Joseph Magdziarz of the Appraisal Institute #137

This week Bruce is joined by Joseph Magdziarz. He is the current Vice President of the Appraisal Institute and he will become the President Elect in 2010 and President in 2011. He has been associated with the Appraisal Institute for 38 years.

Bruce begins by asking if Joseph if he considers business nowadays to be usual or unusual. Joseph has seen similar conditions in the late 80s and early 90s, but for many people, this is a new experience.

Bruce asks Joseph to explain what is similar about our current market and the market of the late 80s. The declining prices of real estate but the cause of these declines is significantly different.

Something radically changed a few months ago in the appraisal business. The Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) agreement between the Attorney General Cuomo and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac caused this change. A few years before the HVCC came out, Joseph was lobbying with Congress about the pressure being put on appraisers to make inflated home appraisals. People were happy with many appraisers, because they received high appraisals, but this problem put ethical appraisers out of business, because they would not cooperate with people who wanted their home values inflated. Some of the new people coming into the business may have given into the pressure to make bad appraisals because they did not have the established relationships with lenders that some of the well known appraisers had.

The goal number for an appraiser is market value. Bruce asks if that is still the goal that appraisers are shooting for. Joseph says that is what appraisers are trying to estimate but some of the values coming out are closer to distressed asset value rather than market value.

Bruce asks if something has changed in the appraising process or if the changes are coming in after the appraiser states a market value and someone attempts to correct them. The definition of market value has not changed since 1989. The methodology has not changed either. Joseph thinks that many appraisers have not experienced a distressed market such as the market we are currently in. The HVCC, and the lenders’ choice to move much of their business to appraisal management companies, have caused a lot of problems.

This is one of the first markets we have had in 10 years in which we have declining prices. It is legitimate to have a 90 day old comp that is worth less today than it was when you first got it. Bruce asks if the big problem is that we do not have enough fully repaired homes as comps in comparison to vacant REOs. Jospeh says it’s very localized. Joseph says this is a big problem in some parts of the country, but the real problem occurs when all the occurring sales are foreclosures and short sales.

The definition of market value is the meeting of the minds between a buyer and a seller, each equally motivated and knowledgeable, and without undue pressure. If you have a bank with many foreclosures, they are more motivated than a typical seller would be. They will often dispose of those assets at a lower price which makes none of those properties a valid comp. The motivation of the buyer and seller is important when evaluating market value.

TNG’s business is buying and fixing properties that need work. TNG typically puts $35,000 dollars into a repair job, and they typically end up with a property that is worth about $140,000. It is very hard to get $35 grand worth of credit. There seems to be a rule which only allows a ten percent credit limit for the kind of properties that TNG deals with. Bruce asks Joseph to explain this issue. Joseph explains that this issue relates back to a Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac guideline that says when you have an adjustment greater than 10 percent, you need to explain it. As the percent of adjustment increases, the sale becomes less comparable. There is no ten percent requirement. This is just a guideline, but unfortunately, some of the underwriters believe it to be a rule.

Bruce has had trouble with this guideline. For example, Bruce had 6 offers on a property being sold at 122,000, but then the appraisal came at 102,000, and then the review appraisal came in at 85,000. That is far from what 6 buyers thought the market value was. In the end, Bruce did not sell this property and he kept it as a rental home. If an appraiser is not able to honor the market decision of a buyer, then the market price in some areas will go down further for no good reason. Part of this problem goes back to the HVCC stating that there needs to be a firewall between people originating a loan and people doing appraisals. At this time, that firewall is the appraisal management company. One of the main complaints that Joseph is getting is that many appraisals are being done by appraisers who are not experienced enough in their geographic region.

Bruce asks how appraisers are assigned properties to appraise. Some companies broadcast assignments to everyone on their approved list, so the first person to sign up for the job gets it. The problem with the AMC is that they are not giving these jobs to experienced appraisers. The AMC is focused on getting these jobs done quickly rather than effectively. Better appraisers are missing out on jobs because they cost more. They are hiring people with not enough experience.

