Just how slow is the homebuilding market these days?

"It is hard to imagine a more difficult environment for the business of selling homes," said Mike Inselmann, president of Metrostudy, a national housing tracking and consulting company. "Home builders and Realtors confront a consumer terrorized by the persistent unfolding of the financial crisis, squeezed by ever more restrictive credit policies and psychologically affected by reports of falling housing prices and foreclosures."

In the Chicago metropolitan area, the single-family housing market (which includes single-family detached homes, townhomes and duplexes) continues to decline. The annual rate of housing starts fell by 2,400 units during the third quarter of 2008, to 9,806 units. The annual closings rate fell by 2,300 units during the same period, to 14,619 units. The market has declined for 10 consecutive quarters.

"Although conditions vary by metro area, the weight of all the bad news means that legitimate homebuyers across the nation have a difficult time actually moving forward with a home purchase," Inselmann said. "And it is hard to blame them.

"Fortunately, fundamental demographics will eventually overcome these issues as new households are formed each year at a higher rate than new homes are being built," he said. "When credit markets return to some semblance of normalcy, and consumers return to the business of focusing on their daily lives, homebuilding will begin to recover. But that day is likely to be at least a year away."

Chicago has always been a cyclical market, with the majority of new-home construction occurring in the second and third quarters. From 2002 through 2006, first-quarter housing starts ranged from 4,500 to 6,500 units. Second- and third-quarter starts ranged from 8,000 to 10,000.

In 2007 and 2008, first-quarter starts ranged from 2,300 to 4,000, while during what should have been peak construction times (the second and third quarters), the average for the last two years has been just 5,000 housing starts.

"Based on recent traffic and contract rates, starts for the fourth quarter of 2008 are projected to be fewer than 2,000, which would make the fourth quarter of 2008 the first time Chicago has posted fewer than 2,000 starts since the 1970s," said Chris Huecksteadt, manager of Metrostudy's Chicago division.

Metrostudy forecasts 7,500 to 8,500 housing starts in the Chicago area during 2008. The outlook for 2009 is only marginally brighter, Huecksteadt said.

Maintenance is necessary even in the homes and garages of the rich and famous, like Jay Leno, host of "The Tonight Show" on NBC-TV.

Leno has hundreds of classic cars and motorcycles at his Big Dog Garage in Southern California. The flooring in the 14,000-square-foot maintenance facility recently got a major facelift.

"The coating on the floor was probably 10 to 15 years old," said Bernard Juchli, the shop's general manager. "The paint on the floor was peeling up really badly. We rolled floor jacks on them, drove fork lifts on them, dragged metal across them."

A three-minute video on Youtube.com shows how the flooring rehab process begins with two coats of UCoat, a water-based, commercial-grade epoxy floor coating. After application of the second coat, the surface was modified further with UFlek decorative flakes and UGloss-AF high-gloss topcoats.

The complete UCoat kit, designed to coat a typical 2½-car garage, costs about $250, the firm said.

Leno buys cars not as museum pieces, but because he enjoys driving them, it's noted at Jaylenosgarage.com. The garage includes muscle cars, supercars, sports cars, classics, antiques, custom-built and luxury cars, like Duesenberg, Bugatti and Bentley.

As a whole, the collection spans 100 years of automotive history. The oldest cars are a 1906 Baker electric car and a 1906 Stanley Steamer, while the newest are a 2006 Corvette and a 2008 Dodge Challenger. To keep everything in proper running order, Leno employs a team of mechanics.