Keeping Up With The Boomers

Jim Heniff, 62, has a mean case of wanderlust. A consummate road warrior, the former bond trader (now semi-retired) logs some 15,000 miles per year on his BMW motorcycle, often with his wife riding tandem. Recent expeditions have taken them to Montana, Wyoming, and the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Home base for the Heniffs is a 3,500-square-foot colonial in the northwest Chicago suburb of Inverness, where they've lived for 30 years. Until recently, they also split their time at their condo in Scottsdale, Ariz. When their youngest son finishes grad school, they plan to uproot and build a new primary residence elsewhere—perhaps near Sedona, Ariz., or out east in the Carolinas, where a few friends from the motorcycle club have relocated. The region is still up for grabs, but one edict is clear: Their next house will forgo “space for the sake of space” and exercise greater economy, energy efficiency, and eco-stewardship. “We don't need five bedrooms,” Heniff says. “Right now, we have rooms I don't think we've ever used in this house.”

This is not to say Heniff is thinking small. He bristles at the term “downsizing” (it has the negative connotations of a corporate re-org, he says), preferring the phrase “right-sizing” to describe his ideal future home—a single-story residence with fewer matchbox-sized rooms and more functional, open, multipurpose realms. The plan won't be so much about shaving off square footage, he says, as rethinking how available space might be better allocated for a different kind of life, sans kids.

Heniff is not alone in this sentiment. In a recent study of 2,000 baby boomers commissioned by Builder's parent company, Hanley Wood, and conducted by the market research firm DYG, 60 percent of respondents anticipated “downsizing” with their next move. But downsizing, they clarified, meant fewer rooms, although not necessarily less square footage or cheaper products. Said one focus group participant: “I'll sacrifice space but not quality. The rooms I'm left with need to make me feel good each time I walk in.”

Ever mindful of the buyer segments home builders most hope to impress, the study, titled “Every 8 Seconds: American Housing as Boomers Turn 60” (which paired quantitative survey data with qualitative insights from focus groups), specifically zoomed in on consumers ages 50 to 60 with annual household incomes of more than $100,000. Researchers at DYG deemed this group of buyers “Boomfluentials” in recognition of the power they wield in shaping emerging housing trends.

Photo Credit: DYG Inc.

When you're talking about a generational cohort that's 78 million strong, it's fair to assume not all boomers share a unilateral vision of home. But our study did find some common ground—at least in the collective psyche of the affluent subset. And some of the findings were surprising. Suburban living, apparently, is a hard habit to break. Boomers are (despite claims to the contrary) coming to grips with how accessible design will help them age gracefully and maintain their independence. Balmy climates are still a big draw for empty-nesters with cash to spend. Funny how these basic themes don't convey the overt rejection of the status quo that many anticipated from the originators of the counterculture movement.

The data also yielded more than a few paradoxical findings. Respondents expressed a desire for spaces that were “cozy and comfortable” and yet “open, airy, and spacious.” They claimed to desire visitors (not live-in children or parents, mind you), but no mess, clutter, or crowding. They espoused idealistic intentions to pare down their possessions and have less “stuff,” but in the same breath demanded built-in storage to hold every last gadget and artifact—including the latest, greatest technologies.

ALL MUSCLE: At 2,900 square feet, Ed Binkley's three-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bath "compound" offers many of the features high-end boomer buyers say they want most, including open, casual entertainment spaces, a spa-like master retreat, separate guest quarters that don't infringe on the owners' privacy, and a strong connection to the outdoors. The not-too-big plan is designed in modular, 2-foot increments, so as to reduce jobsite waste by accommodating off-the-shelf materials in standard measurements.

Respondents professed allegiance to energy-efficient and “green” features but also expressed the belief that, having worked hard, they've earned the right to deluxe, six-head showers and enormous windows. Oh, and then there was this choice morsel of feedback: Nix the stairs in the floor plan, thank you, but leave space for a Stairmaster.

Could it be that the so-called “Me” generation still wants it all? You bet. Is it possible to design homes that leave these eager buyers feeling at once inspired, pampered, and prepared for the future? Hanley Wood handed the data over to two seasoned architects to tackle that question. From there, two concept houses emerged: a new suburban compound, conceived by Ed Binkley, national design director for Blood-good Sharp Buster (BSB), and a retooled plan for an existing subdivision by New York architect Dennis Wedlick. Below we extract some of the most salient findings from our study, throw in some other boomer data for good measure, and use the architects' prototype designs to illustrate how the latest insights might translate into new visions of home.

OUTSIDE THE BOX: So boomers want suburban style after all? How about an upgraded version? Architect Dennis Wedlick's conceptual renovation of “The Overlook,” a CohnGroup development in Claverack, N.Y., depicts how a traditional “five over four and a door” elevation might be freshened up with connector pieces that marry architecture with the landscape.

In 1999, an AARP study of people 45 and older found that 71 percent strongly agreed with the statement, “What I would most like to do is to stay in my current residence for as long as possible.” More recently, a study of 30,000 boomers, conducted for The Home Depot and released last October by Focalyst (a joint venture of AARP Services and the research firm Kantar), found 60 percent of respondents asserting that they would live in their current residence over the next five years; 65 percent said they planned to remodel.