The Appraiser’s Institute company has 26,000 members. Each one of these members receives notifications saying that they need to have the proper experience necessary to get jobs done properly, otherwise the Appraisers Institute will take aggressive enforcement against any member who accepts a job that they are not qualified for. These members are also given information on how to turn in unqualified appraisers.

In July, the current president of the Appraisal Institute met with Congress to discuss this issue. He also reminded them a few years before that these problems were occurring, and they failed to act on those problems back then. These problems do not look like they will be dealt with until some time next year. A few bill are pending but nothing will be done until next year.

Bruce asks if the Appraisal Management Companies has to be run by someone with an appraisal background. This is a problem that the Appraisal Institute has been lobbying for as well. There are appraisers who have had their licenses revoked that are now supervising other appraisers. Joseph thinks it would be better if appraisers were required to be licensed within their state.

Bruce asks if communication is allowed between agents and appraisers who are working for Fannie or Freddie. Joseph says this is not forbidden. The loan officer is not allowed to communicate with the appraiser, but Realtors and management companies can communicate with appraisers. Appraisers have an obligation to verify information given to them about a sale. This is a misunderstood rule that Bruce has had difficulty with. Bruce has called appraisers who told him that he was not allowed to talk to them.

Bruce asks Joseph about what the fee was for an appraiser before HVCC and what that fee is now. This is one of the five biggest problems that the Appraisals Institute currently has. Not all appraisal management companies are the same. In Chicago, GAMCO uses Appraisal Institute members, and they give designated members 90 percent of the fee, and they give non designated members 80 percent of the fee. What Joseph has heard nowadays is that management companies are starting to take 50 to 60 percent of the fees. When that happens, the better appraisers refuse to work for those companies. That leaves the new appraisers with the ability to get into the business, and they may not be qualified. Joseph fears that these rules may cause some very knowledgeable people leaving the business. Another problem with management companies is that they require a 24 to 48 hour turn around time. This does not allow appraisers to get to know the market value of a specific market.

We now have the ability to use automated appraisals (AVM), but these automated appraisals are trumping appraisals made by actual appraisers. These automated appraisals are done on a statistical basis. The problem with these reports is that they do not use comparable sales. These automated appraisals essentially come up with a median value rather than a market value. These mechanical appraisers are not capable of looking next door to a certain property in order to obtain a better understanding of the value of the home being examined.

Joseph is can be seen September 11th at our I Survived Real Estate 2009 event.

Joseph C. Magdziarz, MAI, SRA is the 2009 vice president of the Appraisal Institute. He will become the president elect in 2010 and president of the Appraisal Institute in 2011.

Magdziarz has been an active member of the Appraisal Institute for 38 years. He has served in a variety of capacities at all levels of the organization.

At the regional level, Magdziarz has served two terms as Regional Vice Chair and two terms as Region III Chair. He has also been a regional representative for many years. On the national level, Magdziarz served two terms on the Appraisal Institute’s National Board of Directors. He has served as Chair of the Education Committee for five years and has also chaired the National Audit Committee, Instructor and Faculty Committees, and Education and Publications Committees. In addition, he has served on a number of project teams. Presently, he is serving on the ADAPT (MAI demonstration report alternative) project team and the International Education and Designation project team.

Magdziarz has been President of Appraisal Research, Inc. in Rockford, Illinois for 38 years. He resides in Rockford, Illinois with his wife Sandra of 41 years and his bulldog Bella.
Magdziarz is an approved Appraisal Institute instructor for 26 courses in the Appraisal Institute’s QE, AE, CE, and USPAP curriculums. He has also had international assignments in Naples, Italy; Istanbul, Turkey; Seoul, South Korea; and Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai, China.

