September is finally here.  We are all praying for cooler weather…and a LITTLE RAIN would be nice too!  The intense heat did not seem to hinder the turn-out for Home Pac’s 4th Annual Skeet Shoot on August 25th at Weber’s.  The success of the event is the result of a lot of hard work by many. Thanks to Troy, Cheryl, and Debbie Swift for their hard work in organizing the event. A special thanks to all of you who contributed to the event as sponsors and to Weber’s for their outstanding facility.  In addition, much appreciation goes to Jason Carothers and Chad Levin who did an excellent job of cooking on the grill all day long. Even with the warm weather everyone seemed to have a great time.    

Our next TABA event is the Fish Fry/Associate Member Appreciation event and Black Bass Catch & Release Tournament on Friday, October 2nd at Temple Lake Park.  The fishing tournament will start at first light that morning followed by the Fish Fry at noon.  Although there is an entry fee for the fishing tournament, the Fish Fry is free to all.  The Fish Fry is sponsored by our builder members in an effort to show our appreciation for our associate members.  The fishing tournament is open to members and nonmembers.  Tournament registration information and more details can be found on the TABA website. The support of our builder and associate members is critical to making this event a success, so please mark your calendars for this fun upcoming event.  Hopefully, the weather in October will be cooler and the fish will be biting.

We are proud to welcome the following new members:  Labor Finders, Lisa Childers and Woodward Creative Group, Bill Woodward.  We encourage all new 2009 members to attend the Fish Fry in October so they can be recognized before our membership.

As members of our local TABA, you are also eligible for member benefit programs offered though the Texas Association of Builders.  Did you know that Valero Fleet Services offers a discount of 4 cents per gallon to TAB members?  You can get more information by contacting Michelle.Squilla@valero.com.  Verizon Wireless also offers an 18% discount off monthly calling plans that bill more than $34.99/per month or higher. You can find out more about this by calling your local Verizon representative or visit the “Members Only” section of www.TexasBuilders.org.

I know that we all share concerns about the slow economic recovery ahead, but I continue to be encouraged by many of the positive reports that we are hearing regarding our housing industry.  Forbes.com recently reported that new home sales in July rose 9.6% to 433,000 exceeding projections.  The Mortgage Bankers Association is also reporting continued increases in mortgage applications.  Our newsletter shows monthly data comparisons for the local Temple, Belton and Morgan’s Point new home starts.  The latest report shows that new home starts were a little higher in July ’09 (45) than July ’08 (42).  Data for August home starts show we are exactly the same for August '09 (39) as we were in August '08 (39).  There is no doubt that we are learning new strategies from the difficult times we are going through.  We will be stronger personally and professionally and our industry will be better for it.  Thank you for your membership and loyal commitment to our TABA organization.

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