The Best Home Building Trends of 2015 (Part 2)

Smarter Homes and Gardens

Home Building Trends | That’s part of a broader interest in cramming the home with appliances and features that can be controlled by mobile devices, she said. While women, overall, in the survey readily see the advantage of managing such things as televisions, DVRs and heating and cooling systems via smartphone, younger homeowners anticipate many more applications — in garage doors, in laundry rooms, for indoor and outdoor lighting and elsewhere, Waage said. She adds that they see it as a good investment and aren’t particularly worried about their “smart home” technology becoming obsolete.

“They are going to make (tech inclusions and upgrades) part of the norm, Waage said. “Don’t forget, (this generation) is used to a new iPhone coming out every couple of years.”

If all this tech and outdoor luxury seems a little high-end, Waage said those features likely represent the dreams — as opposed to a gotta-have-it-now agenda — of younger homeowners, who are likely to approach their home-exterior upgrades with something as simple and inexpensive as a bit of paint.

The Best Home Building Trends of 2015 (Part 1)

Home Building Trends | If you think “What is the meaning of life?” is the eternal question, you haven’t been hanging around with homebuilders lately. 

No, for the people who design and construct our homes, here is the eternal question: “What do they want?”

That is, in the world of homebuilding, trying to get a handle on the household preferences and dreams of buyers is all-consuming. At two recent trade events — the International Builders Show and the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show held jointly in Las Vegas in mid-January — there was no shortage of soothsaying and survey-sharing for industry attendees. And if the crystal balls of the researchers are right, among the features you might be seeing in your new (or newly remodeled) home:

•          A backyard built for lots and lots of casual living;
•          Garage doors, locks, furnaces, security systems and plenty of other features that can be controlled by your phone;
•          A brightly colored front door; and
•          An unfinished, bare-bones room in an otherwise all-new house.

Custom Homes: Designing a Custom Room for Your Pet

You could say some open houses are going to the dogs.

At least that was the case for Standard Pacific Homes’ grand opening of a new community in Brea, Calif., where canines, as well as their humans, lined up to preview pet suites being offered as an option in the homes. 

Consumers want homes that facilitate lifestyle, that make the everyday easier and better and this vision likely includes the family dog or cat. “It’s something buyers take into consideration now,” says Rhona Sutter, a Naples, Fla., real estate agent who founded the Pet Realty Network in 2007. “Whatever people want for their pets, they are going to get.”

Home Builder Tips: Advice for Couples

Building a new home is an exciting journey. But, with so many decisions to make and transitions to navigate, it’s possible for disagreements between you and your spouse or partner to occur.

Here’s how you can work together to build the home of your dreams — without the drama.

Clarify Your Plans

Marriage and family therapist Lisa Bahar of Dana Point, Calif., encourages couples to start “with a ‘reality check’ conversation regarding the actual process of what is about to occur.”

Getting real about the challenges is part of the conversation — building the dream is another. Being honest about what each of you desires in your home is essential. “If you know you want eastern light shining through your kitchen window and the sun setting over your patio, speak up,” says relationship therapist Gemma Utting of Aukland, New Zealand.

New House Builder: Custom Home vs. Resale

New House Builder | Is a newly built home right for you? Do you want a home that you’ve helped design and that offers the latest in energy efficiency and design? Or a previously owned home that may need fix-ups, paint jobs, and walls moved around to create the types of open spaces that make sense today?

These are baseline questions that confront many home shoppers early in the process. Your own answers are likely to depend on your lifestyle preferences, financing needs, and the priorities you put on features like high energy efficiency, functional arrangements of interior living spaces, and your desire, budget and aptitude when it comes to repairs and capital improvements.

There are a number of reasons you might prefer a resale house, even if it needs work. For instance, you may have your heart set on moving to a specific neighborhood in the city or a close-in suburb, where newly-constructed houses are rare or not available unless you buy an existing home, tear it down, and build a new home on the lot. Or you may be a do-it-yourself aficionado and relish the opportunity to take an old house and transform it, even if that takes considerable time and money.

Kendall Creek Realtor Grand Opening Luncheon - The Bella Model!

The Kendall Creek Realtor luncheon was a great success. Check out these fantastic pictures of us celebrating the grand opening of St. John's newest community, the Bella Model! 

Custom Homes: Unusual Materials to Use in Your New Home

The more unusual the material, the more personal a space can be. Unique materials aren't just fun — they can help a home become a personal expression of its owner.

Some of these products have been around for ages but were previously used in different contexts or environments; today's production techniques have helped simple materials achieve sophisticated designs. Other products are newcomers, still on the cusp of recognition.

Learn about the options below so you can make well-educated design decisions.

