AT MID YEAR, ONE THING’S
CERTAIN: TIME FLIES

By Chad Deshotel, 2011 LHBA President

Wow! It’s truly hard to believe that half of the year has gone by so quickly. Time definitely does fly. I hope everyone has had a great first half of the year.  LHBA’s Spring Meetings in Baton Rouge were extremely successful, with more than 100 members in attendance for the legislative briefing on May 4.  Afterwards, more than 500 members and state legislators attended our annual crawfish boil after visiting amongst each other at the state Capitol. I would like to personally thank every member in attendance for taking time out of their busy schedules and, in some cases traveling long distances, to show allimportant support for our industry. While 2011 marked a fiscal year in the state legislature, it was a very busy legislative session for us nonetheless.  We monitored several bills and were incredibly successful in our efforts to look out for our mutual best interests. We worked closely with our lobbyist, Michelle Shirley, and called upon you, our members, with legislative alerts. We urged you to contact your legislators when we needed your voice to sound clearly. Our network is an impressive one indeed.  There are a couple of new developments for members that I would like to point out and encourage you to consider, as appropriate to your business. First, LHBA has partnered with an insurance company to offer builders’ risk insurance to our builders. With this program, builders are able to save money while helping to support LHBA. It’s a win-win situation for all of us. If interested, please contact your local insurance agent. If you are unable to find an agent to write this builders’ risk insurance, please contact your local association and they can put you in contact with a representative. Secondly, LHBA has a new feature on our website (LHBA.org) that offers builders the opportunity to feature homes for sale. Contact your local association to find out how you can put your homes for sale on our statewide site. As we all know, a multiple exposure approach is key to selling off inventory. To all of the members of this great association, I urge you to remember that this is your association. Without your support we cannot exist. I look forward to seeing many of you at the Summer Meetings in Sandestin.  In closing, I want to thank you for being an LHBA member. I hope each and every one of you has a pleasant and productive summer. Take time to smell the roses and enjoy the important things in life. And until next time, if you need to reach me, call (337) 912-0366 or e-mail  jcdeshotel@aol.com. n