4410 Fairway Boulevard • Wichita Falls, Texas 76308

Phone (940) 692-2211 • Fax (940) 692-2214

Volume 4, No. 7 Wichita Falls, Texas July 2011

PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID WICHITA FALLS, TX

PERMIT NO. 491ReporterNORTH TEXASHOME BUILDERSASSOCIATION

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

North Texas Home Builders Association

GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING

PROGRAM Presentation of Scholarships

by Randy Schaffner

July 7, 2011 • 11:30 A.M.Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel

401 Broad Street

DOUG McCULLOCHPresident

Today, the nation faces an unprecedented assault on housing that threatens to derail nearly 100 years of national policy promoting the value of homeownership, and the public remains largely unaware of the potential catastrophe that lies ahead:

• A sharply limited availability of long-term, fixed-rate mortgages• A huge jump in the cost of mortgages• Minimum downpayments of 20 percent or more• A severe reduction in mortgage credit

One of the primary targets of this unjustified attack on housing is the mortgage interest deduction. This cornerstone of American housing policy has been in place since the inception of the tax code in 1913 and supports the aspirations of families at all income levels to become home buyers.

Although Americans overwhelmingly oppose any action by Congress to tamper with the mortgage interest deduction, according to the results of a recent poll conducted by the Republican and Democratic polling firms of Public Opinion Strategies and Lake Research Partners for the National Association of Home Builders, many lawmakers have expressed a willingness to eliminate or curtail this vital housing tax provision. Such a move would further depress home values, leaving more home owners with “underwater” mortgages larger than the value of their property and fueling even more foreclosures.

The polling also found that home owners and non-owners alike consider owning a home essential to the American Dream. An overwhelming 75 percent of those surveyed said that owning a home is worth the risk of the fluctuations in the market, 95 percent of the home owners said they are happy with their decision to own a home and 73 percent of renters said that owning a home is one of their goals.

Meanwhile, six federal agencies are proposing a national Qualified Residential Mortgage standard that would require a minimum 20 percent downpayment and other stricter qualifications, which would keep homeownership out of reach for most first-time home buyers and middle-class households. The National Association of Home Builders

estimates that it would take 12 years for a typical family to save enough money for a 20 percent downpayment on a median-priced single-family home and other research has found it would take even longer.

Some members of Congress are actively pushing to abolish Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and end the federal backstop for housing. Absent a federal role to help absorb market risk, private lenders would increase interest rates and fees on all types of available financing options. The 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage, the major housing finance tool for most Americans, would become increasingly scarce and much more costly, pricing many credit-worthy borrowers out of the marketplace.

Complicating the situation, the federal government is looking to trim back the Federal Housing Administration’s participation in the market, which would further limit the availability of low downpayment mortgages.

As policymakers debate the housing finance and budget issues that will impact job creation and future growth, they must understand the important role that housing plays in the U.S. economy. Building 100 average single-family homes generates more than 300 jobs and nearly $9 million in taxes and revenue for state, local and federal governments.

The federal proposals now under consideration would reverse national housing policies that have helped generations of American households to own their homes, enter the ranks of the middle-class, build strong and stable neighborhoods and communities and provide a steppingstone to greater long-term financial security.

For these reasons, it is important that policymakers be fully aware of the depth and breadth of housing’s many contributions to American society and that owning a home is a strong core value for most American households.

BRYAN WAGGONER

3907 Kell Boulevard • Wichita Falls • Texas 76308(940) 691-3641

Fax (940) 691-3643 • (800) 466-3642 E-Mail bryanl@waggonercarpetone.com

HOUSING POLL

1 Offer valid toward the purchase or lease of new 2010, 2011 and 2012 Buick, Chevrolet, and GMC models excluding Chevrolet Camaro Convertible and Chevrolet Volt. Not available with some other offers. Not valid on prior purchases. Program subject to change without notice. See dealer for details. Take delivery by 1/3/12. ©2011 General Motors LLC

A vAluAble

$5001

offer for nAhb members.

nAhb members can get a $5001 private offer toward the purchase or lease of most new Gm vehicles. Learn more at gmfleet.com/nahb.

5828 Ashleyanne Circle, Suite B

(940) 691-4212

Come see our Mexican Talavera Sinks and Matching Toilets!

8am to 5pm

mon-Friby JAM

We provide a “One Stop Shop” for• DOORS • WINDOWS

• MILLWORK• EXPERT INSTALLATION

Rose Martinez was the “Grand Prize” winner of the 2011 Parade of Homes. Her name was drawn from all the persons who purchased tour tickets and then turned in their tickets after they had toured the Parade entries. Steve Fairchild, general manager of Hamilton-Bryan presented Rose with a 5.8 cubic-foot Maytag Beverage Center.