New Home Trends | 7 Things to Do Before Moving In

New Home Trends | Our son daughter-in-law just purchased their first home. It's in a location that allows an easy commute into Boston, where our son works, and is just a few towns away from where his wife works. The house is in a older suburb adjacent to Boston, and is itself older and in need of some TLC. So rather than move in right away, the new homeowners will stay in their apartment until the lease is up. They'll spend just about every free moment of the few months getting their house ready to live in.

Of course, we didn't let them do all of this alone. Uncle Ralph and I traveled to Boston to spend a week helping them clean, paint and otherwise get the house ready. One of the things that we really helped with is how to prioritize tasks. Since it's getting close to winter, we stressed the importance of getting only the most basic outside things done. Fixing up the yard, cleaning the siding, touching up the paint etc. can all wait for the spring. What really needed to be done is the inside, not only so they can move in but so they can live there comfortably through the approaching winter.

With that in mind, here's a list of tasks that needed doing. It'd be great to hear from you what your list of tasks would be:

Home Building Trends: What Baby Boomers Want From a New Home (Part 2)

Fun in the Sun

In the last year, sales in the resort market increased by a record 57.4 percent. The National Association of Realtor’s Chief Economist Lawrence Yun attributes these new home building trends to “baby boomers moving closer to retirement and buying second homes to convert into their primary home.” Traditional warm weather locations still appeal. Pam Charron, an agent with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services in Sarasota, Fla., says baby boomers are back. “The market has gained so much strength and prices are up quite a bit over the last two years.” Even if retirement is a few years away, many plan to buy before prices go up further. Along the west coast of Florida, new demand is sparking construction in places such as once-sleepy Venice.

Home Building Trends: What Baby Boomers Want From a New Home (Part 1)

Whatever you do, don’t call them seniors, a word most of the country’s 76 million baby boomers consider a pejorative.

These home building trends are about this huge generation spanning two decades, 1946 to 1964. The oldest are nearing 70, while the youngest just passed AARP’s 50-year threshold. More than one-third are single females. 

How they will navigate the coming decades is still not clear, but leading-edge boomers — those born between 1946 and 1955 — who have been empty nesters, weathered the recession and possibly retired, give a good indication of what’s ahead: they are more active than earlier generations, meaning anything from involvement with grandchildren to sports to community participation.

Home Builder | Higher Home Prices Push Affordability Down

Home Builder | Housing affordability is down from a year ago as higher prices continue to outpace incomes, according to the National Association of REALTORS® Economists' Outlook blog.

Nationally, the median single-family home price is $221,000, up 10 percent from April 2014, NAR reports. The Midwest has seen some of the largest increases in home prices – climbing 11.6 percent in the past year alone. The Northeast, on the other hand, is seeing the slowest price growth regionally at 4.9 percent in the past year.

Housing affordability is down in all major regions of the U.S. from a year ago, except in the Northeast, where home price growth is moderating.

"In other regions, the decline from a year ago was relatively small as mortgage rates lower than a year ago helped but could not completely offset increases in home prices," NAR finds.

But mortgage rates are on their way up. Freddie Mac reported last week that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage set a new high for 2015, averaging above 4 percent for the first time in nearly a year. 

"This may be a good time for return and first-time home buyers to surge back into the housing market before rates climb higher, further reducing affordability," NAR notes.

View NAR's latest Housing Affordability Index for a full breakdown of affordability across the U.S.

Source: "Housing Affordability Index," National Association of REALTORS® Economists' Outlook Blog (June 12, 2015)

Need to speak with a home builder? Please do not hesitate to contact us at Landon Homes, (904)567-3430!

Custom Homes | Custom Furnishings in Your New Home

Custom Homes | Creating a custom piece of furniture for a client is many designers’ dream, but it can sound more like a nightmare for homeowners. The cost, time, imagination and decisions required can make choosing a custom piece seem overwhelming compared to simply dropping by a store and walking away with a new find.

But I’m finding that more and more people are seeing the benefits of custom options, and I think you should too. Read on for some of my top areas of the home to consider for custom furniture, finishes and upholstery. Sometimes just a little change goes a beautifully long way.

Custom Essentials

Upholstery. Custom upholstering an entire piece of furniture, such as an armchair or a sofa, can quickly add up. But focusing on something simple, like the seats of dining chairs, can be a small investment with a big payoff.

Home Builder Safety Tips

These home builder recommended tips will help keep your home safe from danger. How many people who won’t wade more than 12 feet from shore due to fear of sharks actually don’t think their home will ever be burglarized? While about 50 people a year, worldwide, are killed by sharks, about one in every 36 homes in the U.S. will be burglarized in a single year. Average loss per break-in is over $2,200, says FBI data.

