The National Association of Home Builders’ International Builders Show this year featured a single-level residence with a master suite at each end.

“The grandparents’ suite included universal design elements along with a small kitchenette,” says Stephen Melman, director of economic services at the NAHB. “The concept for this home was that the parents could get help with their kids from the grandparents, while the grandparents benefited by having household maintenance chores and meals taken care of for them.”

Melman said that it is difficult to predict whether this trend will diminish when the economy improves, but he pointed to the growing number of ethnic groups where multi-generational living is expected as a sign that the trend may stick.

Among the 9 percent who do regret the purchase, most say they are unhappy that they can’t sell their home and move elsewhere or they can’t afford their monthly mortgage.

Some 79 percent of those polled say they have a fixed-rate mortgage on their homes. Among those making over $75,000 per year, 90 percent say they have a fixed rate mortgage.

July 9, 2010 – MCLEAN, VA – Insight Property Group LLC announced that it has purchased the Windover Villas community of 90 single family homes located in Fredericksburg, Virginia, from an affiliate of California-based SunAmerica. According to Insight Principal Richard W. Hausler, Windover is the first of a series of pending affordable housing acquisitions by the McLean based multi-family developer. “Windover is unusual because it is a rental community of single family detached homes with yards, and it was built to be affordable from day one,” said Hausler. “That makes it ideal family housing. It fits in nicely with the other homes around it, and might be a good model for the future.”

Built in the mid 1990’s, the Windover community was originally financed by tax exempt debt from the Virginia Housing Development Authority and housing tax credits. The recent purchase was completed with financing including a Fannie Mae first trust.

Insight principals Hausler and Michael Blum have worked for two decades in affordable housing preservation and development, including over 6,000 units of low income housing built and preserved in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC for developer Kettler, Inc. Hausler has served on DC area workforce housing task forces, and assisted in establishing the Virginia Foundation for Housing Preservation.

“Workforce housing is an important part of our business plan,” according to Insight principal Michael Blum. “There isn’t enough good-quality workforce rental housing in the DC metro area to meet the need.”

Elsewhere in the DC Metro area, Insight is acquiring existing Metro and transit-oriented apartment sites in Arlington and other close-in communities as well as repositioning older DC-area apartments. Earlier this month, it announced completion of its second recent Arlington purchase, the 1200 Rolfe Street apartments located near Courthouse Metro, which will be developed into a 72-unit Class A multifamily building.

Founded by long-time industry veterans Richard Hausler, Michael Blum and Richard Samit, Insight Property Group LLC, acquires, repositions and develops well-located apartments and mixed-use real estate in the Greater Washington, DC Metropolitan region. The three principals have in excess of 70 years real estate industry experience in the Washington DC Metropolitan region.

To determine where the prices are most attractive, U.S. News & World Report examined price-to-income data for 384 metropolitan statistical areas. This expresses the relationship between owner income and home values.

Here are 10 retirement havens where homes are most affordable by this measure:

Bend, Ore.

Napa, Calif.

Fort Meyers, Fla.

Fayetteville, Ark.

Las Vegas

Sante Fe, N.M.

Punta Gorda, Fla.

Phoenix

Santa Cruz, Calif.

Burlington, Vt.

The program called Property Assessed Clean Energy or PACE allows local governments to sell municipal bonds and let homeowners use special property-tax assessments to pay off the cost of improvements over 15 to 20 years.

FHFA has raised concerns that these are first-lien loans, which subordinates first mortgages. It told Fannie and Freddie to avoid financing homes with this kind of debt. PACE supporters say the program is no different from property-tax assessments to pay for sewers and road improvements.

U.S. Reps. Henry Waxman (D., Calif.) and Barney Frank (D., Mass.) have called on government agencies to modify the program so neither taxpayers nor mortgage investors are likely to lose money.

Mile 268 Parks Highway, Healy, Alaska

Robert Fox Realty

Price:$100,000

Features: The tiny 576-square-foot cabin has two lofts, is fully furnished and sits on 15 acres with a lake. Owner should enjoy the simple life — it runs on generators and has no running water or electricity.