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Tommy Williams with the National Auctioneers Association 8-22-09 #136

This week Bruce is joined by Tommy Williams. Tommy is certified by the Auctioneers Institute. He is the founding partner of Williams and Williams Auction Company. He served as president between 1986 and 2000, and he became board chairman in 2001. He has conducted over 10,000 auctions all over the world. Tommy is also part of our I Survived Real Estate 2009 expert panel.

Tommy Williams has done auctions in multiple countries such as Puerto Rico, Canada, and his company is working with companies in South Africa. Bruce thinks that bank owned properties are probably very prevalent in other countries as well so their auction business has probably picked up. What has occurred in the United States has occurred all over the world. Tommy thinks that it is amazing that a country so far removed from the United States, like South Africa, has gone through the same economic swing. The entire world is experiencing the real estate bubble bust.

The United States auctioning business has gotten better. The number of auctions have increased, and auction popularity has increased for many years as well. However, the auctions are not making as much money because the real estate market prices are not doing well.

In 2003-2008, the business for residential real estate went from $11.5 billion to $17 billion. The volume has gone up, but the pricing has gone down very far, so auctioneers have to sell larger numbers of units to achieve the same profit. In many areas of the United States, home prices are down 75 percent from their peak. Bruce recently bought two properties, from a lender, for 15 percent of the owed amount. This is not an unusual occurrence. In many of these cases, the original buyer had a very bad loan. Fraud is involved in many of these cases. A property that may have never been worth 10,000 to begin with may have been given a mortgage of 100,000.

It was common in the lower end of Moreno Valley to have a neighborhood in which each property was selling for $300,000, but now the price for those homes is generally around 100,000. The buyer and lending mindset was very different in 2005.

Bruce asks if the auction business has shifted to making the multi-property owner to be its main customer rather than the individual property owner. Tommy says that he hopes this is not true. He believes that if you want to build a successful auction company then you need to deal specifically with normal “end-user” buyer and seller. The focus of an auction company should always be to deal with private owners/investors. There are very few companies that deal with REOs, and that is not a long range way to build a business.

Deutsche Bank recently said that by 2010 or 2011, 50 percent of the owners in the United States will be upside down. That would have a profound effect on the amount of inventory that would be able to sign up for a one house auction. The most important thing about a house that is upside down is that the seller needs to sell their house. Either they cannot afford their house any more, or they have had a change in lifestyle such as a job transfer or a divorce. People need to sell their properties at the time they become a liability. If they go through a long foreclosure process then their property will deteriorate, and their neighborhood may deteriorate, and they will end up selling a property for less than they could have.

A Campbell Report that came out in which 1,000 agents responded to a questionnaire. These agents claimed that the biggest problem they were dealing with was a lender’s slow response to a short sale offer. It takes months. The auction business could help the lender decide what the value of a property is. Auctions can identity, with nearly absolute certainty, what the market place thinks a property is worth. If multiple people bid on a property, and the highest bid is $100,000 dollars, then you have discovered what the market value for that property is. It is frustrating to see lenders take such a long route to discovering the truth about the value of their property, and take a huge price hit in the process. Lenders have dealt with the problem of over valued homes in the worst way possible. Tommy had a neighbor who went through a divorce and had other life changes. This neighbor bought his property for about $650,000, and he started going delinquent on his payments. Tommy told him his house would sell for about $450 to $500,000 at that time. This neighbor believed Tommy to be correct, but his lender would not negotiate with him, so he went through the foreclosure process, and he eventually walked away from it. This home recently closed for about $370,000 and Tommy could have sold it for much more. Tommy has been trying to tell this story to congressmen and senators, so that these problems may be fixed in the future, but they will not listen.

This is one of the reasons why I Survived Real Estate 2009 is so important to Bruce. Every industry affects other industries. Fortunately for Tommy Williams, he has not had trouble with appraisers arguing with the price that homes have sold for at his auctions, because the value is proven by the market place. One of his colleagues sold their home, and their lender told them that they would not lend money on a home bought at an auction. The National Auctioneers Association immediately contacted them and asked them to explain this policy, but they would not. This problem did not occur with a small lending company.

