become a Mentor metro A small amount of your time can make an impact! The Waterford School District is recruiting volunteers ages 21 and older to mentor students. Volunteers meet with students at least once a week and mak:. a year long commitment to the student. If You Build It • • • Will They Buy? Housing forecast is improving but still has a way to go. Harry Kirsbaum Contributing Writer T Youth who are mentored are: 46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs 27% less likely to begin using alcohol 52% less likely to skip school 37% less likely to skip a class Contact Teresa Bruno 248.421.64971brunot01@wsdrni.org www.waterford.k12.mi.us/safeschools/mentor Waterford Fos.r4 CatabxeSco tft,cati 5,./Jant S.ctwis fr.! ea o.oculd ocee.oft znoJnot 1727650 et SOLUTIONS RENAISSANCE MEDIA Wall and Window Graphics Video Production Marketing Services Creative Services Editorial Services Pre-press Production Social Media Magazines Newspapers Corporate Identities Annual Reports Ad Campaigns Mail and postage Project Management Business Consulting Data Management Telemarketing p, Full Service Custom Publishing Ho use Below is a sample of some of our clients: Cranbrook Program Designation Dctr®it Urban How can we help you? Contact Kevin Browett or Debbie Schultz at 248.354.6060 Cranbrook Banners & Buttons 11,M6i4 Or Sch,, ErnPlOYMent Tapper's Diamond Buying Guide Quicken Loans Insert 29200 Northwestern Hwy. • Suite 110 • Southfield, MI 48034 16 M arch 1 • 2012 Z77.11 _ wo economic forecast- ers gave somewhat good news to a group of build- ers and renovators, a new execu- tive committee was sworn in, and four Jews received awards during a Building Industry Association of Southeastern Michigan meeting in Sterling Heights on Feb 15. Edsel Charles, chairman of the Franklin, Tenn.-based MarketGraphics Research Group, has been doing new-home mar- ket research in 21 states including Michigan. Every four months, his company has done a physical, lot- by-lot audit of 1,100 subdivisions in Southeast Michigan. Based on his findings, Charles, who predicted the May 2009 mortgage market melt- down in May 2000, said that inves- tors and homeowners will not recov- er the lost value of assets, including homes, until May 2014, "but Detroit may take longer." David Crowe, PhD, chief econo- mist of the Washington D.C.-based National Association of Home Builders, agreed without attaching a date. Last year started slow and slumped in early fall, but improved toward the end of the year, he said. Builders' confidence latest number is 29 compared to the boom years when the number was in the 70s, "so we're a long way off from a comfort level, but we've had five straight months of increase, and that hasn't happened for a very long time:' Crowe said. Nationally, new home sales last year of 203,000 "were the worst ever so clearly there is nowhere to go but up," he said. "It will be a slow climb and even at the end of 2013, we won't be back to where we should be, but we'll be well on our way, and that will induce housing starts once we get those sales going and replace the inventory that we sold. We're looking at a 17 percent increase in hous- ing starts in 2012 and a 37 percent increase in 2013." Although he said that 2011 was the worst year in terms of single- family starts since 1942, Crowe said that Detroit should see about 4,700 housing starts in 2013. He said that the number of fore- closures is decreasing, and there has been a relative decline of mortgages in distress for a couple of years, with the exception of a few concentrated areas. "In most places I can make that comment and people will feel better:' he said. "Unfortunately, Michigan is one of those concentrations!' There is some good news, though. Of the 360 metropolitan areas in the United States, Detroit was one of 98 metro areas that steadily improved in house prices, employ- ment and housing permits in the last six months, he said. The deepness of the economic mess locally was driven home by Crowe's next statement. "Although we are recovering, Michigan is still on the lower end of the spectrum because of how far we fell," he said. Annual production in Michigan dropped to 10 percent of normal at its lowest point, he said. In comparison, the annual produc- tion in North Dakota dropped to 75 percent of normal at its lowest point. "Michigan's recovery will be dif- ferent because the collapse was different," he said. "Except for some miracle, the climb out of the trough will be at the same level so it's going to take longer to get to the top!' Jewish Builders Honored Al Kligman of Superb Homes Inc. was inducted into the Building Industry Association Hall of Fame. Kligman of Northville gradu- ated from Wayne State College in 1955, obtained his builder's license and built his first house in Sterling Township in 1956. Kligman He changed the name of his compa- ny from Kligman Homes to Superb Homes Inc. in 1962 and has spent the rest of his career living up to the name. He and his wife, Audrey, have three children and seven grandchil- dren.