Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 1, 1990 TAG: 9004020422
SECTION: HOMES PAGE: D1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY HOMES EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
This weekend's show was the 20th for the group, founded in 1955 as the Roanoke Valley Home Builders. Steven S. Strauss, president, announced the new name Friday when he also revealed that the home builders officially back a metropolitan government for the valley.
Strauss said the new name and the consolidation stand reflect a more aggressive position by the group, which has 550 member firms, including 115 construction companies.
The construction industry represents more than 6 percent of the Roanoke-area employment base, and its work force during spring and summer is larger than those at Norfolk Southern, Carilion Health System or General Electric, Strauss said.
In the last quarter of 1989, the construction industry supported more than 670 firms and employed more than 7,600 people with a payroll of more than $35 million, he said.
By taking a more vocal role, the Roanoke Regional Home Builders is joining a national effort by builder and real estate groups to offset the concern that the housing industry is in decline.
The National Association of Realtors, with 800,000 members, and the 157,000-member National Association of Home Builders have begun campaigning the media for a more positive message about housing. The groups say media coverage of the housing slowdown is adding to the problem by scaring some buyers out of the market and making lenders jittery.
The media have "kept up an incessant mewl of pessimistic drivel that has compounded the already significant disorder of our financial system," said John Tuccillo, NAR's chief economist.
Most of the articles that have builders and Realtors upset appeared in newspapers in December or in early January. They include a Wall Street Journal article headlined "Home-Price Slump Spreads to Both Coasts, Causing Market Jitters"; a Barron's article called "Crumbling Castles," and a Newsweek piece simply titled "The Great Housing Bust."
The Realtors' and builders' campaigns come at a time when sales, construction and even prices have dropped in many parts of the nation.
Home resales in the United States are down 5 percent from a year ago and sales of new homes are at their lowest level in nearly a year. And although the Department of Commerce said last month that housing starts had rebounded in January, it noted that the December construction rate was the lowest in seven years.
NAR President Norman Flynn has been touring cities across the country to "dispute the real estate death knell being sounded by some economists and doomsayers."
The message was upbeat Saturday at the Better Living Expo at the Salem Civic Center. The show has been better than in previous years, said Melody Williams, executive vice president for the Roanoke builders' group.
Williams said the show drew more than 900 people on Friday night, when it opened. She was under pressure to open early Saturday because ticket lines were long well before the 11 a.m. scheduled opening.
The 100 exhibits reflect the trends in the home building and remodeling industry. On display are wood flooring with inlaid designs, home spas in various shapes and colors - teal and peach among them - and kitchens with the popular white appliances.
Lighting displays offer a variety of formal chandeliers, space-age glass, and brass and verdigris finishes. A vinyl siding display has brochures to show the use of its product in renovation of older houses.
Outdoor exhibits include gazebos and storage buildings and a new masonry retaining wall system called Versa-Lok, which eliminates the need for footings and mortar. Versa-Lok is being increasingly used for both commercial and residential landscaping, according to Larry Davis, marketing coordinator for Marshall Concrete Products of Christiansburg.
Davis said the product also is being used in basements.
Steve Cohan also was marketing multiple use at his lobby display for Tulikivi stoves. Cohan operates Hot Rock Masonry of Floyd and covers a territory that reaches into North Carolina and West Virginia for the Finnish company that owns The New Alberene Stone Co. soapstone operation at Schuyler in Nelson County.
Cohan, who is a stonemason, said he is beginning to get more inquiries for saunas and bake ovens, but his display includes a formal fireplace mantle as well as an operating stove.
Cohan's booth was among 10 selected as best-in-show. Other exhibits recognized were bathroom fixtures by Wholesale Enterprises Inc.; concrete masonry and landscaping materials by Blue Stone Block Inc.; Four Seasons Greenhouses-solarium by F&S Building and Remodeling Corp.; bath and kitchen fixtures by Hajoca Corp.; appliances, floor covering and lights by Builder's Supply of Roanoke Inc.; bath fixtures by CMC Supply Inc.; satellite television by ACS Inc.; manufactured stone by Century Stone, and heating and cooling systems by PMI Services Inc.
The show continues today from noon to 6 p.m. General admission is $2; $1 for persons over 65. Children under 12 are admitted free if with a parent.
Los Angeles Times contributed some information for this story.
by CNB