This article below says lots of us baby boomers are staying put rather than sell in this tougher market and personally I have to say that's true for me and my hubby...I'd move...I'm a realtor...I love moving even thought I haven't in 17 years, but that's because we still hadn't finished our lower level.
But where's there's a space to finish, it just cried out to my husband to finish it...so off we went...adding a family room with stone fireplace and a media room and another full bath. And all this at a time, when 2 of my kids are off to college and the baby is 15...yeah, we really needed more space now?!?
Of course, the media room was first designed for me as an exercise room, but then when we all thought about it...
Let's see, exercise in that big ole room a mere a hour a day 3 times a week at the most and the poor thing just sits there not be fully utilized vs. cathcing up on all those movies we've never had the time to watch, watching the Cardinals in living color, watching the Rams, having the SuperBowl party...gosh is was a no brainer...gee...sitting on the couch somehow won out...
I logically justified it though because I still have my exercise equipment in the smaller space where I exercised before...so I'll still exercise...right? and then I'll have somewhere really cozy to flop down when I cooling down!
Well anyway, if you are remodeling rather than moving like us put in spaces that are great for resale like an extra family room, an office, a media room, an extra bedroom and for sure an extra bath...no house can have too many baths.
Of course, how did we grow up without 1 bath per person? My kids just don't get it. My husband was one of 10 kids...that's right 10 kids and they aren't even Catholic...but thanks for asking.
He grew up in a 2 bdrm home with 1 bath and then that wonderful open air toilet in the basement and the shower..you know right by the pipes with the curtain around it onto the concrete floor...but they made it. And they also walked 10 miles in the snow to school...ok they really didn't do that.
But when I first met my husband at 17...and crossed the threshold into his house...the first thing I saw in the tiny entry hall was a bed. That was different. And after that, more beds. The Dining Room...beds...
But my favorite bedroom was my husband's. Well it wasn't exactly a bedroom. His little corner of the world consisted of a cot in front of the big old silver boiler in the basement. Maybe that's why he is such a great guy, he knows enough to be grateful for all we do have now.
So when we all talk about the market being bad...just remember if you have a roof over your head, you're going to be just fine.
And when the going gets tough...the tough remodel. So fellow baby boomers...if you want to sell, I'm your girl to list and sell your house
...but if you want to remodel...invite me over for a movie and I'll bring the popcorn!
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With the housing bubble popped, credit tighter and baby boomers getting up in years, home remodelers find themselves with more than enough work to keep busy."When people aren't able to move, they start remodeling," said John Shea, of Callier Thompson Shea Construction & Design in Manchester.Shea ticked off a list of reasons that he's seeing the local remodeling business doing quite well, despite the slump in sales of new houses.There are fewer places for new houses short of the outer suburbs such as Wentzville, he said, which means more homeowners are choosing to live closer to work and shopping centers. And more residents, especially those empty-nesters with kids who have finished college, are deciding to stay right where they are.
Inner-ring suburbs like Maplewood, Richmond Heights, Clayton and University City have many older houses, some dating back nearly a century, that are ripe for remodeling, said Shea, KTRS radio's Mr. Fix It.Moreover, those cities are doing a better job of holding onto their residents by providing better services. Even MetroLink, in Shea's mind, gets credit for helping residents to decide to stay where they are.This trend, sometimes called "aging in place" in the home-remodeling business, means more homeowners, especially those in their 60s and late 50s, are starting to change the interior of their houses so they can get around more easily, with fewer steps to climb and wider doors to accommodate wheelchairs."They're opening up their kitchens and making them into family rooms for entertaining," Shea said. "They're putting in main-level master suites" so they don't have to climb stairs if they become ill.
Scott Mosby of Mosby Building Arts Ltd. in Kirkwood concurred that aging baby boomers are driving the remodeling boom in the St. Louis area. They may be empty-nesters, but they don't want to leave the nest where they have reared a family and may have sentimental attachments. "My take on it is that baby boomers are facing their situation, whether it's adding a family room for holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving or just taking care of the house and doing it right," said Mosby, who is the host of a show on KMOX about remodeling. One company that's benefiting from homeowners' reluctance to move to smaller digs is Bill Hurston's residential and commercial painting company, a franchise of CertaPro Painters, a national company in Oaks, Pa., that plans to open several more operations in the St. Louis area.Greg Meyer, Hurston's general manager, said 90 percent of the company's work is residential, and most of that work is in older houses in high-income cities like Frontenac, Town and Country, Ladue and Clayton. Most of Hurston's clients are dressing up their houses, not for sale but to make them more enjoyable in their twilight years. Customers may take care to choose the exact paint color they want, and they expect the work to be finished well, Meyer said.He even makes a point of learning all the specific demands of the customers, so he can instruct his two- and four-person crews."If the homeowner tells me not to let a rose bush be damaged, I keep that on file and make sure the crew knows," Meyer said.
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