Builders News August 2018

2 ICAHBA Builders News | August 2018
Message from the President
Dear HBA Members,
What do higher interest rates mean for the housing market?
If you have been thinking
about buying or have
recently purchased a
home you know that
the market is incredibly
competitive. Part of the
reason for the vibrant
housing market is that
interest rates have been
low for almost a decade.
But the era of ultra-low
interest rates appears to
be slowly coming to an end. The current national average
interest rate for a 30 year fixed loan home mortgage is 4.4%
as of July 1st, 2018.
So how do rising interest rates translate into real dollars?
Let’s say that you decided to purchase a $300,000 home
and you are planning on putting 20% down, or $60,000 and
finance $240,000 over 30 years. If you locked in your loan at
3.5% interest rate your monthly payment would be $1,078
and you would end up paying $387,975 over the term of the
loan. If you locked in your loan at 4.25% interest rate your
monthly payment would be $1,180 and you would end up
paying $425,036 over the term of the loan excluding taxes
and insurance.
When should you buy?
If you are looking to buy and are able to do it now, you’ll
save money over doing it later. Not only are interest rates
expected to continue to climb, we are also seeing building
material price increases that are outpacing wage growth.
Any additional increases in the interest rates mean that
your monthly payment is higher, which decreases your
purchasing power.
Some Perspective.
Mortgage rates will continue to be low by historical standards.
They were around 7% in the 1990’s and in the early 1980’s they
were as high as 18%! So while interest rates may creep toward
5% over the next year remember that we didn’t see a rate
below 5% until 2009. So while the rates aren’t as low as they
once were it is still a good time to buy a home.
Sincerely, Adam Hahn
Watts Group - Director of Construction Services
2018 Greater Iowa City Area HBA President
2018 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
PRESIDENT
Adam Hahn
Watts Development Group
PAST PRESIDENT
Andy Martin
Martin Construction
1ST VICE PRESIDENT
GT Karr
Sueppel’s Siding & Remodeling
2ND VICE PRESIDENT
Mike Bails
Urban Acres
SECRETARY
Kelly Manning
Sobaski Abbey Carpet & Floor
TREASURER
Marty Tunning
RSM US LLP
Builders Respond to Growing Interest in Green Homes
During National Homeownership Month in June, we’re focusing
on the critical role that the home plays in our lives and how NAHB
members are finding innovative ways to build the American Dream.
Ongoing research by NAHB and its partners shows that many
home buyers are interested in green, sustainable and highperformance
building practices. NAHB’s report, Housing
Preferences of the Boomer Generation: How They Compare to
Other Home Buyers, asked home buyers across four generations –
millennials, Gen Xers, baby boomers and seniors – what features
they consider essential/desirable in a new home.
DIRECTORS
Glenn Siders - Siders Development
Mike Pugh - Pugh Hagan Prahm, PLC
Art Floss - CBI Bank & Trust
Chad Keune - Advantage Custom Builders
Rory Triplett - Insurance Associates Iowa City
Todd Helle - Terry Lockridge & Dunn
STATE REPRESENTATIVES
HBAI PAST PRESIDENT
Tim Ruth - McCreedy-Ruth Construction
HBAI TREASURER
Melissa Schooley - Great Western Bank
NATIONAL DIRECTOR
Aaron McGlynn - CabinetWorks Construction
Energy-efficient strategies, including ENERGY STAR appliances
and windows and above-code insulation made the most-wanted
list and would positively influence the purchase decision of 80% or
more of all home buyers. Water-efficient features were also cited as
essential/desirable by 72% of respondents.
Builders are responding to this interest by increasingly
incorporating these strategies in new home construction.
“Homes constructed with green, sustainable and high-performance
strategies offer home owners a product that can reduce their
total cost of ownership through lower utility bills and can be
resold at a premium in many markets,” said Troy Johns, founder
of Urban Northwest Homes in Vancouver, Wash. “These homes
also generally provide increased comfort and a healthier indoor
environment for occupants.”
Approximately one-quarter of the single-family builders in NAHB’s
2017 Green Practices Survey are building with strategies that would
qualify for at least Bronze-level certification under the requirements
of the 2015 National Green Building Standard (NGBS).
The NGBS is the only green rating system approved by the
American National Standards Institute and provides thirdparty
certification for residential construction through six key
categories: site design, resource efficiency, water efficiency, energy
efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and building operation
and maintenance. Homes must meet a minimum threshold in each
category to achieve certification.
The Green Practices Survey also showed that current home building
practices among respondents met Bronze level certification in energy
efficiency for 74% of the properties and over half met it for water,
indoor environmental quality and operation/maintenance.
To help industry professionals respond to the growing interest in
green building, NAHB offers the Certified Green Professional
and Master Certified Green Professional designations. These
designations recognize builders, remodelers and other industry
professionals who incorporate green and sustainable building
principles into homes. NAHB also offers educational courses in
green building. Get started at nahb.org/learn.
For more information about sustainable building practices, contact
Michelle Diller.
REMODELERS COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE
Brad Storck - Bachmeier Carpet One
2018 COMMITTEE CONTACTS
PARADE OF HOMES
Dan Robertson - Overhead Door Company
of Cedar Rapids & Iowa City
Mitchell Manning – Sobaski Abbey
Carpet and Floor
IOWA CITY HOME SHOW
Katy Stutsman – Kitchens By Design
Maggie Gehrls – PSC Distribution
The Greater Iowa City Area
Home Builders Association
EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Karyl Bohnsack
karyl@hbaofic.org
PO Box 3396, Iowa City, IA 52244
Phone: 319.351.5333 • Fax: 319.358.2443
Website: www.iowacityhomes.com