The word “auction” has a bad meaning in the United States. Here, it means that you have a desperate seller. In 2004 to 2006, Bruce was receiving multiple offers on each of his “for sale” properties. If Bruce had thought to offer those homes in an auction, which would put each of those buyers in direct competition with each other, his selling prices would have definitely been higher. When the market is really over heated, that is when you want to have an auction for sure. Under desperate times, such as right now, the reason why you have an auction is because buyers will not show up if you use any other method.

On September 11, the builders will be attending the real estate event. Bruce thinks it would be a perfect partnership if builders started selling with auctioneers. Tommy has had this opportunity on two different occasions. At the time, everybody thought this was crazy, but the auctions were very successful. If Tommy was in the building business, he would launch his selling process with an auction. Bruce is planning on getting involved in building soon, and he plans on using auctions for selling his houses.

When you participate in the boom market, it is easy to sell, so you do not think about auctioning your home. Also, auctions are typically seen as an option that is only used in a tough market. The auction is viewed different ways in different countries. In New Zealand, auctions are one of the first options used for selling homes. Views towards auctions also vary in different states. States like Tennessee, Ohio, and Missouri have a much more positive view towards auctions than states like California.

Tommy has found it difficult to buy bulk properties within the last six months. There are opportunities out there, but good businessmen would not go after those opportunities.

We look forward to seeing Tommy Williams September 11th at I Survived Real Estate 2009.

Tommy served as President of the National Auctioneers Association in 2008 and is current Chairman of the Board. Tommy also graciously took part in I Survived Real Estate 2008 last year and will also appear on the I Survived Real Estate 2009 panel.

Thomas L. Williams is a graduate of Penn State University (B.S. Animal Science) and the Certified Auctioneers Institute (CAI). Representing the third generation of Williams family auctioneers dating back to the mid-1800s, Williams is also a graduate of the historic Reppert School of Auctioneering. He has over 40 years experience in real estate auctions, land development and real estate investment. He currently serves as President of the National Auctioneers Association.

A founding partner of Williams & Williams, Williams served as president from 1986-2000, and became board chairman in 2001. He also co-founded and served as managing partner of Lowderman & Williams Auctioneers from 1965-85. He has conducted over 10,000 auctions in all 48 of the contiguous United States and Canada, and is an advisor to auctions conducted throughout Western Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

An avid cattleman, Williams also owned and operated Bradmar Angus Farms from 1965-85, after which he continued to serve as a herd and genetics consultant for many of the nation's premier Angus cattle breeders.

Williams is a licensed auctioneer and real estate broker in over 20 states, and an active member of the National Association of Realtors.

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Rick Sharga with RealtyTrac 8-15-09 #135

This week Bruce is joined by Rick Sharga, the Senior Vice President of RealtyTrac. Rick joined RealtyTrac in 2004 as the vice president of marketing. Rick is also a panelist for I Survived Real Estate 2009.

Bruce asks Rick “What services does RealtyTrac offer?” RealtyTrac publishes the largest database of foreclosure and bank owned properties in the country. They also put a lot of related information about those properties in the database including property characteristics, comparable sales, and loan history. It used to take much longer and more expertise to get into the investing business, but RealtyTrac has helped change this.

Rick Sharga congratulates Bruce on producing some of the best educational services in the country.

Realtors use RealtyTrac in a couple ways. Some agents subscribe in order to get up-to-date information on foreclosure activity in their neighborhoods. Others use RealtyTrac to post their properties for sale and to advertise their services to buyers. Appraisers and investors look at property regions to determine property values. You can also use RealtyTrac to check the future inventory of a market place by checking the number of properties in the trustee sale stage. Realtors also use this tool for broker price opinions and to discuss short sale processing.

