New home sales up

The Commerce Dept. reported new home sales rose 2.4% in July, but sales in June fell to the lowest point since Sept. 1991. Tighter lending could stall any housing recovery. The sub-prime mortgage fiasco continues to affect lenders and mortgage holders, as the huge losses by the lenders are yet to play out. They simply can not and will not approve high risk loans anymore. That disqualifies many potential home buyers. Most experts agree the credit crunch will not ease, and with it the upswing in new home building, until 2010. Defaults on mortgages continue at a high rate, and foreclosures increase. Many of the new home sales in July were homes deeply discounted by builders simply to get warm paying bodies in many units that have sat completed and unsold.

New Homes Still Weak

New home construction continues to be at lowest level since early 80s.Existing home renovations are at low levels,as the recession causes middle class homeowners into a wait and see attitude.Contractors are undercutting each other to get work.Price sells the job,so the average customer is presently in the drivers seat as many,if not most,contractors are in the squeeze of trying to retain skilled workers in the face of slow times.There is such a slowdown in construction that highly experienced tradesmen are leaving the industry in large numbers.There is a downward pressure on wages as there are more tradesmen than work.Management will seek any and all avenues to cut costs,including materials,benefits,and especially labor costs.As always,ready to leap into the labor vacuum are the low and medium skilled workers who always run after the dangled plum.

2008 worst construction year since '80s

With 2008 sixty percent over,it already ranks as the slowest construction year since the early 80s,with new home construction at a trickle.The mortgage crisis continues,even with interest rates at historic lows.New home buyers are faced with tighter qualifying rules set by lenders,while many first time buyers are in fear of layoffs and stagnant wages.The building trades are feeling the constricted construction severely,as layoffs are a constant black cloud.Many skilled tradesmen are faced with the fact that healthy construction levels will not come back until 2010.

Laid off and bills to pay

Opportunities on the internet offer an income until the construction slump eases.Starting a website is one way.Search for work at home and see the hundreds of sites.

Housing pinch getting worse

Builders now have 40% buyer cancellation rates and billions of dollars in writedowns on undeveloped land.Manufacturers are passing to builders high cost spikes on insulation,roof shingles,carpet,and especially driveway asphalt.All deliveries to developments are adding surcharges for diesel fuel that is $5 a gallon or more.More industry analysts now say this housing slump will not end until 2010.Tradesmen are faced with a dry well as far as new home construction.Skilled trades will see many builders with whom years of solid relationships were enjoyed out of business by 2010.Serious thought has to be given to other careers,at least until this severe construction downturn goes upward.

End of school year injects job seekers

With college and high school done for the summer,thousands of young men are seeking entry level and unskilled laborer jobs.With construction at a standstill,the pressure on skilled tradesmen and journeymen will increase.Job security in the construction industry is shaky.In past years,new home building was so robust as to absorb summer help.This is what used to the busy building season.New housing starts are anemic.Hiring is spotty,at best.The laws of supply and demand dictate that with the present glut of available workers,the positions that can be filled will pay less.Those with a job will be expected to do more work for a pay scale that will certainly have a downward pressure on it.Searching the Internet is a way to find a way to earn until construction slump eases.

Construction starts at standstill

Trying to ride out the building and constuction depression is a stressful proposition.CEOs of major builders are predicting this slump will not see upswing until 2010.Who can wait for that if your main source of income is in the trades?I have been looking in the internet for alternatives.There are certainly too many scams,but there are legitimate options.Problem is,you have to weed out the empty promises.Who can you really put trust in?Only yourself.I have found some opportunities and they all involve a commitment of time and effort.The key is not to get discouraged.There are no get-rich schemes.But there are ways on the internet to make a buck.

bleak forecast for new home building

News item:6/3/08. The U.S. Commerce Dept. reported construction activity fell .4% in April following .6% decline in March.Spending has not increased since Sept. 2007.New home building dropped 2.3% in May,the 26th consecutive monthly decline.Construction spending has been falling for more than 2 years.Earliest prediction,with no guarantee,out of slump is spring 2009. Skilled Labor is caught in this vise. Mortgage lenders have severely tightened loans.Tradesmen cannot sit idle and wait for this crisis to play out.They have bills to pay and dependents to feed.

looking for other careers

Men who have mastered their trades are now in tight spots through factors out of their hands.The sub-prime mortgage crisis has impacted new home construction heavily.Those out of work will continue to grow.There is at present more skilled labor than is required in a depressed construction industry.Those that still have jobs are in a position that management can and will use to advantage.Consider a free avenue of exploration:the internet.