The past year has brought the real estate industry great challenges, especially in the single-family-home market. The subprime meltdown has curtailed new home construction and, in many parts of the country, sales of existing homes as well. Banks and lenders are now making it more difficult to qualify to get a new mortgage, or even refinance, and, in many cases, getting a home equity loan is just as trying. This means a much slower deal volume than we've seen in the previous five years.

However, there are some factors on the horizon that will most likely make this turn of events relatively short. First, much of the lending institutions will right themselves through winter, traditionally a slow time for home sales in the Northeast. Second, candidates for the Presidential election will focus on what is happening in the real estate industry as part of the campaign, and you can rest assured that each of them will come up with solutions to what is turning out to be a painful period. Third, the Federal Reserve Bank will continue to cut interest rates as long as this situation and other troubling conditions in the economy persist.

New York House is taking certain steps in the next few months to work with what is happening by slightly altering some of its editorial content. As you can see from the tagline on the cover, we have expanded our coverage from the "Real Estate Magazine for Smarter Living" to "Home and Real Estate for Smarter Living." Although this change may seem subtle, the truth of the matter is that we are no longer in a deal-driven economy, and it's important to emphasize the core of what we bring to the market, which is a magazine devoted to green and sustainability issues. This is our trademark editorial content, which turns to the part of our lives that we return to every day, our homes. Ways to contribute to healthier lifestyle choices is our approach to this magazine every month. To inform, educate, and excite our readers into making this a greener planet will continue to be our mission.

Jonathan A. Schein

P.S. For the first time in my publishing career, I've written a piece about an experience I had in the autumn that is all too familiar to many of you. The piece appears on the last page of this issue, in the Back Porch essay slot. Thank you in advance for indulging my blossoming writing career.