RealtyTrac’s data goes back to 2005. In 2005, about 530,000 were given foreclosure notices. Over 1.5 million properties have received foreclosure notices through the first half of this year.

Besides the great depression, this is the worst down turn we have ever had. Even professionals who knew this down turn was coming were stunned by how quickly the down turn hit us.

Prices are also falling with the number of foreclosures. In the past, people were taught to honor their contracts, but now one’s financial well being encourages people to walk away from financial responsibility. In many cases, the only option is to execute a deed in lui of foreclosure. The other option is to take the next 15 years to break even on the property you’ve bought.

Bruce asks Rick if he thinks that people consider it more acceptable nowadays to simply walk away from a payment because they do not feel like making the payment. Rick thinks that foreclosures have become so common nowadays that now people are not bothered so much by walking away from their homes. There is discussion in the industry about creating a forgiveness program for people who have gone through foreclosure during this period because the lending programs participated in making this problem worse. Bruce thinks that might make sense because they cannot make houses fast enough to solve the problem. There is discussion about shortening the forgiveness period from 5 to 7 years to 2 or 3 years.

This cycle is unusual because in the past downturns have been caused by an economic occurrence, which then caused unemployment, which then caused foreclosures. This time foreclosures started the problems because home prices were too high and people could not buy a home unless they bought a toxic loan.

Unemployment forces a selling decision that did not exist before. Option ARMs are going to be coming fast for the next 24 months, and they have already experienced a price hit. Option ARMs when they are resetting are always upside down in Riverside. Option ARMs are resetting a little early too because people are making teaser payments.

These home owners have very few options. They have no equity, they cannot afford the higher mortgage payment, and even if they can, they have to decide if that is the best decision for their family’s financial future.

Bruce asks Rick how loan modifications are working out. Rick says that they have done nothing other than give us a lot to talk about. Servicers are only focusing on the length of the loan and the interest rate. The Obama plan does not compel servicers to do principal balance write downs, and it does not moderate their loss. The only way to modify loans effectively is to do a principal write down.

Bruce asks Rick what the ramifications are for giving people principal write downs when they have lied to receive the original loan. Rick is not sure if we will induce more foreclosures by doing this. He thinks we may be overstating the number of people who are in the circumstance. There were not many people putting 50 percent down on their properties in the early part of the decade. People were using ridiculously relaxed financing to obtain properties that they could not afford. Rick thinks that it may be better to do a long term deferral instead of a principal write down. This might keep the home owner at a rate that they could afford, and sometime in the future that amount would be payable. Equity sharing is also one of the options for solving this problem. This involves writing down the principal balance, and requiring sellers to give a percentage of their profit back to the lender. Rick does not think that home owners would be interested in that plan.

States that have non recourse loans in place have a higher percentage of homes that become bank REOs. However, Rick has not seen a comprehensive study on this. There is a lot of discussion right now about increasing the number of loans that have a recourse option.

The House of Representatives passed something recently that will mandate a lender who forecloses on a property to give the former owner a five year lease option on the house. This has not been passed by the Senate yet, but it is coming to them next. Bruce and Rick think that this bill will affect loan programs going forward. Rick says that this is a valiant attempt to help prevent people from ending up on the street but most lenders are not set up to be property managers. People wonder how this will affect their capital structure. How do they treat the loss on that property, how do they treat the asset value, and what does it do to the loan risk profile? It could be a higher risk because more people will default, and it could be a lower risk because lenders will see more revenue.
Bruce asks if moratoriums have worked. Rick says that the only thing that these moratoriums are doing is delaying foreclosures. This could extend the length of the down turn. Moratoriums do not accomplish what they were intended for.

There are probably 10 states that account for approximately 75 percent of the total foreclosures. Most of them are doing moratoriums.

