It seems that every year modular home
buyers want something new or revamped.
2015 has been no different. Do they all
come to the same consensus at the same time on their own or are they told to
want these changes and improvements from reading about it in magazines or on
Pinterest? No one knows for sure but new home buyers, especially the younger
crowd, want this year’s trendy items and are willing to pay for them. If you
aren’t at least offering them to your modular home buyers you could be leaving
money on the table that they will have a remodeler add at a later time at a lot
more money than you would have charged when you built their new home.
Here are just a few of the things your
customers might want in their new home:
Wide
open kitchen entertainment area.
An open floor plan may feel like old hat
but the next step is to remove all walls between the kitchen and living space for
greater togetherness. Over the past decade the kitchen has become the social
hub of the home and removing walls allows that feeling to grow into the living
area. For us old timers, we called them “Country Kitchens.” Everything old is
new again!
Freestanding tubs.
Freestanding tubs may conjure images of
Victorian-era opulence but they are getting popular again with the younger
buyer. These tubs complement other bathroom trends: open wall niches and single
wash basins, since two people rarely use the room simultaneously.
Apps for the home.
Prices have come down for technologies
such as web-controlled security cameras and motion sensors for pets. Newer
models are also easier to install and operate since many are powered by
batteries, rather than requiring an electrician to rewire an entire house, which
offers a software platform that allows multiple smart devices to communicate
with each other. Think Android and Apple apps.
Charging stations.
With the size of electronic devices
shrinking and the proliferation of Wi-Fi, demand for large desks and separate
home office is waning. However, home owners still need a dedicated space for
charging devices, and places that everyone passes by daily with the most
popular locations being a corner of a kitchen, entrance from the garage, and
the mud room.
Two Master Suites.
Having two master bedroom suites, each
with its own adjoining bathroom, makes a house work better for multiple
generations. Such an arrangement allows grown children and aging parents to
move in for long- or short-term stays, but the arrangement also welcomes
out-of-town guests. When both suites are located on the main level, you hit the
jackpot.
Faux Fireplaces.
The sight of a flame, even a faux one, has
universal appeal as a signal of warmth, romance, and togetherness. New versions
on the market make this amenity more accessible with more compact design and
fewer venting concerns.
Specialized Storage.
The new buzzword is “specialized
storage,” placed right where it’s needed. Young home owners want everything to
have its place. More home owners are increasingly willing to pare the
dimensions of a second or third bedroom in order to gain a suitably sized
walk-in closet in their master bedroom. In a kitchen, it may mean a “super
pantry”—a butler’s pantry on steroids with prep space, open storage, secondary
appliances, and even a room for wrapping gifts. Over the years I have built a
climate controlled Teddy Bear room and a secret room for 40 muzzle
loaders next to the study among other tamer rooms. Ask if your customer has a need for
this type of storage, it could mean thousands of extra dollars on the
contract.
Service Station Garages
For Boomers that have several antique or
exotic sports cars, adding lifts and service areas to large detached garages
could be the ticket to mega bucks dropped to your bottom line. Jay Leno isn’t
the only one that has dream cars.
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