Don't Tell, Don't Ask
Staying Put: Residents can easily age in place with roll-in showers and roomy kitchens in Traditions of America’s homes.
What not to talk about when selling to age-targeted home buyers.
There are a few dirty words and one obscene item practically guaranteed to turn off buyers of age-targeted homes.
Unmentionable phrases include: “age in place” and “Universal Design.” Item to ban from all models: visible grab bars in the bathrooms.
Yes, these are good and useful things, and most buyers will be grateful for them in time. And deep down, the buyers really want them included. But mentioning elements in homes that remind buyers who are active today that they soon might not be, can make them cringe like an adolescent boy being dragged through the bra aisle by his mother.
The sight of a grab bar that looks like it belongs in a nursing home can ruin the mood you’ve carefully crafted when showing off communities chock full of activities and amenities designed to get buyers excited about how socially and physically active their new lives will be now that the kids are gone.
That doesn’t mean that builders of age-targeted communities are neglecting to include Universal Design elements that will help buyers age in place in their homes and make the homes more accessible to all users in the meantime as well. The more responsible builders are, the less they talk about it unless asked, they say.
“They won’t ask about it,” says Tim McCarthy, managing director of home builder Traditions of America. “They don’t want to say it out loud. No one ever asks how wide the doorways are, but you can see them measuring them in their minds.”
Yet Traditions incorporates many Universal Design elements into its homes anyway. In addition to the wider doorways, lower switches, step-less entries, higher counter tops, and elevated appliances are standard.
But the builder doesn’t install grab bars in the bathrooms. That is the item that sellers say may be the biggest turn-off of all to buyers of a certain age. However, Traditions does put wooden blocking behind the tile to make it easy to install grab bars later without having to rip out the tile. “People don’t want them standard,” McCarthy says.
Steven Bomberger of Benchmark Homes employs similar tactics, offering grab bars as an option, by putting wood blocking behind the tile as a standard feature. Benchmark also puts in at least one threshold-less entry when possible.
“We don’t advertise Universal Design or say it in any of our literature,” Bomberger says. “We say ‘easy living,’ or ‘first-floor living,’ ” he says. “We tell them how their new home is going to be a lot easier for them, not only for their abilities, but because of low maintenance and energy efficiency. … They are tired of heating the big house, and they are tired of taking care of the yard.”
While most older buyers aren’t asking for Universal Design features in their homes, a recent study by the NAHB and the Met Life Mature Market Institute has uncovered some other items potential buyers do say they want in a home:
A master suite or at least one bedroom downstairs;
Technology, including wiring for high-speed Internet connections, home security systems, low-voltage wiring for electronic signals, and energy-management systems;
Low-maintenance homes that offer savings on energy costs;
Conveniences and services available in the community such as home repair, transportation, house cleaning, home-delivered meals, and personal care; and
Home office space, since many people are working longer these days.
One thing most buyers aren’t asking for is bigger homes chock-full of luxuries, something that’s changed with the falling stock market and home prices.
“They are looking for affordability, not just in the initial purchase but in maintenance and energy costs,” says Rick Andreen, president of Shea Homes’ active adult product division. “I think that is one shift that has occurred in the market that will be lasting,” he says.