Just like you’re always looking for bargains at the store or online, burglars are always looking for bargains—in the form of an easy house to break into and one that looks empty.

New House Builder Tips to Consider: Stilt Homes

Stilt houses date to prehistoric times and is used by a variety new house builders worldwide. New about them are the innovative and diverse ways in which they are being designed and built. Stilt houses are well suited to coastal regions and subtropical climates. They protect against floods, maximize views and allow homeowners to build on rocky, steep or unstable land. They also keep out animals and vermin, provide ventilation under the house and minimize a house’s footprint. Here are 10 houses on wooden, steel or concrete posts or pillars that will help you understand the reasons to consider taking your house to the next level by building on stilts.

1. To build on a sloping suburban site. This neat one-bedroom studio in Brisbane, Australia, is raised above the ground on steel posts. Considering the potential for rain in the region, and the home’s site on a sloped suburban hillside, elevating the house on stilts made sense to reduce flooding, water damage and weakening of the house’s foundation. Its position higher up in the trees allows a beautiful outlook from the house.

The Top Home Building Trends of 2015 (Part 2)

Grand Garages
Garages are among the top home building trends, they are now wired just like the rest of the home. “Automated garage technology can provide both [safety and convenience] by allowing users to open and close their garage doors from their phones, whether to let someone in or to make sure they closed the garage door,” according to the National Hardware Show Industry Edge website. For those with a bigger budget, car lifts can help fit more cars into residential garages.
Keep In Mind: A bigger garage means extra cleaning, maintenance and utility costs.

The Top Home Building Trends of 2015 (Part 1)

The home building trends of 2015 will be smaller, greener and a whole lot smarter than homes of the past. After home sizes grew for four consecutive years, new single-family homes in 2014 began to drop slightly and experts believe this trend will continue in 2015. The average size was 2,642 square feet in 2014, down from 2,662 square feet the previous year, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

Whether you’re building the house of your dreams or simply remodeling, following one of these 11 trends for 2015 will likely add value to your home and in some cases make your place more environmentally friendly.

“In 2015, we expect first-time buyers to come back in the market, and reverse the growing trend,” she added.

Moving Tips: New Home Communities Edition

To pack more efficiently, take it room by room.

While packing for your move to new home communities, you are reintroduced to all your stuff and get to know it again on an even-more familiar level than before.

You consider each item from several angles: How useful is it? Has it worn out its welcome? Do I anticipate it being a meaningful part of my household in the future? What memories does it conjure up? Will I really feel all that guilty if I get rid of it? Can someone else make better use of it?

Scrutinizing your belongings is a great technique to inch away from any slight hoarding tendencies and it also makes packing easier. When a stranger hired to pack your things fills a box, the label must detail its contents. For you, a simple label of “bedroom” or “bathroom” will suffice.

Custom Homes: Build with Your Future in Mind

As the nation’s population ages, accessibility has become an important goal for many building custom homes seeking to ensure that their homes will continue to fit their needs — or those of aging loved ones — in the future.

Homeowners who plan on aging in place — remain in the home of their choice for as long as they’re able — should incorporate the principles of universal design into the home. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) defines universal design as “the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design.”

How a Home Builder Creates More Space

Homebuyers who want a new house that feels spacious, open, connected and welcoming need look no further than today’s newly built homes. A home builder with experience and the knowledge to create more space is crucial!

That’s because today’s homes are larger, on average, than homes built in yesteryears and builders’ newer floor plans and architectural designs create both the reality and illusion of more space.

Builders completed 569,000 new detached houses in 2013, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report. Based on a statistical sampling, 305,000, or nearly 54 percent, of those houses had two or more stories; 251,000, or 44 percent, had at least four bedrooms; 188,000, or 33 percent, had three or more bathrooms and 166,000, or 29 percent, had a full or partial basement. The average home size was just two feet shy of 2,600 square feet.

Spaciousness isn’t all about square footage, however.

High Ceilings

Perhaps the best way to make a house feel much larger is to raise the ceilings to 9, 10 or even 12 or 15 feet, says Trey Bitteker, general sales manager at Pulte Homes in Arizona. “High ceiling heights will certainly open up a house. When someone walks through it, every room feels a little bit larger,” he says.

New House Builder: Future-Proof Your New Home

One of the joys of having a new house builder is taking full advantage of exciting technologies that are widely available today but that were unimaginable just a few years ago.

Your new home can be a very entertaining space with ultra-high definition video, interactive gaming, 90-inch flat-screen TVs and more. And it can offer the latest in home automation. Everything from lighting, home security, climate control and more can now be controlled remotely from your iPhone, for example.

