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The former meat packing plant and dry/cold storage facility at the intersection of Sunol and San Fernando streets had been an eyesore in central San Jose, Calif., for years. But Joe Head, president and CEO of Palo Alto, Calif.–based SummerHill Homes, saw beauty in the 5.86 acre lot. It was a mere...
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When RÖhe & Wright acquired the 24-unit apartment building that would eventually be razed and resurrected as Cheyne Walk, there was one small sticking point: It still had tenants. So the Houston-based builder/developer gave the existing occupants ample notice, served as landlord for one year while...
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Built on the site of San Francisco's 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exhibition, the Marina District rests on a base of sand and mud dredged from the bottom of the ocean, a landfill specially created as the setting for that year's world's fair.
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In the 1920s, U Street, the capital corridor known as “Black Broadway,” boasted thriving cabarets and was a favorite stomping ground of the jazz elite, including hometown legend Duke Ellington. But over the years, the area fell into disrepair.
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The former meat packing plant and dry/cold storage facility at the intersection of Sunol and San Fernando streets had been an eyesore in central San Jose, Calif., for years. But Joe Head, president and CEO of Palo Alto, Calif.–based SummerHill Homes, saw beauty in the 5.86 acre lot. It was a mere...
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When RÖhe & Wright acquired the 24-unit apartment building that would eventually be razed and resurrected as Cheyne Walk, there was one small sticking point: It still had tenants. So the Houston-based builder/developer gave the existing occupants ample notice, served as landlord for one year while...
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It wasn't long ago that urban infill was a niche market dominated by a select few. Not anymore. With land in scarce supply and prices skyrocketing, it's no wonder that more than a handful of volume builders have gone sniffing for new profit centers and launched infill divisions. Empty-nesters are...
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Many small businesses lack plans to weather—and recover from—a disaster, whether it's natural or man-made, unique to their business or affecting an entire region.
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When Dennis Johnson and his wife, Joan Black, moved in to their new home in Warmington Homes' Bayport Alameda community in Alameda, Calif., the couple didn't have to spend any time figuring out how the garbage disposal or the thermostat worked. They'd already had a detailed lesson during a...
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Allison Grant knows, more or less, how her Mondays will play out. She'll turn on her computer, pour a cup of joe, and attend meetings like every other American worker. But Mondays also bring an assignment that is an essential part of the sales manager's job at the Fairfax, Va., office of Brookfield...
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Not too long ago, First American Title, one of the industry's largest title companies, found itself on the defensive when some of its large builder-clients complained that its service wasn't cutting it with their customers. “Builders said to us, ‘You guys have to change,' ” recalls Mike Hinkle, a...
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It's a rainy Saturday in February, and home buyers Lisa and Chuck Brousseau have an appointment at Creative Touch Interiors (CTI), in Landover, Md., to select the hardwood and vinyl flooring, carpeting, padding, and window coverings for their new 4,700-square-foot home. The task doesn't seem...
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At the Ryland Homes sales center for its newest phase, Northwest Village, the team of three sales consultants—Darci Brammer, Troy Alexander, and Maddy Rosado—and an assistant have arrived early to unlock the models and to check their to-do lists, a computer-generated task list of follow-up phone...
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Every builder provides essentially the same product. The elevations, floor plans, and square footage may vary, but it's all about providing shelter. So in order to differentiate your company, especially in markets that are beginning to soften, the question becomes one of how to offer customers...
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Once just a concept, A truly zero-energy home (ZEH) is now a reality in several locales throughout the United States. And the opportunities to construct ZEHs are growing as solar and other energy-efficient technologies become more affordable.
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Rapid house price gains and rising mortgage rates have taken a heavy toll on housing affordability in many areas. As a result, home sales have come off the record highs of last year, and inventories of unsold new homes have climbed in the process. Cancellations of prior sales have moved up as well...
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You would think that, by now, government officials would understand this simple equation: More regulation equals higher housing prices and lower affordability. Yet year after year—and despite numerous government and independent studies documenting how much regulation adds to the cost of new housing...
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- The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index lists Indianapolis as the nation's most affordable major housing market for a second consecutive quarter.
- Higher interest rates and rising home prices cause nationwide housing affordability to slip for a fourth consecutive quarter.
- Congress...
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If every home builder issues contracts, releases work orders, and schedules new-home construction over 90 days in roughly the same way, why do builders need workflow software?
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- Buildtopia adds On Demand reporting tool to its Web-based home building system products.
- Constellation Home-Builder Systems develops interface to link its Web-based sales system to Oracle's PeopleSoft/J.D. Edwards system.