Home builders have eye on boomers
PHOENIX — Baby boomers who refuse to concede that they are getting old are changing the way home builders think about retirement housing.
Builders long ago discarded the notion that retirement buyers want nothing more than a languid game of shuffleboard or golf followed by an afternoon nap. These days, retirement communities are bristling with fitness centers, nature trails and cybercafes. And the sales pitch emphasizes starting new rather than getting old.
“It used to be about the golden years,” said Drew Smith, spokesman for Shea Home’s Trilogy retirement division. “We talk about it (now) as a place where you start your second life. It’s not about slowing down.”
At this year’s major home builders trade show in Orlando in January, people packed into sessions on how to cash in on baby boomers, the 76 million people born in the United States after World War II, from 1946 to 1964.
People age 55 or older bought nearly a fifth of the 1.1 million new homes sold in the country in 2003.
Builders who hope to sell to boomers know they can’t offer one-size-fits-all houses. They say boomers are a collection of diverse niches with a variety of demands. Some want luxury touches, some care more about hiking than golf, others want a place for a home-based business or a jazzy home theater. And although boomers may plan their weekends around mountain biking or tennis, they still like conveniences like shower benches, downstairs bedrooms and built-in night lighting.
Builders are trying to keep in tune with all that. And those who miss the mark miss the chance to cash in on boomers’ estimated $2 trillion in spending power.
Boomers are rejecting old assumptions about retirement, either by choice or necessity. Some people start second careers, perhaps opening a small business, sometimes out of their home. Because the pension safety net is being cut away and medical care no longer is guaranteed, there is more impetus to remain employed past the typical retirement age.
And traditional notions about paying off the homestead and staying put aren’t as valid as they used to be. The national real estate boom has given many homeowners an equity windfall that lets them consider buying a new house without taking on a great deal of debt, if any.
“Many of them have paid off their homes, but with appreciation, they have the opportunity to buy a new home with cash and have money to spare,” said Jacque Petroulakis, spokeswoman for Pulte Homes, whose Del Webb division was a retirement housing pioneer with its Sun City communities.
Jose Hinojosa, 57, exemplifies the new wave of boomer buyers. He and his wife, Kady, 45, shopped all over the Phoenix area, in Sedona, Ariz., and in Palm Springs, Calif., before they bought a house on the golf course in Trilogy at Vistancia, a big housing project near Lake Pleasant in Peoria, Ariz.
“Words like ‘retirement’ just don’t appeal to boomers,” Smith said. “We are really careful in our language. They are looking more for individuality and ways to express themselves.”
Sun City and other “active adult” brands are crucial to Pulte’s business. The company says these communities account for a third of its business.
Pulte is increasingly using a brand strategy to attract certain segments of buyers. The latest is the new Fireside communities the company is testing in the Phoenix area, an upscale all-ages enclave that also appeals to boomers who may have sacrificed while raising children and want to treat themselves to amenities like dual master bedrooms with big walk-in closets.