Neighborhood: The home is just one of only a handful of cabins located in the quiet town of Healy, just 30 miles north of Denali National Park. The 6-million acre park is home to America’s highest mountain, Mount Mckinley, large glaciers, grizzlies, wolves and moose.

Selling point: Simplicity.

105 Evie Lane, Springdale, Utah

Price:$424,900

Features: The home has four bedrooms and two baths and tile flooring. Outside, the property has numerous mulberry and walnut trees, an 80-year-old apple orchard and private river access.

Neighborhood: The town of Springdale, population 360, is located in southwest Utah and is known as the “gateway to Zion National Park.” The park is famous for its incredible canyons, including The Narrows — which attracts canyoneers from around the world — and for its hikes along the Virgin River. Two 120-room hotels are planned in Springdale to attract summertime tourists.

Selling point: A short walk from the home, and you’re in one of the most enchanted landscapes of the American Southwest.

1017 4th Ave., East Glacier Park, Mont.

Bear On the Roof Realty

Price:$275,000

Features: The two-story timber frame home has two bedrooms, wood and tile flooring, a covered porch and a brightly lit living area.

Neighborhood: Located in northwestern Montana, the tourist town of East Glacier Park (population 400) is just a six-mile drive to the entrance of Glacier National Park, which borders Alberta and British Columbia and is an international peace park with Canada. The park has 1 million acres of forested land, waterfalls, 762 lakes, ice-carved valleys and mountain peaks as well as 730 miles of hiking trails.

Selling point: You’re in the midst of one of the top wildlife viewing areas in the country — especially if you want to meet a grizzly or mountain goat.

29 Wilcomb Ln., Bar Harbor, Maine

Sotheby’s

Price:$319,000

Features: The 2,060-square-foot farmhouse sits on a privately owned lane. It has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, two fireplaces and a large family room.

Neighborhood: The home is located in Bar Harbor, which is the largest of three towns on Mountain Desert Island, and Acadia National Park makes up one-third of the island. The house is one mile from Acadia, a 50-mile park known for its granite cliffs, sand and cobblestone beaches, meadows and evergreen forests. People come there to sail, hike, whale watch, cross country ski and fish.

Selling point: The sea and mountains, plus fresh lobster.

7633 Forest Dr., Fish Camp, Calif.

Sierra Senic Properties

Price:$549,000

Features: The 2,001-square-foot home has four bedrooms, three bathrooms, vaulted ceilings, rock fireplace, cedar paneling, skylights, tile roofing, two-car garage and outdoor decks. The three-story home also has private entrances on each floor and a .41-acre additional lot.

Neighborhood: The home is located within a 10-minute drive to the entrance gate of Yosemite National Park in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. The 1,200-square-mile park is best known for its waterfalls, but the area also has deep valleys, huge meadows, granite domes, giant sequoias and vast wilderness. The town is a 15-minute drive to grocery shopping in Oakhurst, a 15-minute drive to the popular recreation area of Bass Lake and a 50-minute drive to the Fresno Yosemite International Airport.

Selling point: Fish Camp is one of only three locations that you can own property adjacent to or inside Yosemite National Park, which gets 4 million visitors a year.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index released Tuesday posted an 0.8 percent gain. It had fallen in each of the past six months.

Eighteen of 20 cities showed price increases in April from March. Washington, San Francisco and Dallas each posted gains of 2 percent or more. Eleven cities reversed declines from the month before.

Only Miami and New York recorded price declines. New York hit a new low for the index.

Nationally, prices have risen 3.8 percent from their April 2009 bottom. But they remain 30 percent below their July 2006 peak.

The overall price gains highlight the impact of the federal tax credits for homebuyers. Buyers rushed to purchase before the tax credits expired at the end of April. The numbers are likely to drop in the next report.

“Other housing data confirm the large impact, and likely near-future pullback, of the federal program,” said David M. Blitzer, S&P’s index chairman.

Last week, the government reported that new home sales fell in May to their lowest level on record, plunging 33 percent from the month before. And sales of previously occupied homes edged down 2.2 percent.

Also, homebuilders KB Home and Lennar Corp. both reported sharp declines in new home orders in the three months ended in May.

