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AGENT FRECKLES DAILY DOSSIER - Edition: What Home Buyers Who Are Millennials Want (September 6, 2013)
...well-designed space
...hardwood floors
...smart functionality
...digs as unique as they are
...to stop paying rent
by AGENT BLONDIE for Team Freckles. For tried-and-true home staging tips, be sure to pick up your copy of STAGE IT RIGHT & WATCH IT SELL: Top Tips, Tricks & Techniques for Staging a House Like a Real Estate Pro (only 99 cents & downloadable immediately!)
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Smart Layout, Space for Entertaining, a Snazzy Living Area & Other Stuff Home Buyers Who Are Millennials Want
“Millennials have witnessed the housing boom and bust, but still believe homeownership is a good investment,” observes Fred Ehle, vice president for PulteGroup. “Consistent with other third-party research that shows more than 90 percent of millennials plan to buy a home someday, we see a lot of young adults who are making financial sacrifices to afford a place of their own. With the combination of incredibly low mortgage rates, rising rental rates and very low inventory levels, millennials realize now is a good time to purchase a home.” When PulteGroup surveyed Millennials, over half of them reported being weary of living in apartments & paying out so much money to someone else by way of rent each month; this group is ready to own something & build up some equity & as a result, and in 2012, 30% of PulteGroup's buyers were Millennials purchasing their first home. But not just any McMansion, thankyouverymuch. They like spaces within walking or biking distance of the action that needn't be 8-bedroom, 50-bathroom affairs so long as the space is intelligently laid out. “Millennials today want a lot of value in their home that makes efficient use of every space,” continues Ehle. “In fact, the single most important home feature to a millennial buyer today is the floor plan layout.”
Research by PulteGroup found this is what their Millennial home buyers are looking for:
enough storage for daily items: 84%
room for watching TV, movies & sports: 76%
an entry way in the house: 73%
an open, combined kitchen/living room for entertaining: 69%
an outdoor living/deck: 63%
a home office or other way to work & conduct bidnez a casa: 36%
by AGENT BLONDIE for Team Freckles. For tried-and-true home staging tips, be sure to pick up your copy of STAGE IT RIGHT & WATCH IT SELL: Top Tips, Tricks & Techniques for Staging a House Like a Real Estate Pro (only 99 cents & downloadable immediately!)
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Brave New World of Millennial Discovery
“What we’re seeing is a shift in the function of a road from merely a line between one destination and the next to more of a habitat for people,” notes Rolf Pendall, director of the Washington-based Urban Institute. “Since urban real estate is getting more expensive, having and using roads as public space with pop ups and pedestrian lounges is becoming more important. You have this smudging of the private and public realm.” Millennials don't mind living spaces that are small if they're interestingly designed with extra flair points awarded for building materials that are in some way eco or less burdensome to the environment. However, when it comes specifically to the actual Great Outdoors, Environics Analytics found that Millennials are somewhat ambivalent.
What they are passionate about? City spaces loaded with secret spaces and other treasures they can discover and then bring along a pack of their fave pals for a chill-out session - a vibrant vision of urbanity that allows them both the connection with others they want and their desire to discover cool hidden spots. This combination is what feeds them emotionally and socially. So what does this translate to when it comes to the future of residential architecture & design?
Cool happenings that take place in public spaces, such as art events where the works are projected onto the sides of buildings or dumpsters. Wider sidewalks that allow for people to walk in groups and those on bikes to pedal around. Public spaces reminiscent of Bangkok's Night Market which many Millennials experienced while traveling (they're a well-traveled group). And living space such as the community-friendly ELEVE Lofts and Skydeck (above) in Glendale which feature a 26,000 square foot SkyDeck with a very Kitchen Stadium-inspired Demonstration Kitchen area, a large screen projector for movie nights, spa tubs, ritzy rooftop seating, a dog run & even a "Poet's Corner" with a piano.
by AGENT BLONDIE for Team Freckles. For tried-and-true home staging tips, be sure to pick up your copy of STAGE IT RIGHT & WATCH IT SELL: Top Tips, Tricks & Techniques for Staging a House Like a Real Estate Pro (only 99 cents & downloadable immediately!)
Seeking a High-Tech Hut in the Global Village
This interesting interview with three Millennials reveals some striking specifics in what exactly they're looking for in a home. Here are some of the insights & quotes that really stood out to me:
SMALL IS GOOD "My generation is looking for low-maintenance homes that are easier to care for." In part, because this generation is pretty footloose: "I want a smaller space so it's easier to take off and go. A house that's low-maintenance is good. Generation Y traveled a lot in college and will continue to do so through life, so a big yard isn't a plus, either."
