Mayor Alvin Brown has been in office a little over two months of his first term as mayor of Jacksonville. He has shown that no matter what his depth of knowledge is on a subject, he is going to change the way people feel about their community.
In less than 75 days, he has submitted a
balanced budget, addressed Downtown crime, traveled across the country, helped rally the
citizens around the Jaguars and announced a new lacrosse team in Jacksonville.
Before officially taking office, he showed a commitment to involving the community by accepting more than 300 transition policy recommendations from 18 committees involving more than 200 people, who met for 3,800 hours over almost four weeks.
He is also reaching out to the Rotary Clubs
and many other organizations willing to share
his plans and vision for our city.
If his energy, stamina and willingness to share his vision are any indication, Mayor Brown may change the way we look at the leader of our city. He may even give this industry optimism that
we can attract business here.
For his sake and ours let’s hope so. It’s time to make things happen here in Jacksonville.
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I had the pleasure to attend the Sales and
Marketing Council’s Laurel Awards last month at Latitude 30. It was an opportunity for the industry to come together to recognize the outstanding achievements of individuals, builders, sales agents and marketers over the last year.
As outstanding as the awards were, one really hit home with me: the Dick Baker Award
presented to Charlie Clark. Not only is Charlie a wonderful choice, but it was a moment for many to hear why the award was named after Dick.
Like many for that generation, Dick was truly an icon in the industry. Taken from us far too early, Dick showed tremendous courage battling a disease that ultimately claimed his life. The Dick Baker Award helps us preserve his memory every time it is presented.
The Dick Baker Award recognizes a leader in the building industry who continues to go above and beyond in their community involvement as well as in their position.
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The most recent issue of Florida Home Builder has a survey that shows builder confidence is lower today than it was at the beginning of the year. The biggest factors are, banks not lending (31.4 percent) the inability to resolve the foreclosure issue (30 percent) and attributing
low buyer confidence as the biggest obstacle
(38.6 percent).
Many felt optimism may be premature. Of over 900 surveyed, 14 percent felt things are better,
3 percent think things will improve this fall, 19 percent felt it will improve in the spring or
summer of 2012 while 64 percent felt the
national presidential election of 2012 is the key to recovery.
Although descriptions of the industry were “fragile,” “dead,” “slow,” “dismal,” and “bleak,” interestingly, while 50 percent see lot or some signs of improvement, 23 percent of them have adapted their business away from building homes.
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In a recent Daily Record weekly poll, we asked our readers if they have lived in their home for more than five years or under five years. I was somewhat surprised that only 29 percent have lived in their current residence for less than five years. That means 71 percent of our readers bought their existing homes just before the collapse of the market.
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Speaking of the Daily Record, there was a positive indicator discussed in our “Help Wanted” article, according to WorkSource, online job advertising in Northeast Florida rose 22 percent in July from July 2010, an increase of 3,942 jobs. It reported online job vacancies up over the year but down 3.3 percent from June, when 22,247 were advertised online. Here is a list of the top advertised occupations in July...
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No matter what is said or done, we have to energize, adapt, and find the silver lining. Our industry has seen its ups and downs, and with every downturn, there are positives that we can turn to that keep us going. Identify the positives and go make it happen.
— Jim Bailey is publisher of
Realty/Builder Connection and president of Bailey Publishing and Communications Inc. He can be reached at [email protected].