Doug McCulloch, president of the North Texas Home Builders Association, said this year’s Parade of Homes was a tremendous success. Fifteen homes participated in the June event that drew more viewers than seen in several years. Again this year, half of the funds raised through the

ticket sales were given to Habitat for Humanity of Wichita Falls.

REALTOR WINS PARADE OF HOMES GRAND PRIZEBy Lee Grace

Association President Doug McCulloch is shown with Grand Prize winner Rose Martinez and Steve Fairchild, general

manager of Hamilton-Bryan, who donated the Grand Prize, a 5.8 cubic-foot Maytag Beverage Center.

Association President Doug McCulloch presents a check to Dan Gray, executive director of Habitat of Humanity of Wichita Falls.

Also shown is Kathie Forehand, development director for Habitat for Humanity. The Parade of Homes is one of the biggest

fund raisers of the year for Habitat for Humanity.

INDEPENDENCE DAY - OFFICE CLOSED ............................................................................................... July 4, 2011

MEMBERSHIP, MEETINGS & EDUCATION COMMITTEE MEETING ......................................................... July 6, 2011 • 10:00 a.m.

GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING ....................................................................................................... July 7, 2011 • 11:30 a.m

PARADE OF HOMES & SPECIAL EVENTS COMMITTEE MEETING .......................................................... July 13, 2011 • 10:00a.m.

BUDGET & BY-LAWS COMMITTEE MEETING ....................................................................................... July 19, 2011 • 9:15 a.m

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING ....................................................................................................... July 20, 2011 • 11:00a.m.

Calendar of Events

THANK YOU for your participation and willingness to give to the 2011 Parade of Homes. We could not have done it without you!

Our Builders - David Bedingfield Homes, Dennis Company Homes, Douglas Custom Homes, Garnel Construction, Harmon & Holcomb Homes, Klasse Homes, Lance Friday Homes, Mountain Construction, R.J. Wachsman Homes, Rhone Building Corporation, Rowland & Donnell Homes

Our Corporate Sponsor - Builders Lumber Company

Landmark Title Company for sponsoring a magnificent Kick-Off Lunch

Our Housing Guide Advertisers - American National Bank, Allred Thompson, Mason, Daugherty Insurance, Atmos Energy, Binswanger Glass Company, Breegle Building Products, Dutch Watson Cabinets, The Ember Shop, Ferguson Enterprises, Ferguson-Veresh Heating & Air, Fidelity Bank, First Bank, Guarantee Title Company, JAM-Doors, Windows & Millwork, Landmark Title Company, Lantern House, Lowe’s, Marble Works, Inc., Morrison Supply Company, S & H G ran i t e , Sm i th ’s Ga rden to wn , Stewart Title Company, Texas Carpet Outlet, Texoma Community Credit Union, Union Square Federal Credit Union, Vic & James Paint Center, Waggoner Carpet One and Woodco Supply Company

Those who donated prizes - Hamilton Bryan, Archer Title, Fidelity Bank, First National Bank and State National Bank.

Those of you who took the time to participate in the Kick-Off Lunch and Ribbon Cutting and the people who bought tickets and visited the Parade Homes.

You are greatly appreciated!

Congratulat ions to these Winners! Rose Martinez winner of the Under Counter Beverage Center donated by Hamilton Bryan, Guarantee Title winner of a ceiling fan donated by Fidelity Bank, Vivian Kirkpatrick winner of the golf bag donated by State National Bank, Rebecca Lammers winner of a $25.00 gift card donated by Archer Title Company, Linda Taylor - winner of a $25.00 gift card donated by Archer Title Company and Rick Spicer winner of a $25.00 gift card donated by First National Bank. We also extend our apology to Landmark Title for the omission of their ad in the Housing Guide.

Thirteen members of the North Texas Home Builders Assocation spent Thursday, June 23, touring the 363rd Training Squadron operations at Sheppard Air Force Base.

The group was met at the Missile Road entrance and taken to the ordinance range by Senior Airman Ryan Barta.

They learned about ordinance detonation from Master Sgt. Jason Putman, Tech Sgt. Adam Wade, and Staff Sgt. Eric Ybarra. They then observed (and felt) a 100-foot long detonation cord explode, as well as explosions of TNT and C4.