The panelists, Dimitris Kapasis VP of Energy Management Solutions at American Utility Management and Lou Schotsky, assistant VP of Product Strategy at Equity Residential, then provided several ideas to assess and improve the green standing of a property.

Schotsky started out by saying that managers/owners have different motivations for keeping their properties’ carbon footprint in check. “The rise in CO2 and temperature changes, which result in changes in climate could result in the collapse of ecosystems which is a motivation for some,” he said. “For others it is more economic and political and the impact of international treaties on the federal and local level. You could ascribe to either or both. It doesn’t matter because the solutions are the same.”

There are numerous carbon footprint calculators on the web such as Carbonneutralcalculator.com, but Schotsky suggests getting a consultant, because the sites are more effective for individuals.

He outlined the strategy to reduce a property’s carbon footprint:

Energy consumption

Buying renewable energy credits

On site clean (er) generation

Kapasis detailed each of the points. “There is tremendous opportunity to reduce energy consumption at the pool and spa. Use a pool cover because 70 percent of energy is lost by evaporation. Reduce water temperature because a rise of one degree in temperatures means 10 to 30 percent more energy consumed,” he said.

He also recommended the use of solar power water heaters, which is about $10,000 for an average system. The payback varies based on a variety of factors. He also suggests looking at alternative energy options such as solar: photovoltaic, thermal; wind: compact vortex wind turbines; geothermal: water source heat pumps, fuel cells: natural gas, landfill has, hydrogen as well as on site generation.

“It is a common misconception that microgrids are an extremely interesting and complex opportunity just coming to the market,” said Kapasis. “It is actually a real opportunity that people are taking advantage of today.”

“Affordable workforce housing is important for the economic vitality of the Town of Breckenridge and to preserve the character of our community,” said Laurie Best, long-range planner with the Town. “We are looking forward to the development of Valley Brook to create an affordable neighborhood that is ideally located close to schools, jobs, parks, shopping, trails and transit.”

Located at 1100 Airport Road in Breckenridge, between Upper Blue Elementary School and the Breckenridge Police Department, Valley Brook will be built as an environmentally-friendly residential community promoting healthy living and sustainable practices. It is designed to LEED® Silver standards. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and provides a definitive national standard for what constitutes a “green building” and is administered by the U.S. Green Building Council. The project is an in-fill development site, and features solar photo-voltaic panel systems and ENERGY STAR appliances and light fixtures. Other green features include: high-grade energy efficient windows, water-saving fixtures including high-efficiency dual flush toilets, low flow faucets and shower heads, low-VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) paint and adhesives, carpet made from a high percentage of recycled content and a community recycling program. Each home will also have a passive radon mitigation system, high efficiency hot water heaters, and indoor air quality exhaust system. Landscaping will be focused on native species that don’t need long-term irrigation.

The Valley Brook townhomes will also include large two-car tandem garages, attic storage, front porches and entries. The pedestrian-friendly site plan also provides a one-way loop road. The residents of Valley Brook can also take advantage of the adjacent Blue River corridor and connection to bike trails and walking paths. Recent improvements to the nearby path, which include the addition of a new bridge over the river, will make the neighborhood more easily accessible to the network of paths. The neighborhood will eventually include a playground and a common recreational area.

KTGY’s Principal Michael Ohara, AIA, states that Valley Brook’s mountain-Victorian style design, reminiscent of the mining heritage of the Colorado Mountains, will seamlessly integrate into the aesthetic fabric of the neighborhood and use the same high quality finishes and materials as surrounding market-rate properties. “Architectural integration is always a top priority for all of our residential projects,” Ohara notes. “We adjusted the roof planes on the various buildings to maximize solar exposure for the PV panels. The result was a pleasing variation in the building elevations that we accentuated with color and the use of varied exterior details.”

Of the 42 units, which will be built in phases, there will be 14 two-bedroom/two-bath townhomes available to those who qualify at the 80 percent area median income (AMI) level, priced at $165,000. Also at the 80 percent AMI level, there will be eight three-bedroom/two-bath units, selling for $187,500.

At 105 percent AMI, there will be 14 two-bedroom/two-bath townhomes, each selling for $267,000. Additionally, there will be six three-bedroom/two-bath units available for those at 105 percent AMI, which will sell for $302,000.

