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Dressing Up the Home |
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Real Estate Trend PredictionsReal estate prognosticators see increasing amenities on buyers' wish lists.What types of homes will be the hottest sellers two years from now? We asked a group of real estate agents to weigh in on that question.
While everyone seemed to have a different list of specifics, the consensus we heard is that buyers will only grow harder to please. They will expect an increasingly broader menu of features, and they will want these features regardless of whether they can realistically afford them. "I believe that home buyers will be looking for a deal as usual," says Barry Salottolo, managing director of sales for Anchor Associates' Westchester, N.Y., real estate brokerage office. "At the same time they will want more amenities. These include efficient amenities such as sub-floor heating, solar panels, skylights, zone thermostats. As we move further into this decade, buyers will also want a home that offers less maintenance and more high-end fixtures." Everyone we contacted agreed a few items would remain popular, including outdoor kitchens. But the consensus was that such features point toward a larger trend: a craving among buyers to balance their tech-saturated lives with a connection to nature. That connection doesn't necessarily have to be outside, says Jo Ellen Nash, a real estate agent in Vail, Colo., and Naples, Fla., and co-founder of the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing. She sees more interior courtyards, water features, 'living' walls carpeted with plants, and focused natural lighting. "Homes with a view of nature will always sell first, but if don't have a view you can create one inside the home," she says. The desired balance helps explain the popularity of "green" design, a trend that everyone agreed is more than a passing fad. "Buyers love the idea that their new pad is made of sustainable resources," says Dana Frank, a Los Angeles real estate agent who has been named one of the nation's top 20 RE/MAX agents every year since 2004. "They feel like pioneers, first adapters of a new technology." She predicts that buyers' willingness to pay a premium for their piece of the green pie will continue. Green is as strong in the Midwest as in L.A. Chicago real estate manager Tom Kearns, who has sold thousands of new housing units, hears more and more buyers asking about water conservation. Whether motivated by environmental concern or rising water bills, most seem willing to pay the extra money required for conservation features. "Homes with separate gray water plumbing systems — those that collect and filter rain water for landscaping and toilets — will increase in value at a greater rate than other homes in some markets," he says. Of course, buyers' craving for natural elements won't quell their thirst for electronics, and they will be impressed by homes designed with gadgets in mind. "With all the iPods, cell phones, PDAs and laptops, kitchens are swarming with cords," Nash says. She has seen more homes with finely detailed "mudrooms" featuring cubby holes to store and charge each family members' electronic devices. "This will become popular very fast," she says. Some experts believe buyers will increasingly want homes that reflect their personal priorities. "Within the new-home market, as you move up [the price ladder], more and more people are buying homes the way they buy cars," says Dr. Stan Longhofer, director of Wichita State University's Barton School of Business Center for Real Estate. He cites the importance to buyers of options packages, and believes that the real winners will be the builders who can capitalize on this by making mass customization a viable business proposition for the mass market. "The key is to lower the cost of custom choices by offering a modular set of options that buyers can customize," he says. Builders who can't afford to rearrange their floor plan with each sale will need to find creative ways to let buyers make the home feel like their own. Tonja Demoff, real estate expert and author of "Bubble Proof: Real Estate Strategies That Work in Any Market," recommends that builders who are considering customer incentives should offer a given dollar amount toward decorating. Of course, every discussion with a buyer eventually comes down to cost. And despite their growing wish lists, Frank finds many buyers are still "completely out-priced." But she believes that builders can gain an edge by providing buyers with a way to help alleviate this. She suggests that, where zoning laws permit, builders include guest units or spaces that can be converted to guest units in new homes. She says that while these spaces have always been popular, more buyers are looking to offset their huge monthly payments. "It offers the cash-strapped buyer the opportunity to make back some of their mortgage by renting out the unit," Frank says.
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