As seen in Builder & Remodeler, January 2008, Vol. 26 No. 12:
"Accettella is an intelligent and articulate spokesman for the home building industry...He has pounced on the idea that incentives for buyers, such as cuts in taxes for sales of home, will help spur business. His leadership is vocal and authoritative and most certainly intelligent. Year after year his firm, Jarry Building Industries Corp., has entered and won top LIBI Awards showing that he certainly is smart in the ways of the industry."
- Denis Sheahan, Editor, Builder & Remodeler
His Mission: Overcome Downturn
Accettella takes oath as 2008 LIBI president
By Denis Sheahan
The timing is interesting. Not in a long time has there been such anxiety about the housing market. With that nervousness comes a new president of the Long Island Builders Institute, Ramon (Ray) F. Accettella, Jr., the president of Jarro Building Industries Corp. Accettella's company is based in East Meadow, but for this year, his heart will be at the LIBI office in Islandia. It will be there that he will deal with the crisis in the home building industry.
"This is the most difficult market for housing ever to face this country... Housing is at a 16-year low and as president I am going to try to do something about it," said Accettella. "My mission is to try to move the current residential inventory with the help of my fellow LIBI officers."
They are:
- LIBI chairman Victor Irizarry of Whiteford Development
- LIBI vice president Matt Whelan of Avalon Bay Communities
- LIBI treasurer Ira Tane of Benchmark Builders
- LIBI secretary Mike Kelly of Pulte Homes
- LIBI vice president associate Marci Micciantuono of Selective Surfaces
"We propose a government sponsored 10-year tax program with no taxes on the house for the first year, but add 10 percent a year for the next 10 years," he added. As a pro-active LIBI president, Accettella said he expects to seek incentives for the seller to sell. "We want to see our next generation staying on Long Island rather than move to southern states because houses might be less expensive," Accettella declared. "Let's move these houses that are for sale and don't put the onus on the builders."
According to Accettella, owners who sell their houses will ultimately move up the ladder into new homes and cut into the inventory of existing homes for sale, and, of course, leaving the lesser expensive houses for sale to the new generation.
Accettella's career spans more than three decades and it was filled with milestones. In 1979, he became a member of the village planning board of Babylon. Over the next 20 years, he was a member of virtually all boards in Babylon, including chairman of the Babylon Zoning board and a member of the IDA board.
In 1989, he helped write a law with Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords that established guidelines for use of lead and asbestos for people working in the remodeling industry. Starting in 2002, Accettella and Jarro made huge strides in the "makeover" of houses and entered the LIBI Awards. Since then, Jarro has won LIBI Awards in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007.
Accettella's view of the housing crisis is shared across the vast spectrum of the home building industry, but his mission as president of LIBI will be to strengthen his organization by challenging members to overcome the dour forecasts.
"I've been through tough times and we're going to get through this," he said. "We've got to stay united and solid. Members have to keep their membership in LIBI and stay involved."
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