Oasis Inn & Convention Center
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The housing and construction sectors of the economy are essential for creating jobs and increasing business activity and local economic vitality. The HBA’s Ozarks Regional Housing & Construction Conference provides the private and public sectors with accurate information about the status of the housing and construction industries and practical steps to activate that information for the benefit of individual businesses, the industry and local economies. The conference is designed for Realtors, Commercial Brokers, Residential Builders, Commercial Contractors, Developers, Lenders, Elected Officials, Government Decision-Makers, Planning & Development Board Members and Related Public Sector Staff.
MAY 25, 2011
DRAFT Conference Agenda & Schedule
7:30 am Check-in / Registration / Continental Breakfast
8:00 am Opening General Session (Main Stage Meeting Area)
The National Scene: What is the State of Housing Nationwide?
Dr. Elliot Eisenberg, Senior Economist
National Association of Home Builders
Dr. Elliot Eisenberg is a nationally-renowned speaker on housing and housing related topics including: the economic impact of homebuilding, the unintended consequences of government regulations on house prices, residential fire safety, how to reduce construction risk and boost builder profits using financial derivatives and many other topics. He is the creator of the multifamily stock index and is the author of more than 50 homebuilding industry articles. Dr. Eisenberg is frequently seen on television and heard on radio and his research and opinions have been featured in Business Week, Forbes, Fortune, most national and local newspapers, and in many other publications. In his unique, entertaining, and informative style, Dr. Eisenberg will highlight the state of the housing sector of the national economy – comparing and contrasting the unique characteristics of widely varied local markets across the U.S. This session will conclude with an “open forum” style Q & A session with Dr. Eisenberg.
9:00 am Break
9:15 am Breakout Session #1:
Innovative NEW Solutions in Renovation, Remodel and New Home Financing
Speaker Name To Be Announced
(Recommended Audience: Realtors, Builders, Developers, Public Sector, Lenders)
Mortgage fundamentals, solutions that will work today, and real world strategies…YOU CAN HELP your homebuyers’ dreams come true. Learn from the nation’s mortgage leader what every home builder and developer needs to know to build more homes or sell more lots. Remodelors will discover all-new renovation financing options sure to sell your next remodel job. Realtors will add tools to their sales toolbox. Policymakers will discover innovative solutions to the biggest barrier to economic recovery from the local to the national level.
Specialty Roundtable #1:
Strategies for Subcontractors & Suppliers: Four Secrets to Improve Your Business in 2011
Joe Zanola, Zanola Company LLC
(Recommended Audience: Suppliers and Subcontractors)
2011 is a critical year for suppliers and subcontractors. The goals of this session are meant to help you right now to: (1) INCREASE SALES, (2) IMPROVE MARGINS, (3) REDUCE EXPENSES, and (4) LEAD YOUR MARKET WITH CUSTOMER LOYALTY. If you’re ready to move beyond the “give me your best price” onslaught, this session if for you! A “Four Secrets QUICK ACTIONS NOW Workbook” will be provided to each company attending.
10:30 am Breakout Session #2:
In it together: Strengthening Home Appraisals for the Future
Speaker Names TBA (Speakers will include: Appraisers, Lenders, Real Estate Professionals)
The key to everything is appraisals. Loans can’t happen without them, and people don’t often buy houses with suitcases full of cash! A perfect storm of deflated property values, foreclosures, short sales and economic recession too often have turned appraisals from an essential tool to a stifling barrier in the sales process. Complicating the problem, legitimate market segments that traditionally hold the highest sales values are invisible to most appraisers as comparables. Learn how diligent builders, realtors, appraisers and lenders can and are working together to address perhaps the biggest challenge to recovery the housing industry faces.
(Recommended Audience: Builders, Developers, Realtors, Lenders, Suppliers, Subcontractors)
Specialty Roundtable #2:
MarketGraphics, Demographics, and a Winning Region…Southwest Missouri Style
Joe Zanola, Zanola Company LLC
(Recommended Audience: Regulatory Staff, Elected Officials, Utilities, Builders)
Want to know why the region’s demographic trends are so critically important? We’ll present new research findings for southwest Missouri and what this means for you. We’ll forecast housing needs, trends, and a new vision for community planning and home design. Homebuilders, bring your governmental officials. Governmental officials, bring your homebuilders.