Core Logic says that 9 percent of California borrowers are at least 90 days late. Bruce asks Rick how that affects his outlook for 2010. Rick thinks we have seen the end of the subprime problem. The two big variables are unemployment and how badly Option ARMs will default. RealtyTrac’s forecast is that we may hit a numerical peak this year, because the raw number of option ARM loans was not as large as the raw number of subprime loans, but 2010 will look very similar to 2009. We may see an increase in foreclosure activity. If unemployment extends, and if prices continue to decrease, then 2010 may be worse than 2009.



Rick joined RealtyTrac in 2004 as the Vice President of Marketing. He is responsible for building and maintaining the RealtyTrac brand, corporate positioning and messaging, public and investor relations, and marketing communications activities. As a spokesman for the company, Rick has been quoted extensively in the press on foreclosure, mortgage and real estate trends, and appeared on NBC Nightly News, CNN, CBS, ABC World News and NPR.

Prior to joining the company, Rick spent more than 20 years developing corporate and product branding strategies for technology start-up companies and international corporations such as DuPont, Fujitsu, Hitachi and Toshiba. Rick created and executed successful sales and marketing programs in B2B, technology, consumer electronics and retail for companies like JD Edwards, Philips, Cox Communications and Honeywell.

Rick began his career with one of the world’s largest ad agencies, Foote, Cone and Belding, and also had successful engagements with Ketchum Communications and McGraw-Hill. He founded his own consulting firm, CJ Patrick Company, in 2002 to help companies develop business and brand strategies that clearly communicate a unique value proposition, create a position of competitive advantage, and leverage the strength of their brands in the marketplace.

A nationally-recognized speaker on Branding, Rick spends his spare time taking Tae Kwon Do classes with his 10-year-old son, and trying to keep up with his increasingly-mobile 4-year-old daughter. He also continues in his lifelong quest to find the perfect wine to compliment his BBQ'd baby back ribs.

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John Young of the California Builders Industry Association #134

This week Bruce is joined by John Young. John Young is the founding partner of Young Homes which is located in Rancho Cucamonga, and he is the Vice President of the California Building Industry Association (CBIA). He has been associated with the real estate business for 30 years.

Bruce begins by asking John to contrast 1990 to what we are currently experiencing. John believes that we are currently in a tougher cycle. In the 80s we had a17 percent interest rates, and yet our current cycle is still more difficult. We are going through a much greater decline in our economy.

Most of the people in the industry are survivors that hope to continue through this down turn, so that they may start building again. Membership in the builders associations is down 50 to 60 percent, budgets are down, and layoffs are occurring. The association consists of public and private builders. John’s company is private and they have had to lay off people who have worked for his company for 10-15 years. John hates doing that because many of these people who have worked for him for many years have talent and they have become like family to him.

The sentiment towards helping builders is positive right now. In the last fifty years, builders were often looked at as the guys who would pave over everything and then take their money and run. Home builders create a lot of jobs and there has been a domino effect occurring in our economy as each industry’s struggles are affecting each other. The car industry has had a huge effect on our economy, but John thinks that the real estate industry is even more influential.

Bruce asks John what the time frame for a building project typically is. In normal economic times, it often takes 3-5 years for builders to finish all the paper work, prepare the land, build the homes, sell them and close the deal. That is a very risky time frame because a building project requires a lot of financial investment and you may not finish at the right time.

Builders have been called the most optimistic people in the world, and when you are dealing with an investment that requires a 3-5 year investment you almost have to be. The mentality you have when you first buy a property changes multiple times through the selling process.

Bruce asks John if many builders were caught off guard when they discovered that there was no demand for the product they were selling near the beginning of the down turn, and when it became obvious that the market was slowing down. John noticed things were slowing down during the third quarter of 2006, but then things perked up temporarily in 07, so that made the builders feel optimistic.

Bruce asks if John has confidence in the people he relies on to tell him when things are about to change for the worse. John does have confidence in their management, but what caught John off guard was the magnitude of the decline.