But among the wealthy boomers in the Hanley Wood study, “aging in place” wasn't such a tasty proposition. Only one in five respondents in that survey said they preferred to retire in their current home as it is today, while 52 percent said they hoped to buy new or build their dream home. Nearly half (46 percent) have been in their current home less than a decade. When asked to name their most likely reasons for a move in the next 10 to 15 years, respondents cited a change in lifestyle due to retirement (52 percent), a wish to downsize (49 percent), dreams of a better climate (38 percent), and the desire for a particular style of house (28 percent).

COMPACT LUXURY: Architect Ed Binkley's fully loaded boomer dream plan would easily feel at home on five acres, but it's designed to fit a neighborhood lot measuring 90 feet by 130 feet. The site plan is flexible and can be scaled down to 70 feet wide by repositioning the pool and side yard. Also, the detached guest studio can become an optional feature.

While some forecasters have predicted a wholesale repopulation of the urban core by empty-nesters, survey data suggest that boomers aren't quite ready to give up the creature comforts and familiarity of suburban life. A hefty 72 percent of respondents to our survey said they wanted their retirement home to be a detached structure (the type of home in which 89 percent currently reside), and 67 percent saw their ideal retirement home in a “suburb within 50 miles of a city.” Slightly more than half liked the idea of being close to nature. So much for the great urban migration theory.

Home buyer relocation patterns back this finding at the macro level. A recent study released by the Mortgage Bankers Association indicates that, in a given five-year period, only 2 percent of all empty-nest, retirement-age, suburban homeowners will move to an urban area, and that suburban empty-nesters are just as likely to move to a nonmetropolitan area as they are to move to an urban area. Suburban-to-urban movers represent 5 percent of all retirement-age homeowners located in central cities, according to the report; but when the reverse, outbound traffic flow of empty-nesters leaving the city is factored in, the net migration effect is -7.2 percent.

Photo Credit: BSB Design

Photo Credit: BSB Design

Photo Credit: BSB Design

Photo Credit: BSB Design

Photo Credit: BSB Design

Photo Credit: BSB Design

Photo Credit: BSB Design

Photo Credit: BSB Design

One thing is sure: Members of the sandwich generation (those caring for children and for aging parents at the same time) are raring to retire from their role as caregivers and to begin nurturing their own sense of well-being. Nearly 80 percent of respondents in the Hanley Wood survey said they wanted “a home that reflects my needs and wants, not those of my children or parents.” One focus group participant remarked: “I've worked a long time to help other people grow up and become successful, and now it's time for me to do some of the things I haven't had a chance to experience yet.”

As boomers venture into a life stage in which they are no longer defined by their kids or careers, home will increasingly become an important statement of personal identity. Some 72 percent of those in our study agreed with the statement, “My home is a reflection of who I am—my values and my taste” (a sentiment echoed by 77 percent of participants in the Focalyst study for The Home Depot). And those values revolve more around style and durability than quantity, it seems: 73 percent agree that “I really value a house made of the highest-quality materials.”

Vintage Victorian? No thanks. Just as boomers are willing to abandon excess space or volume that is not efficient or purposeful, they're happy to bag the big lawn and the fixer-upper house if it means freedom from drudge work. Here's the clear evidence: 82 percent of participants in our survey said a prerequisite for their next home would be “low maintenance or upkeep.”

More evidence of a reality check? Although they remain über active, boomers are not in denial about what faltering eyesight and aching joints could mean for the dwellings they will inhabit down the road. Some 66 percent said “universal design features” describes an aspect of their next home. An equal number ranked “having everything you want or need on one floor” as “very appealing.”

Today, a boomer in America turns 60 every eight seconds. The vast majority (85 percent) of older, affluent boomer homeowners remain in the workforce either full time (73 percent) or part time (12 percent). But of those who are working, six in 10 expect to retire in five to 10 years. And they may not want to stay where they are. Get ready.

Roughly 89 percent of the boomers in the Hanley Wood survey currently live in a single-family home, and 72 percent say they want to continue living in a detached dwelling through retirement. Conversely, 6 percent currently live in semi-detached–style homes, and 4 percent live in condos. Among respondents, 11 percent say they'd like to pursue a condo in the future, and some 15 percent envision their ideal retirement digs as a semi-detached home such as a townhouse, duplex, or row house. Detached homes still have the greatest mind share, but demand for attached alternatives is growing.

The so-called “Boomfluentials” in the Hanley Wood study do not care to live a “traditional retirement lifestyle” (only 28 percent say it's a priority), but their regional climate preferences are traditional. Nearly a third (32 percent) say they'd like to live in a South Atlantic state, while 14 percent prefer mountain states. The study suggests the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast are primed to experience an exodus of boomers.

Architect Ed Binkley envisioned his prototype home as a contemporary red stucco abode in Florida, but the creative team at BSB also waxed poetic with a series of fresh elevation styles and cladding options—demonstrating how the same floor plan could work in any number of locales.