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Three Brunswick County, N.C., builders are leading the way toward large-scale market-based affordable housing programs in our communities, as The Sun News reported this week. But they are in the vanguard only because they acquired land cheaply enough to keep home price tags in a range that families with incomes of $40,000 or less can afford. With the help of federal mortgage programs for working people who don't make a lot of money, the builders say they're able to bring in decent stick-built and modular houses with prices well below the regional median housing price of about $200,000. But unless they can find reasonably priced land, they may be unable to stay in this end of the home-building market for long. Builders in Horry and Georgetown counties, meanwhile, reportedly are willing to work the lower end of the market, too.
South Carolina has the 10th fastest population growth in the nation, according to estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau, and the Upstate's housing market shows it. South Carolina and Georgia were among the top 10 fastest-growing states in terms of population change from July 2005 to July 2006, according to the Census Bureau information. South Carolina was the 10th fastest-growing state, with a 1.7-percent population increase. Georgia was the fourth fastest, with growth of 2.5 percent. Georgia also was among the top 10 states in terms of the raw number of additional people living in the state in the past year, with a population growth of 231,388. The number of Anderson County housing units grew by about 6,000, to 79,350, between 2000 and 2005. The increase presents an opportunity for reviewing whether the available housing is affordable, said Michael Cunningham, assistant county administrator.
Super-salesman Ken Thompson has spent so many years at the top of his craft that it might seem to a new customer that Thompson practically invented automotive salesmanship. Actually, its only been some 30 years since I started out in this business, says Thompson. Time goes by quickly when you enjoy what youre doing. Thirty years, that is, since Thompson left the ambulance-manufacturing industry to give the automotive sales floor a try. It impressed me as an allied business, Thompson says of the showroom scene, and my experience in the chassis-buying area for the ambulances, you know indicated that such a move might make some sense. And it didnt take long for me to figure out, he adds, that what I was doing, was creating a business that would last, if I could make the sale last beyond just the transaction.
LOS ANGELES — The Hummer O2, an environmentally friendly vehicle with algae-filled body panels that transform harmful CO2 into pure oxygen, took home the top prize on Thursday in the Los Angeles Auto Show Design Challenge. The two-dimensional rendering of a 2015 blue-sky concept is the brainchild of GM Advanced Design. Contestants were charged with creating a vehicle that addresses environmental sustainability. "The Hummer O2 epitomizes that ethos of the true Southern California outdoors enthusiast with rugged capability, a 'tread lightly' contact system and construction methods promoting safety, accessibility and reusability," said Frank Saucedo, director of GM Advanced Design in California. "Most vehicles in L.A. spend 95 percent of their time outdoors subjected to sunlight, so why couldn't a vehicle give back?" The Hummer O2 is powered by four modular fuel cells that run hydraulic motors built into each wheel.
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