Last January I posted Housing Market Outlook for 2012.  How accurate was I on my assessment of the 2012 Housing Market?

1. Mortgage rates are still a historic lows.
2. Unemployment rate is at about 7.5%, which is slightly better than this time last year.
3. The amount of Foreclosures in the past year, was the lowest amount since 2008
4. New home builds held steady for us during 2012.
5. We did see an increase in prospects especially towards the end of the year.

I think my 2012 Outlook was pretty accurate.  Now lets see how I do with the 2013 Outlook

Unemployment and foreclosure rates continue to drop.  They are still high, but the improvement is there.  The appraisal process is still a bit rough; however, as foreclosures are sold out of the market the comparables are getting better.  The election is behind us.

All of these points add up to a decent outlook for 2013.  Unlike in 2012, when I thought we would hold steady, in 2013 I believe we will see an increase in new home builds.  People want to take advantage of the low mortgage rates and are going to be financially comfortable making a commitment to a mortgage.

Here’s what the experts are forecasting for 2013:

A New Housing Boom by CNN Money

Housing Market in 2013: What to Expect by Fox Business

5 Things Consumers Should Expect From the Housing Market in 2013 by Forbes

Housing Outlood 2013: Home Prices Get a Lift by Kiplinger

In the long run, it doesn’t matter what I think, or what experts think, it matters what potential new home buyers think… What are your thoughts?

1. While many millennials are do-it-youselfers, they want homes that are move in ready.
2. While Generation X found smart home technology convenient, millennials find it a necessity.  Being able to connect with and control all aspects of their home from virtually anywhere, may seem over the top to most people, but to the latest homebuying generation it is common sense.
3. Energy efficiency may not appear on their list of needs/wants, this isn’t because efficiency isn’t important, but rather, efficiency is the norm.  To this generation listing energy efficiency as important would be like listing indoor plumbing as important…
4. Size does matter!  The millennial generation will NOT pay for a home with extra space they won’t use.  This generation isn’t going to buy a home their family will “grow” into.  Their home will fit their family and lifestyle now, if their family and lifestyle change, their home will change at that time.
5. Building new is the best option for many people in the millennial generation.  More and more first time homebuyers are immediately entering the homebuilding market to meet their homeownership needs.  This ensures they are getting the most current advancements in energy efficiency, design, and technology.

It will be interesting to see the changes the millennial generation will make to the housing & real estate markets.  One thing is for sure, their expectations are driven by technology, which is ever changing and evolving.

1. Traffic patterns…  As you design the layout of the home, look at each area of your home and envision how family members will get from point A to point B.  Envision each area with a few extra guests.  Is there enough room for everyone to move around without tripping over furniture or each other?  Ask for help with this if you have a hard time looking at a plan and “seeing” the room.
2. Where’s the grill…  Sounds silly but outdoor living space has become an integral part of our home.  Having easy access to the deck, patio or porch will encourage even more use of the area.
3. Wash and wear… The latest countertop material may look great, but if you have to use a special cleaning product and use a 30 step process weekly to keep it shiny, is it worth it?  Look for finish materials that are durable and easy to clean.  Same can be said for furniture & decor.

This concludes the Generation X Design Tips blog series.  Check out the previous blogs in the series:

Home Design Tips for Generation X

Home Design Tips for Gen X ~ Organized Storage

Kitchen Design Tips (Kind of) for Generation X

Real Kitchen Design Tips for Generation X

Design Tips for Home Layouts for Gen X

Also check out our design series for Baby Boomers:

Home Design Tips for Baby Boomers ~ Exterior of the Home

Home Design Tips for Baby Boomers ~ Interior, Functionality

Home Design Tips for Baby Boomers ~ Interior, Livability

Home Design Tips for Baby Boomers ~ Interior, Longevity

Our next few blogs will be focused on the Millennial Generation.

Two Story homes seem to be the most common for families.  However, traditionally the second floor was reserved for all the bedrooms and the first floor was living space.  This layout has changed.  Many homeowners are keeping the master suite on the first floor and giving the entire second floor space to the children.  Some designs convert the second floor master bedroom area into a family room or play area.  By incorporating a large common area into the floorplan of the second floor, homeowners can design smaller bedroom spaces that have larger closet spaces and more room for multiple children to sleep or lounge.

Utility Rooms are extremely popular for Generation X families.  This room is typically close to the kitchen and garage areas with an exterior door.  The laundry space was once a space that was hidden behind closed doors or even better in the basement.  Now, the space has become an integral part of the design.  By adding cabinets, counters, shelves, closets and hooks, the utility room’s use has expanded far beyond laundry.  This room is a catch all for snow covered outdoor gear and muddy paw prints.  It is a great room to store all your craft supplies as well as your bulk purchases.