“The Town of Breckenridge is truly a leader in balancing the housing needs of both its year-round residents and its visitors,” says Ohara. The Town of Breckenridge offers a challenge to attainable housing that larger population centers don’t face. Breckenridge’s basic industry, tourism, requires a large number of seasonal workers as well as full-time permanent workers, thus it needs all types of housing, from ownership to employee and short-term rental housing (six months or less). Tourism also creates a diverse employment base of non-basic industries: retail, housing, utilities, public transportation, personal care, health, education, local government, finance, entertainment and social services.

“If we cannot provide housing for those that work in these non-basic industries, it will be difficult, and ultimately, perhaps impossible, to sustain our basic industry – tourism,” adds Best.

“Sustainable design and close proximity to jobs, services and education further increase affordability for residents who have few affordable housing options, especially for larger families,” says Ohara. A family of four earning $69,760 (80 percent of area median income) will pay about $187,500 to purchase a three-bedroom townhome at Valley Brook.

Recognized as a leader in the region, KTGY continues its stride in producing award-winning workforce housing developments that integrate the latest urban design trends and green building technologies with the needs of the end user. KTGY is well recognized for its designs in single family, affordable, senior and campus housing as well as retail, hospitality, mixed-use and related specialty developments.

Established in 1991, KTGY Group, Inc., Architecture and Planning, provides comprehensive planning and award-winning architectural design services for residential communities, retail, hospitality, mixed-use and related specialty developments. KTGY delivers innovative solutions that reflect clear understanding of development, marketing and financial performance and takes particular pride in its highly motivated and principal led studios. Serving clients worldwide, KTGY maintains offices in Irvine, Oakland and Santa Monica, and in Denver. See www.ktgy.com.

The 505 is one of two developments below 96th street and among only a handful in all of New York City that are both FHA approved and have immediate occupancy. The 505 has also been approved for Fannie Mae backed loans since July 2009, giving buyers flexible options for financing. The remaining residences at The 505 range in price and size, including studios starting at $425,000, one bedroom homes for $631,000, and two bedroom units at $955,000.

“We are very pleased to be able to present such an attractive offer of FHA-backed mortgages to our buyers,” said developer Ian Reisner, Managing Partner of Parkview Developers. “With FHA financing, qualified buyers have the ability to purchase a beautiful home at The 505. This opportunity is not to be missed.”

As the development’s preferred lender, Bank of America played a significant role in gaining FHA approval for the development.

FHA loans and financing through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have helped bolster the New York City real estate market and will continue to throughout 2010. Benefits of FHA-backed loans include:

A low down payment

Easier qualifying

More flexible credit scores

Low monthly mortgage insurance

Down payment that can be gifted to the borrower

The 505 www.the505hk.com is a luxury condominium and gardens development complex in Hell’s Kitchen located at 505 West 47th Street. The development is comprised of a total of 108 residences that are situated in two buildings surrounding a garden courtyard that make up a half acre of land.

The seven-story newly constructed condominium complex features a 24 hour attended lobby, fitness center with Technogym Excite™ equipment, landscaped courtyard and furnished roof terrace with barbecue, bike and individual storage, WiFi and FIOS technology, and washers and dryers in every unit. For more information, please visit: www.the505hk.com.

Real estate development in Hell’s Kitchen west of Eighth Avenue has been vibrant since the start of 2000. The 505 exemplifies the best of the developments in the Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen district which comprises the area in the West 40’s that is seeing major development today, including Ink48, a $125 million four-star David Rockwell-designed hotel with 222 guest rooms, and the new Ogilvy & Mather headquarters which opened in 2009; both of which are located on the same block as The 505.

Parkview Developers (affiliated with Lev Parkview Developers for The 505 project) is in the business of developing residential property in NYC. Parkview also owned and operated “The Carnegie Hotel” on West 58th Street, steps from Columbus Circle and Central Park. Residential projects have included land assemblage for new development, rehabilitating residential apartments, combining residential units including total gut rehabilitation and new constructions including the development of a 100-unit condo complex in NYC and 119 Watch World stores throughout the United States.