Watch the Boomers
(Published in Inland Empire Magazine—June 2005)
Want to know the next phase in home design? Watch the baby boomers. 78 million strong, they control 70 percent of the nation’s net worth. Those numbers give their faintest whims enormous impact.
The current whim, among affluent boomers, is to get small, lean and mobile. As the kids leave home, fifty-somethings are downsizing, focusing on quality experiences rather than possessions. That means smaller, lower-maintenance homes.
Kim Senecal tapped this trend when she partnered with a local developer to provide a collection of upscale, modest-sized homes in Alta Loma. “That concept came from the idea that all these baby boomers, who are very affluent, can afford just about anything,” says Senecal, President of Prudential California Realty in Rancho Cucamonga.
“They want…17 to 25 hundred square feet, preferably gated, customized, comfortable,” she observes. “And they want to move in there, lock the doors and travel—hit the road, in their half million-dollar RV.”
That impulse carries a whiff of 1960s romanticism, but also an awareness of looming mortality. Life is rushing onward; better pack in all the experiences you can.
Romantic or not, boomers still need mundane things—like storage space. The three-car garage is mandatory, according to Senecal, “Because they accumulate a lot of junk, and the kids bring their stuff in.” Call it the dark side of the carefree life.
So, how did the homes in Senecal’s project sell?
“Like hotcakes.”
If the other 78 million catch the trend, builders will be serving a lot more hotcakes in the years ahead.
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