Beyond the Kitchen and Utility Rooms, first floor designs for Generation X should be centered around “activity areas.”  Open concept is very popular with this Generation.  Being able to be involved with your children’s activities while being in a separate area is important to today’s parents.  When you review your floorplan consider what activities will happen in each area.  Being able to change the focus of each area easily is key to minimizing unused space.  Having a dedicated formal dining room is impractical, but being able to convert a space for large group dining is convenient.  Designing rooms with adequate storage either in the form of built in cabinetry and/or furniture is essential for these types of transitions.

The bottomline for Gen X families is being efficient.  In this case, using every square foot of your home maximizes efficiency.  Considering the use of each space in your home during the design process, is essential to this goal.

Other previous blogs for Generation X:

Real Kitchen Design Tips for Generation X

Kitchen Design Tips (Kind of) for Generation X

Home Design Tips for Gen X ~ Organized Storage

Home Design Tips for Generation X

Check back soon for our final Blog in the Generation X Series: “Tying it All Together.”

1. Plan ahead for multiple cooks.  As you look at the layout of your kitchen cabinets and counters try to envision, who will be helping to prepare meals.  If Sally is in charge of putting together the salad, where will she chop vegetables and mix ingredients?  Should the counter height be lower in this area, or will your child use a step stool?  If Billy sets the table, are the plates, cups, and utensils at a level he can reach and in an area he can access without being in the way of cooking?  If you often use your slow-cooker to prepare meals, is there adequate space to leave it on the counter?

2. Much like with closet space, there are many accessories that can be used to streamline your kitchen.  Under cabinet cookbook holders, spice racks, wall mounted utensil racks, wall or ceiling mounted pot racks.  Google “kitchen organization” for more ideas about kitchen accessories to match any style.  These accessories can add functionality to your kitchen without taking counter space.  This is especially important in smaller kitchen or in kitchens with multiple cooks.

3. Being able to put a meal on the table quickly comes down to organization…  keep your most used items easily accessible.  Why put your most used pot in the back of the cabinet even if it fits best there?  Leave it on the front burner of the stove, this way it is ready and waiting for you.  Organize a small lazy susan or organizer next to your cooktop with cooking spray, olive oil, salt and pepper, and a small crock filled with your most used cooking utensils.  This same trick can be used in the pantry and kitchen cabinets.  Group like items together so they can be found easily.  Use baskets to help keep items accessible in your cabinets.

Planning ahead and organization are key to streamlining your kitchen to be an efficiently used space.  These three simple tips can help guide you in your kitchen design process, and when combined with the tips from our previous blog, “Kitchen Design Tips (kind of)”, you are sure to design a kitchen that meets all your families needs.  In our next blog, we will move out of the kitchen and discuss design tips for the overall living space and layout of a home for a Generation X family.

Other previous blogs for Generation X:

Home Design Tips for Gen X ~ Organized Storage

Home Design Tips for Generation X

Also, check out our Blog Series for the Baby Boomer Generation starting with: Home Design Tips for Baby Boomers ~ Exterior of the Home

Let’s talk first about non-kitchen design ideas for the kitchen.  In the past this room was closed off from the rest of the home so that “the mess and work” could easily be hidden.  This is not the case anymore.  Lives are busy, and in order to keep up with family and life, it is important to multitask.  This means: cooking dinner, helping with homework, chatting about the upcoming dance, and planning for the weekends schedule all at the same time, in the same room.  This room would be the kitchen.  Kitchens are not just about cooking anymore, they need to be very multi-functional.  Here are some tips to promote this new facet of kitchen use while maintaining the kitchen’s true function.

1. Kitchens for Generation X must have a drop zone/organization center.  This is an area that homework, mail, grocery lists, schedules can be tucked away in order to make room for cooking.  Without this area, counters become cluttered with daily life.  By designing an area to keep paperwork organized, you can save yourself time and stress.  This area could be a desk, or some pockets on the wall, even the inside of the pantry door can be used to organize your life, as shown in the picture.

2. Another key design feature that shouldn’t be overlooked is a charging station!  My children do not have phones yet, and I’m dreading the time when I will be fighting for outlet and counter space to charge my lifeline.  A dedicated area to charge phones and other electronic devices that have become such a huge part of life helps reduce clutter and eliminates the stress of “Where’s my PHONE?!”  Some charging stations also have an area to hang keys…

3. Many Gen Xer’s have included an office area into their kitchen design.  Homework is often completed in the kitchen, and while most homes now have wireless networks, having laptops clutter counter space is not convenient.  Having a space designed into the cabinet layout that matches the style of the kitchen is the perfect solution.  If designed well, this office area can take care of the above two tips as well.