Bruce is sure that the lenders were all caught off guard as well. Bruce asks John about how they responded to the downturn. Most of the banks are working with the builders to finish projects, but it all comes back to whether or not they had a guarantee. John wishes they would try harder though. Banks are trying to work with the builders.

Sometimes when you have a project that gets appraised for less than the lender originally anticipated, the lender will ask you to participate with more capital (margin call). Today, most companies cannot do that. They either do not have the cash or they need to retain that cash.

Regionally builders are more affected by downturns than national builders. John does think that regional builders have been hurt worse. Some builders will have a better chance to make it through this downturn because they work in multiple areas with different cycles. Larger builders also have better access to capital.

Bruce asks John what the mood is towards financing new projects. John says people are not interested in financing new projects. There are some exceptions, such as when a builder has land that has everything ready for building.

Bruce asks if somebody allowed John to have their shovel-ready lots, would he be able to build it for a profit. John says they are gaining maybe 1 or 2 percent profit on their shovel-ready lots.

Young Homes has built a couple thousand homes in Fontana over the last ten years and now those homes are competing with his new inventory because of the REO and short sale inventory.

Bruce asks if John ever considers getting rid of new home construction so that he can deal with the existing inventory. John says that is a good idea, and he has looked into it. Unfortunately, because of the size of John’s company, they cannot do that. They would have to change their entire business model to do that. However, there are smaller companies who have been able to modify their work force to do that.

Bruce asks John if the current unsold inventory of homes is still excessive. John says that it still is, but it has improved, and they are now almost finished with their inventory. The federal $8,000 dollar tax credit has helped John’s industry immensely but the state buying program has already run out of money. John’s company is currently working to get the federal program extended and the state he’s working on as well.

Bruce asks how the appraisal situation has affected builders. John says that now appraisal companies are managed differently, and the changes are not helping builders. The appraisers are using foreclosures and short sales as comps, which does not give builders fair market value. Too many foreclosures and short sales are being used. They are having to appeal almost every appraisal. So far the appeals have prevailed but it takes lots of effort and times.

See John Young at I Survived Real Estate 2009.

As a founding partner in Rancho Cucamonga-based Young Homes, John R. Young has been an active participant in this highly successful Southern California home building company for nearly 20 years.

Together with his partners Reggie King and Jack Young, and the entire Young Homes management team, he has been responsible for the development of nearly 3,500 homes in communities throughout the Inland Empirefs San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

This well-respected and highly successful firm is currently ranked among the Inland Empirefs hTop 5 home builders. At the beginning, the Young Homes vision was to provide entry-level homes that would make the dream of home ownership attainable for young families and other first-time buyers. Although the vision has expanded over the years to include higher-end properties, the companyfs heart remains with the dreams of first-time buyers.

Youngfs experience in the real estate and home building industries extends over close to 30 years. His early years were spent as a successful sales representative and real estate broker focusing on single-family homes. Finding that he had a knack for the business, he purchased and proceeded to operate a residential mortgage company, specializing in FHA and VA loans, as well as conventional loans. The expertise he built in sales and finance has proven to be a major asset to the steady growth of family-owned Young Homes.

John Young has earned his acclaim as a trusted leader in the new home building industry. He is a past president of the Building Industry Association of Southern California and previously served as president of BIA/Baldy View Chapter and president of HomeAid Inland Empire, a non-profit charitable organization founded the BIA/SC and dedicated to building and renovating housing for the transitionally homeless.

Young is currently acting as Vice Chairman of the California Building Industry Association as and is active in the National Association of Home Builders by serving on the Board of Directors.

He is also a Board Member of the Chino Hills Community Foundation, spearheading a variety of community improvements.

Under the direction of John Young, Young Homes has grown steadily over the years, receiving well-deserved acclaim for its valuable contributions to the home building industry and the greater community. The company has been honored as Builder of the Year by the BIA/Baldy View and is the recipient of the 2005 BIA/SC Community Involvement Award.

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