Following the ordinance demonstrations, the group toured the 363rd Training Squadron with Col. Anthony Puente and Capt. Pedro DeLeon. They learned about the role the squadron has in training airmen and airwomen concerning

ordinance, bombs and nuclear weapons. Leading the training were Sgt. Desmond Ojeda and Sgt. Chandler Vasquez.

Students learn how to build weapons, store weapons, and load weapons on different aircraft. The group also learned about the different weapon systems found on F-16, F-15, A-10, B-1, B-52 and other Air Force aircraft.

Association members participating in the tour included Doug McCulloch, Chuck Vergauwen, Stan Mountain, Charles Barr, Chase Radillo, Mason Adams, Steve Hinson, Alan Hinson, Sharon Tucker, Harold Newton, Scott Hollars, Teri Gibson, and Lee Grace.

HOME BUILDER MEMBERS TOUR AIR FORCE TRAINING FACILITY

When you work with Stewart, you get more than just our years of experience benefitting your business. You get knowledgeable, full-time, dedicated associates working alongside you at your job sites, in the community, as well as with local, state and national builder associations, and political action committees.

Contact us for more information about why Stewart Title is the right partner for you.

Because we are committed to the success of the builder industry.

Randy SchaffnerStewart Title Company of Wichita Falls2733 Midwestern Parkway, Suite 100 Wichita Falls, TX 76308 (940) 691-5600

© 2009 Stewart Title Guaranty Company. All rights reserved.

by charlie cook

pho

to: g

etty

imag

es/j

usti

n su

lliv

an

june 4 , 2011 national journal 60

Slow growth: The housing sector is weighing down the recovery.

and economic turmoil have not diluted their dream of homeownership and the aspiration-al element that makes the notion a core value.

Some have suggested that the govern-ment end tax incentives for homeowners, but the survey suggests a hostile voter reaction to that plan. Told that “since the federal in-come tax was introduced in 1913, the federal government has used the tax code to encour-age home ownership,” respondents were then asked: “In general, do you think it is appro-priate and reasonable for the federal govern-ment to provide tax incentives to promote homeownership, or do you think it is not a good idea?” Seventy-three percent of all vot-ers thought those incentives should be pro-vided, including 71 percent of Republicans, 68 percent of independents, 79 percent of Demo-crats, and even 68 percent of those who sup-port the tea party movement.

When asked about requiring a 20 percent down payment to purchase a home, respon-dents split evenly, with 49 percent support-ing such a threshold and 49 percent opposing it. But among those most likely to be affect-ed, mortgage holders and renters ages 18 to 54, opposition was strong, with 58 percent of younger mortgage holders and 59 percent of younger renters opposed to adding that hur-dle to buying a home.

Given this kind of visceral connection to homeownership, it’s not surprising that 71 percent of respondents oppose eliminating the mortgage-interest deduction and 63 per-cent oppose lowering it. Moreover, 58 percent oppose eliminating the deduction for home- equity loans or limiting the deduction for those who earn more than $250,000 a year. Fifty-seven percent of voters said they would be less likely to support a candidate for Congress who wanted to eliminate the mortgage-interest deduction; only 26 percent said they would be more likely to support such a candidate.

These numbers are pretty much across the board: Sixty-three percent of Republicans, 56 percent of independents, 55 percent of Demo-crats, 61 percent of tea party supporters, and 58 percent of those voters in congressional districts held by freshman Republicans would be less likely to support a candidate who fa-vored killing the deduction. With the unusu-ally large sample, the pollsters segmented respondents who live in congressional dis-tricts that The Cook Political Report rates in the swing category. Fifty-eight percent of that group were less likely to support such a candi-date, with 56 percent of those voters in swing Senate states and 54 percent in states that The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza rates as swing presidential states.

The clear message is that owning a home is among the values that Americans most cherish—an important part of the American Dream. n

Last week’s confirmation that the gross do-mestic product grew only 1.8 percent in the first quarter came when economists were al-ready busily revising their growth forecasts downward for the rest of this year. A double-dip recession remains unlikely, but this is the weakest recovery since the Great Depression and the first one not being led by housing. The nearly moribund housing sector is, in fact, weighing down the recovery.

The conundrum is very real. On the one hand, the subprime-mortgage crisis and easy money—loans with minimal down payments and scant documentation—brought the U.S. economy to its knees just three years ago. Clearly, changes had to be made to prevent that from recurring. On the other hand, hous-ing-industry leaders now fear that the pendu-lum is swinging too far the other way, poten-tially decimating an already battered sector and further stifling the anemic recovery. Al-though we hear the perennial debate over limiting the homeowners’ mortgage-interest deduction, which would hurt the middle and higher end of the housing market, other pro-posed regulations really terrify the industry. These rules include increased down-payment requirements and loan restrictions for all but those with near-bulletproof credit ratings.