11:30am Lunch Served
State of the U.S. Economy, Banking, and the Road to Recovery
Kevin Kliesen, Business Economist
Federal Reserve Bank, St. Louis
MarketGraphics Construction Forecast: Where Are We, What’s Ahead?
Edsel Charles, President & Founder
MarketGraphics Research Group
1:30 pm Breakout Session #3:
Workers Compensation Law in Construction & Permitting:
Fact vs. Fiction for Local Governments
Hon. Margaret Holden, Chief Administrative Law Judge
Matt Morrow, CEO, HBA of Greater Springfield
Chad Connell, Connell Insurance
(Recommended Audience: Elected Officials, Regulatory Officials, Utilities, Builders)
Are builders, suppliers, and subcontractors operating legally within your city or county jurisdiction? Is your building regulations department unknowingly issuing permits to contractors who are in violation of Missouri Workers Compensation Law? This session will clarify precisely what is required by Missouri law, and highlight simple steps local governments can take to ensure that the building permits they issue go to contractors who operate within the law. The session will explain how recent changes to the Missouri “Affidavit of Exemption” form to improve and simplify compliance with the law.
Specialty Roundtable #3:
Ask the Experts….Open Session with Edsel Charles and Joe Zanola.
Joe Zanola, Zanola Company LLC
Edsel Charles, MarketGraphics Research
(Recommended Audience: Builders, Realtors, Suppliers/Subcontractors, Lenders)
From your easiest question to your toughest challenge – Edsel and Joe will address your needs in an informal question and answer session. All are welcome to kick back and benefit from this open sharing session.
2:30 pm Refreshment Break
2:45 pm Specialty Roundable #4:
POWER LEADERSHIP: The Data Every City, County, and State Government Needs (and How to Use it)
Joe Zanola, The Zanola Company
(Recommended: Elected Officials, Regulatory Officials, Utilities)
What matters most may be what we deal with least…but not in this power session! We’ll lay out the most important data drivers for your community’s future and your government’s direction. People + Housing + Employment equal a big part of where we choose to live. We’ll provide a template of how review and use this critical data….and tips for forecasting. If you preregister for this session, you will receive a mapped demographics and housing data workbook, customized for your community..
Specialty Roundtable #5:
For Lenders Only: Lender-Specific Q&A with Edsel Charles
(Recommended Audience: Lenders / Bankers)
Financial professionals in attendance will be a part of a candid discussion of the challenges and issues facing the lending industry and receive specific resources and tools to help navigate those challenges.
Specialty Roundtable #6:
What Must I Do NOW? How recent changes in the law affect YOU, Your Contracts, and your Business
Speaker Names to Be Announced
How do recent changes to state and federal law affect your business? What language is now prescribed by law to be in your sales or construction contracts? Are your lien rights in jeopardy? How can you protect them? How can you insulate yourself from needless legal action? In this panel discussion these questions and more will be addressed on topics including Right to Repair, Fire Sprinklers Mandatory Option, Missouri’s New Mechanics Lien Law, New Workers Compensation Requirements, Federal 1099 requirements, EPA Lead-Safe Workplace Certification mandate, and more.
(Recommended Audience: Builders, Realtors, Suppliers & Subcontractors)
4:00pm Featured General Session Keynote (Main Stage Meeting Area)
Presentation of Local Economic Impact of Housing Findings
Dr. Elliot Eisenberg, National Association of Home Builders
The process of developing and building new housing generates substantial local economic activity, including new income and jobs for residents, and additional revenue for local governments. Home building generates income and jobs for local residents, as well as revenue for local governments. Home building also imposes some costs on local governments that supply education, police and fire protection, and other public services to support the new homes. All of this has been historically difficult to accurately and fully quantify. Now, recognized economic models exist to accurately measure the costs and benefits of residential construction to a community. For the first time, these models have been applied to the Greater Springfield market to precisely demonstrate the true economic impact of local home building, and the findings will be released and analyzed in this session.
5:30pm Conference After-Party:
Celebrating Housing’s Economic Impact & Life-Changing Power
Fulbright Springs Development
North Farm Road 143, just off Norton Road
Join us for a reception and tour of Sustainable Housing Solutions’ innovative 21st-century approach to affordable housing. This project not only supported jobs and generated income during its construction, it is demonstrating the power of a single family home to change people’s lives for the better – a hand “up” rather than a hand “out”.