The new trends that home buyers desire
By Melissa Wirkus
Home buyers
are always looking for the latest trends and amenities
when they begin the quest to purchase a new home. Every
year, the things that home buyers look for in their
new abode seem to get more and more elaborate.
This year is definitely no different.
The new things that home buyers want to have in their
homes are also getting more unusual and out of the ordinary
every year.
A December 5, 2006 article by Les Christie of CNNMoney.com,
“Five home trends we never saw coming,”
discusses some of the unique items that home buyers
have on their wish list as well as things people are
straying away from now.
“Some of the latest trends in homebuilding
and remodeling were not too hard to spot.
Is anyone surprised that Americans, already living in
monster homes, want even bigger ones? But there were
some developments we never saw coming.”
“Here's a few that Mark Nash, author of Real
Estate A-Z for Buying and Selling a Home, has gleaned
from a survey he conducted questioning 923 real estate
agents, brokers and industry executives.”
The first trend that home buyers want that no one really
saw coming, is the desire for up-scale garages.
“‘Today's owners want [garages] decked out
with cabinet and storage systems, matching refrigerators,
air conditioning and residential looking flooring,’
says Nash.
The Web site contractor.com reports a garage remodeling
starts at around $7,500 and goes up, sometimes steeply,
from there depending on size and just how nice you want
it.”
Little personal “caves” are also gaining
in popularity amongst a variety of homeowners who desire
more personal
space and time away from their spouses or children.
Homeowners also desire rejuvenation rooms in their new
homes, which are more elaborate than the standard exercise
rooms of the past.
“These are one-stop sites for exercising, meditating,
yoga, sauna and fancy steam showers. ‘This is
kind of a new age, serenity room where you do these
quiet exercise things and then jump in the spa,’
says Nash. First you get your head together, then your
body and then you steam off the sweat you expended doing
it.”
For homeowners in areas prone to large amounts of snow
every winter, heated patios and driveways are at the
top of their wish lists.
“Plus they want to ‘add a couple of weeks
of outdoor enjoyment in spring and fall,’ he says,
and the warmth radiating off these outdoor surfaces
makes the differences between just comfortable and ‘Let's
go inside.’”
One thing that is definitely one of the more unusual
items on this list is the new trend in snoring rooms.
“Husband (never wives) have often been banished
for excessive snoring but it must be a lonely feeling
to trudge out of the master bedroom suite and down to
the living room couch. Now they don't have to.”
“The huge master suites being installed in upscale
housing typically come with large sleeping areas, a
big walk-in closet and a gigantic bath. More and more
now, they'll be equipped with another room entirely,
a 12' by 12' or so space with a double bed and chair
that will spare the innocent sleeper from the worst
ravages of the noisy snorer.”
The things that home buyers
are no longer looking for in their new homes are spiral
staircases, bamboo flooring and hardwood laminate flooring.
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