Emotional Rescue
Real estate developers and agents are slowly awakening to a new way of thinking when it comes to where Baby Boomers are going to live out their lives. The buzzword is "Aging-in-Place" or AIP.
That means not moving to Florida or Sun City or Palm Desert, like the last generation of retirees did. It means finding a maintenance-free or low maintenance home where they live now. And "home" usually means not far from where the children -- and now, grandchildren -- live. Not isolated from the rest of society with others their own age.
To Boomers, "home" also means where their lifetime of connections can be found -- from work to church to neighbors to family to friends. Boomers spent their lives making emotional connections. They won't break them now as they begin thinking about where they want to live in their later years.
Since "home" is also a place, it's interesting to see what builders in Georgia are already doing...
Georgia Homebuilders "EasyLiving" Homes
Georgia is the birthplace of the "EasyLiving Home" program, the nation's first voluntary certification program that specifies criteria in everyday construction to add convenience in your new home and to welcome all friends, family and visitors, regardless of age, size or physical abilities. It is organized and run by a coalition that includes the Homebuilders Association of Georgia, AARP Georgia, Concrete Change, local chapters of Fannie Mae, Easter Seals and others.
It sounds so simple, yet these small changes in a home allow residents and visitors of all ages, sizes and abilities increased usability. They help prevent accidents, increase comfort and safety, while enhancing the independence and satisfaction of their residents and visitors. To receive an EasyLiving Home certification, the builder must provide three basic features: a zero-step outside entrance (easy access), a bedroom and full bath on the main floor (easy use) and 32-inch doorways throughout (easy passage). You can learn more at EasyLiving Home's Web site.
The beauty of the program is that it isn't age-based at all. By its very nature, it is attractive to an aging population -- or more accurately, to Boomers who are getting older and will begin looking for homes that are easier to inhabit and maintain. This is exactly the approach builders and developers should take to attract those Boomers who are going to "age-in-place."
(What's amazing is that this hasn't already happened in other places -- the EasyLiving Home organization has a Replication Director who reports they plan to implement it in two or three other states by the end of the year, but it is slow going.)
The implications for home furnishings and home improvement marketers are simple: develop EasyLiving Home-type products and services to appeal to these homeowners. They have more disposable income to spend on "feathering their nest" and they'll want products and services that make their home lives easier. Sure, we all laughed at "The Clapper," but wouldn't it be great to have lamps that turn on and off at the touch of a button instead of the twist of a knob? Borrow the concept of "EasyLiving Home" and you might be off to the races.
Keeping Connected to Keep Relevant
Boomers have seen how senior citizens have been treated in the United States over the last 40 years, often shipped off to retirement communities or worse, sent to "assisted living" homes. They don't want to suffer the same fate. They will want to stay connected to the things that have defined them for their entire adult lives: friends, family, job, neighborhood, community, church. They aren't interested in a community off somewhere by themselves with their age-related peers.
Boomers over 50, then, will begin looking for low or no maintenance homes in neighborhoods near where they live now, inter-mixed with younger families, or in mixed-use, more urban settings. They will want to stay connected to help them stay relevant, and vibrant.
In-fill, or developments getting built on unused land within existing neighborhoods, communities and cities will be another significant trend in the real estate market. Demand will drive supply and builders creating that supply will prosper.
For example, in my home town, Richmond, Virginia, developments still a year away from even breaking ground on low maintenance, detached homes for those over 55 have already sold out of their inventory. And this is before the majority of Boomers have reached that age.
What happens come 2010, when some 36 million Boomers are over 55?
Marketers -- and perhaps investors -- might want to ponder the implications of that.
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