4. We have looked at how our children may use the kitchen, but there is another group of beings using the kitchen space… pets.  Many times the kitchen is not only where we prepare food for our families, but it is where our dogs and cats are fed.  Keeping this in mind, while you are designing your kitchen space will ensure that you are not tripping over Rover during his meal time.

In our next blog, we will discuss design tips for the kitchen (in it’s true function).

1. Invest in closet kits!!!  Think about how each closet in your home will be used and browse the wide area of options for closet kits available at any home good store as well as online.  Closet space can easily be doubled or even tripled by using the right layout of shelves, rods, and drawers.  Once you have decided the best use of space for each closet, get accurate measurements of each closet.  Using graph paper to help you draw the closet layout will help ensure the closet is built to your expectations.
2. Use the space traditionally used to “catch dust” above the top of standard kitchen cabinets.  Design your kitchen with taller upper cabinets, this will give you an additional shelf in each cabinet.  Now, this shelf is not within convenient reachable height, so reserve this shelf for use for the most seldom used items in your kitchen.  Also, consider incorporated drawer base cabinets instead of the standard.  This will allow you to store pots, pans and covers all within easy reach, with no need for you to sit on the floor to reach all the way to the back of the cabinet!  Browse the internet for other space saving kitchen cabinets such as spice cabinets, cookie sheet racks, sink tip outs, under cabinet wine glass holders…
3. Mainers are notorious for parking their vehicle at their garage doors, never in the garage.  This is due to a lack of planning and forethought into what you will be putting in your garage.  The minimum parking space in a parking lot will be about 8′x18′, this would be for a compact vehicle.  If you are driving a S.U.V you WILL need more space.  As you plan your garage space, use graph paper to draw out the space.  Make sure you have room to open vehicle doors, get bicycles in and out of the garage with a vehicle parked, and store the snowblower and/or mower.  Then look at the space you have left over on the plan and decide if there is there enough room for the extra stuff you plan to store in the garage.
4. Basements are another area to look at when you consider storage.  This space is extremely open, and fairly empty, with convenient, easy access.  However, there are some drawbacks to consider.  Basements in Northern New England are notoriously cold, damp and yes, sometimes wet… Use caution when storing items in your basement.  I highly recommend using Rubbermaid (or similar) tubs and shelving systems.  Cardboard boxes offer no protection.  Wood shelving will absorb moisture, metal will rust and deteriorate.  Never, never, never put boxes directly on the concrete floor.

Once you have your closets, cabinets, garage and basement storage properly designed, the key to staying organized is to use the systems you have in place.

In our next blog, “Kitchen Design Tips (kind of) for Generation X”, we will take a close look at design tips to make your kitchen more useful.

Generation X wants to enjoy their family time in and out of their homes.  Gen Xers want homes that are efficiently organized with adequate storage and minimal wasted space and energy efficient.  Buzz words like “cozy” and “inviting” abound in this market, Generation X is looking for informal but not chaotic.  Emphasis is usually placed on kitchen design, and the ease of transition between indoor living space and outdoor living space.

In our next blog “Home Design Tips for Gen X ~ Organized Storage”, we will discuss design tips for an organized home and how to add storage.

Designing a home for longevity simply means you are thinking ahead to prepare for what you might require in a home 20 years from now…  For now a home designed like any other home may suit you just fine, but in the future you may have accessibility issues to deal with.  Does that mean you have to have a bathroom full of grab bars and hand rails in your hallways.  NO!  But there are steps you can take to prepare your home.

1. Have your builder “prep” your bathrooms for grab bars.  This may entail extra blocking for grab bars to be installed at a later date.  Do not skip your guest bathrooms… chances are you will have visitors similar to your age periodically who may appreciate the availability of a grab bar.

2. Upgrade to lever handles throughout your home.  These handles are a bit of an upgrade, but make entrance into rooms easier than knobs.  And the practicality of this is disguised with “I like the elegant look better than the plain old knob…”

3. Transitions between flooring materials can be a trip hazard.  The same can be said for high pile or plush carpeting.  Talk to your builder about flooring options.

4. Opt for wider…  Wider doors, wider hallways.  3′ doors allow most wheelchair to pass through.  This would make your hallways a minimum recommended 3’6″.

