold 'em Sponsorship forms (click here)

Tuesday, October 13th~ Joint Networking/Educational Meeting with National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA) at the new PIRCH Showroom @Garden state Plaza, Paramus.  6:30pm Social Hour, Food & Networking; 7:30pm-8:30pmSpeaker: Danny Wood of Sandler Training, “Networking—It’s a Contact Sport!”
(0.1 NKBA CEU) 

Thursday, November 19th~ Reno’s Annual Pre-Holiday Industry Networking Party.  Bring your business cards to this annual building industry networking extravaganza at the beautiful Reno’s Showroom in Paterson.  Make new connections with peers from several industry associations as you enjoy Reno’s outstanding hospitality with delicious food, beverages, music, prizes and much more!  5:30pm-8:30pm.

Thursday, December 3rd~  Annual Winter Showcase Tabletop & Beefsteak Event. 
** NEW VENUE THIS YEAR**  The Brownstone, A Historic Landmark, in Paterson, NJ.  Don’t miss this annual favorite event as you mix and mingle with builders and associate vendors at THE Northern, NJ mini-tradeshow.  Then…enjoy a delicious traditional Beefsteak dinner and play in the bread-building contest for the charity of your choice.  The Brownstone is famous for its Beefsteak, so be sure to attend to enjoy great food, great business opportunities and participate in a great event to assist with a local charity at this festive time of year.





Cat: Cat@belvederecontractors.com
Chelsea: gioffrec2@gmail.com 
Belvedere Building & Contracting
 Center for Food Action
Posted by at