Creating a safe, livable environment to foster aging in place
The U.S. population is aging and many seniors want to continue living independently in their own homes. Creating a safe, livable environment to foster aging in place through universal design without the home screaming “this was made for old people” can be an easy task for professional remodelers.
Good design is good design
The same design features that make a home comfortable for older people also work for younger families.
“Aging in place continues to grow in popularity among homeowners because applying universal design principles in the home transforms it into a multi-generational living space,” notes Mary Jo Peterson, CAPS, on behalf of Delta Faucet. “Homeowners want safe functionality, but don’t want to give up attractive design. (more…)
Tired of builder beige? So is everyone else.
Inexpensive, easily adaptable, and striking, color is a powerful tool in the right hands. Too often it’s a casualty as home designs are reduced to the blandest common denominator; a strategic burst of color in small details or sculptural statements can lend vibrancy to your designs and differentiate them from the competition. Need a little artistic inspiration? Check out these color-infused designs.
Credit: Aaron Wilson
When a Chicago-area home renowned as a significant local example of modern architecture was due for a renovation, it needed to make a statement. To that end, the kitchen was outfitted with a wall of papaya lacquer cabinets and a stainless steel island, providing contrast for the rest of the building’s muted cedar cladding and white interior. Architect: Susan Patenaude, Aaron Wilson, Chicago Builder: Aaron Wilson (renovations), Chicago
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Survey says! Buyers again interested in larger homes
When the housing market collapsed, buyers became more interested in smaller, energy-efficient homes and smaller lot sizes, but bigger houses might be coming back, according to the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
Homeowners remain interested in their properties as investments, especially regarding outdoor living space. Accessibility within the home remains a concern, especially for an aging population, along with ongoing demand for more flexible and open design within homes.
These findings come from an AIA Home Design Trends Survey, which focused specifically on overall home layout and use in the first quarter of 2011. The survey’s respondents were residential architects and architecture firms.
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New homes get a boost from Zillow
According to Builder Online, on Thursday morning, Zillow.com, the online real estate database, introduced a new search function on its website that’s giving greater visibility to new homes that are available in markets around the country.
Zillow’s site has 22 million viewers per month, and the goal of this launch “is to give more exposure to new homes for all consumers, not just those who come to the site predisposed to buy a house,” says Greg Schwartz, Zillow’s chief revenue officer, last week. (Builder agreed to delay posting its story about the launch until Zillow had worked out the technical details.)
The first stage of this launch includes changes to Zillow’s website and mobile application, through which Zillow receives about 30% of its weekend traffic.
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What is the secret ingredient for a best-selling project?
Credit: Courtesy Meritage Group
The secret ingredient for a best-selling project in a listless market is to add a little, and sometimes a lot, of something extra and unexpected.
We’ve always heard the expression, location, location, location but it takes more than a good location, a good price, and a good product to create a best-selling community these days. At a time when buyers are constantly being told that buying a new house is a bad idea, the process of getting a project to sell well requires incorporating something extra, the 13th donut in a baker’s dozen, the second strawberry topping a slice of cheesecake, something that makes a buyer feel exclusive, privileged, happy, brilliant.
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Low Mortgage Rates Could Soon Disappear
June 1–Mortgage rates are at historic lows, but that might not be the case much longer.
Those holding out for a bargain or waiting to jump into the housing market for other reasons could be in for a rude awakening.
“I don’t want to convince someone to buy a home who shouldn’t, but for those who can and who want to, I want them to get the message that they’re living on borrowed time when it comes to interest rates,” said housing consultant David Jarvis.
Mortgage rates aren’t expected to spike tomorrow. But as the economy improves and if inflation begins to affect more segments of the economy, rates should start to tick up.
How much is anyone’s guess.
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Is your website iPad friendly?
According to Boyce Thompson, Editorial Director of The Builder, The iPad Requires a Different Way of Thinking!
In his blog post, he states that the iPad has become a big phenomenon. “We had an agency come in the other day and they distributed a half dozen of the machines preloaded with their presentation. The message was more blatant than subliminal–you need to be thinking about new media, not just print and website, to distribute your content.”
He stated that the same message applies to home building. “Given the rapid adoption of iPads, websites need to be configured for easy and stimulating viewing on them. And the medium seems to be more about pictures, videos, and interactivity than text. It’s cool to be able to blow up images, customize floor plans, and watch YouTube content.”
There are other technical issues to consider. Because you can turn the iPad to view in landscape or portrait mode, websites need to look good in both. And because it’s a touch-screen device, pulling up “hover-over” clouds of information that lead to other places isn’t very convenient.
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Ready to build your custom home? It’s easier than you think!
When you hear the word “custom” associated with the home building industry, you probably think of a one-of-a kind home with everything you ever dreamed, right down to the door knobs, at a price reserved for people with large, six-figure incomes. At one time, that was probably correct. But things are changing.
Today, there are myriad custom home options and a variety of different levels of custom home builders in the Houston area. There’s still the full-time, custom home builder who builds a few homes each year. There are higher-volume builders, who will customize a home by moving walls or adding square footage. There are even higher-volume builders who offer custom options in just a few areas of the home, such as kitchens with sunrooms or kitchens as part of the family room.
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Slowly improving conditions in residential construction are easing the pressure on key rooms to do more with less.
According to April issue of Custom Home Magazine, “the housing recovery – slow though it may be—is starting to ease the downward pressure on home sizes and appears to be triggering a bit of a trend reversal, at least according to residential architects who responded to the AIA’s Fourth Quarter 2010 Home Design Trends Survey.”
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NAHB – New Homes Strengthen Economy Year Round
According to NAHB (National Association of Home Builders) Chairman Bob Nielsen, ”Home building is a key driver of the American economy. By generating economic activity including new income and jobs, purchases of goods and services, and revenue for local governments, housing—which has historically accounted for around 17 percent of the GDP—can put America back to work.”
The one-year local impacts of building 100 single-family homes in a typical metro area amount to $21.1 million in local income, $2.2 million in taxes and other local government revenue, and according to the economists at NAHB, 324 local jobs.
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