A bipartisan national poll of 2,000 likely voters to be released next week by the Nation-al Association of Home Builders makes clear the unique position that homeownership holds in Americans’ minds and the delicacy required in dealing with the issue.

The May 3-9 telephone survey, conduct-ed by Celinda Lake and Jonathan Voss of the Democratic polling firm Lake Research Part-ners and by Neil Newhouse and Robert Bliz-zard of the GOP outfit Public Opinion Strat-egies, found that 75 percent of voters believe “that owning a home is the best long-term in-vestment they can make and is worth the risk of ups and downs in the housing market.”

Interestingly, a high percentage of people in different financial situations felt this way, including 81 percent of those who own their homes outright, 76 percent with mortgages, 67 percent who are renters, and 65 percent with underwater mortgages. Respondents were also asked whether they would recom-mend buying a house to a close friend or fam-ily member just starting out. Eighty percent of all voters said yes, including 78 percent who had underwater mortgages. Seventy-three percent of the respondents who do not own a home said that their goal is to eventually buy one. Clearly, the decline in home values

The Cook Report

The Home FrontDespite the housing slump, Americans of all political persuasions have a visceral desire to own their own home.

Mike Lewis ........................................................................10Beverly Wyatt ...................................................................18Brian Hooker .....................................................................20Travis Partee .....................................................................22Robbie Shaver ..................................................................25Patrick Pond .....................................................................25

JULY Birthdays

OPEN TO ALL MEMBERSWe are accepting applications for the Housing Hall of Honor. The nominee does not have to be a builder. This Honor is to celebrate men and women who have made significant and lasting contributions to the housing industry. You may obtain a copy of the guidelines and application by visiting www.nthba.com or call the NTHBA office at 692-2211 and request a copy. Please take this opportunity to nominate someone who deserves to be honored in our industry.

Deadline for applications will be July 25, 2011 by 5:00 p.m.

HOUSING HALL OF HONOR

We’re Here When You Need Us.Serving Wichita, Archer and Clay Counties

1920 Elmwood North Ave. • Wichita Falls, Texas 76308(940) 720-5200 • (940) 691-3199 Fax

Jean Taylor, CESA Maggie Johnson Vice President / Escrow Officer Operations Mgr. / Escrow Officer (940) 720-5202 (940) 720-5203 jeant@archertitle.com maggiej@archertitle.com

CHRIS•DOCKMAN•COMPANY2071 FM 171

Wichita Falls, Texas 76305Phone & Fax (940) 767-9710

Cell (940) 704-3471 Jerry Fillmon, Owner/Manager

Ember ShopTHE

Serving Texas & Oklahoma since 1971

www.TheEmberShop.com (940) 692-6300 • Fax (940) 692-6302

Fireplaces by

Service and Installation

Xtrordinair

Monessen

Isokern

Stone Age

Mendota

Majestic

Vanguard

Town & Country

Golden Blount

Wood Burning & Gas Wood & Cast Stone Mantels

Outdoor Kitchens

JOHNNY McCLANE4101 McNiel Avenue

Wichita Falls, TX 76308

Lane Landes, Owner

2801 Kell East

Wichita Falls

Texas 76308

Phone (940) 692-5734

Fax (940) 692-0391

tco@wf.net

Serving This Area Since 1946

940-723-0944

2801 Midwestern Parkway, Suite 200Wichita Falls, Texas 76308

940-696-0000 phone • 940-687-1725 faxwww.fstbnk.com

MORRISON SUPPLY ............................................ Robbie ShaverFERGUSON–VERESH ............................................John FergusonATMD INSURANCE ................................................ Jamie HarrisTIMES RECORD NEWS ...............................................Lee GraceSTEWART TITLE COMPANY ..............................Randy SchaffnerHORIZON HOMES ................................................ Larry Walters

Thanks for Renewing!

RWP SERVICES ´OCE of Texas

Certified Construction Elevation SurveyRandy Pebworth940-692-6117 O&F • 940-733-5339 • rwpeb10@gmail.com

FencingCustom Gates

Landscaping

Long Name. Big On Service.

1300 Tenth Street • 723-0771

Ralph Dunkelberg IIIVice President

Mortgage Services

1401 Holliday • Wichita Falls, TX 76301

940-720-8054 • Cell 940-704-1789

Fax 940-720-8071

Email ralph.dunkelberg@usfcu.us

WINDOWS, DOORSAND MORE!

522 Beverly DriveWichita Falls, Texas 76309 723-1436