Does knowing about your competitors really make you a better sales person? Can we rely on the Internet to gather data for our competitive market analysis? Is Internet research alone good enough or do you actually need to visit those communities? Sandy Sa

Michael Lerner, 53, still looks the part of the football player he was in his youth. For that matter, he could still pass for the burly carpenter or job superintendent of his early years in the contracting business in his hometown of Chicago. You might n

Something to Talk About I have never written to a magazine or called a radio station to express my opinion; however, after reading Scott Sedam's August 2005 article about advertising, I thought I needed to send kudos to Scott. I have always enjoyed r

Building stocks and the major markets took a hit this month as oil prices jumped to record highs. Hurricane Katrina devastated petroleum refineries and the uncertainty of the storm's effects forced markets downward. "The president of the Philly F

Featured Major Market: Houston Houston has steadily risen from a relatively small housing market in 1987 to the third largest housing market in the country. Houston has always been known for its pro-growth, pro-developer attitudes, which has lead to peri

Last September, I attended Professional Builder's annual Benchmark Conference in New Orleans while Hurricane Ivan bore down upon the city. The newspapers predicted that a direct hit would put the city under as much as 20 feet of water. Hundreds would

I often talk about the importance of developing your own "wow factor" — the one thing that you excel at better than any other builder in your area. In today's competitive market, it takes a "wow factor" to really impress homebuy