LESS SPACE IS BETTER "More brick, steel and glass, but also more condo living and less emphasis on land." 'Mention "acreage" and a 50-something hears "peaceful place away from the pressures of the city," while a 20-something hears "isolated maintenance nightmare."' "I want a house that reflects who I am and where I've been. In big houses, people buy meaningless stuff just to fill them up. Living in a cookie-cutter subdivision with vinyl siding and no trees is not palatable to me...Well-used efficient space is best."
CONNECTED IS BEST "I think that seeing so many of our generation's parents divorce makes us understand that family togetherness is important. So as we start having kids you will see us avoid homes with a living room, family room and finished basement rec room in favor of open-plan homes where the family can share space." "It means homes that offer more connection to the neighborhood instead of privacy for their owners: front porches, less space between homes, more density, smaller yards, building up instead of out, condominiums, duplexes, etc." "I'd like to take public transit or, ideally, walk to work."
KEEP THE GLOBAL PLAYGROUND CLEAN If you like to travel & have friends, IRL & online, that are everywhere, it's only natural to see the entire globe as within your reach. Which means eco-everything is a big deal. "Being green is just a way of life. I'm LEED accredited. It's so important that I wouldn't date someone who didn't recycle. Eco-snobbery has become a status symbol for Generation Y."
TECHNOLOGY FIRST "I want a place that's simple and free of clutter and that has a connectedness through technology."
OTHER BUZZY STUFF: materials that use less wood & are more energy efficient than traditional building materials (structural-insulated panels or SIPs); the US Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification program; rehabbing older structures instead of building new ones; an end to using products made from vinyl; heat from geothermal sources; water heaters that don't require bulky tanks; solar energy; timber that is reclaimed; landscaping & gardens that use dramatically less water, called xeriscaping
And lastly, I thought this quote kind of summed up the Millennial zeitgeist of technology=modernity quite nicely: "My architectural psychology class taught me that people who feel overwhelmed by change, or that the world is "going to hell in a hand basket," usually choose traditional style. They see the past as being better than the future, and they create whatever link to the past they can. Generation Y is just the opposite. We want more and more change. My 60-something aunt wants to live in a Monticello-esque house because she makes a link to the noble founding of our country. My generation learned about Jefferson as the guy who had a bunch of illegitimate children with his slaves. We don't want to live in his house." Brutal, yes, but honest & on point.
(image: the Edgeland House built for a sci-fi writer by Bercy Chen that includes a bleak industrial past as a pipeline, a spaceshippy design & building techniques that blend the techno with the primitive; Millennials article via)
by AGENT BLONDIE for Team Freckles. For tried-and-true home staging tips, be sure to pick up your copy of STAGE IT RIGHT & WATCH IT SELL: Top Tips, Tricks & Techniques for Staging a House Like a Real Estate Pro (only 99 cents & downloadable immediately!)
How Millennials See the Future of Architecture
When architecture firm Perkins + Will asked the Millennials on staff where they saw architecture headed over the next 25 years, these future leaders predicted that...
there wll be a growing trend of taking existing buildings & reno'ing them to green them up
many future building materials will emerge from the field of nanotechnology
neuroscience will influence how buildings are designed
it won't be just architects designing projects but cross-disciplinary teams which include economists, demographers & performance engineers
In short, the current architectural approach will expand beyond just designing an object to designing the infrastructure on which systems are the built to serve needs of those using them: the humans. Human-centered design tends to cross boundaries in search of solutions, made possible by factors like Social Media that supports social interaction regardless of geographical location and a generation accustomed to consulting their tribe on everything from where to eat to what movies to see, what gadgets to buy...pretty much everything. “The Millennial generation has grown up with social computing, which has made it possible for them to connect with people throughout the world, learn about problems and solutions, and do so independently and—in many cases—independently of traditional authority figures like parents, teachers, bosses,” says Liz Gerber, Breed junior professor of design at Northwestern University. “Social computing raises awareness of the importance and urgency of problems to be solved and lowers the barriers to resources to solve them. When Millennials see their peers making a difference through design, they ask themselves, ‘Why not me? What’s stopping me from directly engaging with the world’s problems?’
Firms already designing on this cutting edge include:
Rebar Art & Design Studio
SHoP Architects
Interboro Partners
Lateral Office (above)
with honorary mention to one of the original mavericks ever who was dedicated to the lofty goal of "making the world work for all humanity": Buckminster Fuller
by AGENT BLONDIE for Team Freckles. For tried-and-true home staging tips, be sure to pick up your copy of STAGE IT RIGHT & WATCH IT SELL: Top Tips, Tricks & Techniques for Staging a House Like a Real Estate Pro (only 99 cents & downloadable immediately!)
