Following our recent VibrantNation.com House & Garden survey, we released results that should have surprised a housing industry that thinks she’s preparing for retirement living options.
Our survey reminded us (once again) that a woman in her 50s is still in the prime of her life, including the prime of her home-owning life. One-third of them intend to remain where they live for the next 10 years, and the one-third who expect to move during that period will be doing so to explore new cities/regions, to downsize, or move closer to other family members – but not to seek transitional living, assisted living, or a form of housing dedicated to supported the health needs of an aging women. Why? She does not consider herself an aging woman!
When you understand what they aren’t looking for, you’ll also understand why some of the Vibrant women we surveyed described their ideal home in the following ways:
“My dream is to have a small house yellow in color with a wrap around white porch, a lot of windows and solar panels to heat house and in-ground pool, on an acre or two with my own garden and a lot of trees and natural landscape for the deer and other forest dwellers. I want to grow my own food. I love roses and bulbs and want to plant plenty.”
“We helped to create a cohousing community in a small town in the California Sierra Foothills. We are 34 townhomes with both shared and private gardens, chickens and solar panels. I love that we have our own beautiful home that is very energy efficient and has great daylight, but are also part of a community of people that I really know. My neighbors include 92-year-old Meg across the walkway and 3-year-old August down the way. We also share 4,000 sf of common facilities where we have regular community dinners, as well as guest rooms and a workshop.”
“Large home, no smaller than 2300 sq.ft. One floor, open, airy, pool, fenced in yard, professionally landscaped. Both front porch and back porch, quiet sub-division where people know their neighbors, close enough to shopping and restaurants, but not too close. Must accommodate several pets that can have the run of the house and yard.”
What themes did we hear repeated over and over, in some cases unexpectedly?
- Small house, big yard. While many anticipate downsizing (eventually), that dream doesn’t yet apply to their yard: most respondents dream about outdoor living and gardening.
- Trees. Almost half of the respondents mentioned trees in one way or another. (“I would not like to be on a street or in a building that has no trees around it.”)
- Green tech. Where feasible, they want solar and other energy-efficient technologies.
- Privacy. They may seek urban setting, but they still want privacy, too. (“I dislike having buildings where you are practically looking into someone’s living quarters.”)
Homebuilders and realtors sell dreams, so they should be paying close attention to the dreams of Vibrant Women.
They could do a lot worse than to promote the image this (tongue-in-cheek) respondent offered, in what was my single favorite response:
“One large living room, a U-shaped kitchen with an island, two bedrooms, two baths, one screened-in porch complete with swing, postage stamp yard, garage, all brick. Black wrought iron fence around property. Cary Grant in the bedroom, Paula Deen in the kitchen, and a slew of British mysteries in the living room to watch.”
smaller low maintanaice walk to store church and library a CENTER for Social meetings
Safe Transportation A lower stress postion FREEDOM TO TRAVEL decent health care
Yes, but…I am a Vibrant 54-year-old woman, with an active but disabled 56-year-old husband. I wanted all of the above, but with “universal accessibility”. So our house has wide hallways and doorways for his wheelchair, ramps and a lift, and accessible bathrooms with handheld shower heads. We bought an existing house and remodeled it for his needs. It wouldn’t be too difficult to start with wider doors and larger bathrooms in all newly built homes, because eventually, if you can’t function in it, you’ll need to remodel or move!
This is wonderful, Stephen! All around the east coast I see assisted living communities developing that look like nice nursing homes. Either that, or high-rise condos or townhomes. I dream about charming cottage communities but don’t see any. We are too young in middle age to be settling for someone else’s idea of where we should be. Thanks for bringing this up!