5. Take a look at your kitchen design.  Focus on height.  Anything you currently have to use a step stool to reach is a fall waiting to happen.  Optimize base cabinets with drawer, pull out shelves and lazy susans.  Add pantry cabinets or closets to give you more accessible storage areas.

These 5 simple tips can ensure that your home will support you and allow you to enjoy your home as you grow older.

Next up in our Home Design Tips Series, we will look at designs for Generation X.

Previous Blogs:

Home Design Tips for Baby Boomers ~ Interior, Livability

Home Design Tips for Baby Boomers ~ Interior, Functionality

Home Design Tips for Baby Boomers ~ Exterior of the Home

In the words of BabyBoomer-Magazine.com, “We Baby Boomers are conscientious and picky, busy and family-oriented, and we will age in a new way, connected to modernity, with an eye to beauty, high design, easy maintenance and energy efficiency.”  In my words, Baby Boomers know what they like and do not want to settle.  They have on-the-go active lifestyles, visiting family and friends.  They may not be home-bodies, but they want their home to be their sanctuary.  Key areas to focus on when considering how to optimize the livability of a home design are: amenities and efficiency.

Amenities includes furnishings, electronics, fixtures, and appliances.

• Furnishings:  What furnishings will you be using in your new home.  Are you buying all new, or moving your existing furniture?  If you are buying all new, you can purchase specifically for the design of the home.  If you are moving your existing here are somethings to consider:  Most Baby Boomers are right-sizing their homes.  For a lot of people this means, getting rid of clutter and excess belongs that have accumulated over the years.  Take a look at your current home and decide what you will be taking with you and how these pieces will fit the feel you want your new home to have?   As you design your home, make sure there is room for the furnishing you will be moving into the space.  Any extra belongings can be gifted or sold.
• Electronics: Let’s face it, electronics are part of life.  Computers, TVs, Radio, etc are all part and parcel to the lives we now lead.  As you design your home, keep in mind where and how you will use the electronics in your new home.  Do you listen to music or watch The Food Network as you cook?  Watch the News, while preparing for your day?  Spend an hour each night “visiting” with grandchildren via webcam?  Designing your home with all of this in mind will help make electronic use seamless.  Designing a computer nook in a centralized location of your home will allow easier access and make your “visits” more enjoyable.   Outlets and cable jacks can be placed in the appropriate areas to allow TVs or radios in kitchens or bathrooms… it is all in how the home is designed and the fore thought that is put into the design of each room.
• Fixtures:  this category applies specifically to Plumbing and Electrical fixtures.  Why design a huge master bathroom centered around a garden tub, if you never relax in the tub?  They have AMAZING steam showers with multiple jets and different settings that will relax the muscles as well as any spa tub.  And plumbing fixtures are not just found in the bathroom… take a look at the kitchen.  If you share the kitchen while preparing meals, consider placing a prep sink in an island as well as your standard sink.  On the electrical side of things, do you want to have to go to the basement if you trip a breaker while stringing holiday lights?  Why not design the electrical panel into your laundry room?  Lighting is many times an after thought, but considering how each room will be lit, may help you avoid running an extension cord behind the couch to plug in the lamp… Again, it is all in how the home is designed and the fore thought that is put into the design of each room.
• Appliances: The important factor here is having right size appliances for your life.  You may cook a large family meal several times a year, but day to day only cook for 2… Why heat a standard size oven for a casserole for 2?  Why have a have a dishwasher you only fill twice a year?  Appliance manufacturers now have oven ranges for smaller meals, compact dishwashers that use less water and take less space.  Combination convection and microwave ovens are an appliance that once you have, you will never be without again.  Looking at the overall design of the kitchen is also important.  The standard work triangle that connects the 3 main “appliances” of the kitchen (refrigerator, range and sink) may not work for two cooks.

Efficiency is important to all families.  Designing and building a high efficiency home will lower the cost of home ownership.  The less you spend to run your home, the more funds you have to support your lifestyle.  This is especially important for retirees.  Building a “tight” home will mean less drafts, less heat loss, less heating costs.  Energy Star appliances and fixtures means less power consumption, lower utility bills.  Every aspect of the home’s building specifications effects the efficiency of the home.  From R-values of insulation, the type of flooring installed, type of heating system, proper installation of windows and doors… Talking to your builder about how to increase efficiency is important.

Next in our Home Design Blog Series: Home Design Tips for Baby Boomers ~ Interior, Longevity

Previous Blogs:

Home Design Tips for Baby Boomers ~ Interior, Functionality

Home Design Tips for Baby Boomers ~ Exterior of the Home