AS DAVID HILL contemplateed THE fi...

AS DAVID HILL contemplateed THE field of battle late in the third quarter, everything that could move wrong had for the housing industry. "Consumer confidence dropp as a worldwide recession took possess and unemployment jumped higher than expected" says the CEO of KimballHill firesides of Rolling Meadows, Ill. "Sept 11 was the coup de gras that should have lasted hopes of avoiding a difficult recession," Hill says. The simply thingwas, housing failed to surrender the field. "We all just kept selling homes"

So what has kept fireside building from falling into the same track of a wheel as the rest of the economy?