Many of these options weren’t available just five years ago, so the obvious questions are:

1. Where are we headed next?
2. And how do I future-proof my new home, so it will work well with technologies that haven't even been invented yet?

Clearly, we’re not going to become any less dependent on (or addicted to) technology. The pace of change and innovation will only accelerate. While you may not be able to fully imagine the next big thing (unless you’re the next Steve Jobs) you can pre-wire a new home in flexible and robust ways.

[PRESS RELEASE] Landon Homes Provides Book Donations to Promote Early Literacy

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla., April 29, 2015- At a luncheon held on April 27, 2015, home builder Landon Homes presented the Early Learning Coalition of North Florida (ELC) with more than 150 children’s books to help promote early literacy.

The luncheon was hosted by Landon Homes, which is locally owned and operated, in order to promote “Landon Homes March for Literacy.”

The goal of the project is to help ELC promote and provide early literacy through book donations to all children in the St. Augustine area.

The donation will help ELC with many of their scheduled literacy programs, including their annual “Three-Year-Old Book Bag Project” program, which gave away more than 1500 books to the children they serve in their six-county region.

“For the children, I think owning their own brand-new book could help foster a new love for reading, which is a great start to improve future statistics,” said Marjorie Taylor of Landon Holmes.

According to the National Coalition for Literacy (NCL), roughly 93 million adults in the U.S. have basic and below-basic literacy skills.

“This generous donation of books is going to make such an impact to the lives of the families we serve,” said ELC’s Early Literacy Coordinator Joan Whitson.

For more information about early literacy or book donations, please email Joan Whitson at jwhitson@elcnorthflorida.org or visit www.elcnorthflorida.org.

Looking into Home Building Trends? Build a Sunroom!

In late April 2013, more than 30 billion red-eyed cicadas emerged from the soil of Connecticut, of Maryland, of North Carolina, and the whole of the East Coast. They spent the next 30 days shrieking, singing, and screaming for a, well, companion. It may be time to take advantage of some great home building trends. Perhaps a new sunroom?

Cicadas, clumsy winged insects, are recognized for their crunchy brown shells littering the sides of trees. They do not bite like mosquitoes or no-see-ums. Instead, they sing. Male cicadas can emit mating calls in excess of 90 decibels. They’re louder than lawnmowers.

Moving Tips: Downsizing Edition

It seems more likely these days to hear of people downsizing their homes than to hear of companies downsizing businesses — and the connotations are getting more and more positive. Take advantage of these moving tips for your downsizing! Moving away from a large house, where maintenance is expensive and stuff seems to magically accumulate in the black hole of the basement, can be a really good thing, but getting from here to there is not so easy. How do you decide what to bring with you and what to leave behind? How and where can you sell all of your excess stuff? And how can you find a smaller place that still meets your needs?

Custom Homes: Creating a Unique Workspace

Why settle for a regular desk when your workspace can offer so much more beauty, space efficiency and flexibility? A custom or semicustom piece can suit your space and your style to a T — and may not even be in the home office at all, but in the kitchen, living room or bedroom. Check out these 10 innovative options for custom homes, from console-style built-ins that can handle your computer and TV to multilevel work surfaces made to accommodate awkwardly placed windows, and slender L-shaped arrangements that can be tucked into the tiniest of spaces. 

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1. Keep things sleek in a studio apartment. A built-in desk can accommodate your workspace and storage needs, and a TV, too. Closed storage keeps unsightly stacks of paper hidden, and painting the cabinets the same shade as the walls helps the unit nearly disappear.

2. Get a corner desk that doesn’t scream “office.” A built-in corner workstation with storage makes the most of space without calling too much attention to itself — something a plasticky desk from the office store could never do. Choosing a natural wood surface helps the desk feel like another piece of living room furniture.

Our Favorite Home Builder Trends (Part 2)

COUNTER CULTURE

Folks love marble. They don’t care about the hazards red wine present. They don’t want to hear from a home builder about how easily they stain. They pretend not to care about the trouble of frequent polishing. They want their marble. But there are other options. Manufactured materials like Silestone and Caesarstone are sleek and require no maintenance. Other builders mentioned Dekton, Neolith, recycled glass, stainless steel, and even butcher wood. 

CABINET FEVER

Engineered cabinetry from companies such as Poggenpohl, Bulthaup, Ornare, and Bentwood of Dallas are gaining popularity for a variety of reasons: They are gorgeous, well-made, and offer cool organizational wizardry. When we asked about finishes on custom cabinets, the answers varied wildly. Some said the cabinets were mainly custom and stain-grade wood. Others said paint grade all the way. Still others said it all depends on the client.

Our Favorite Home Builder Trends (Part 1)

It’s time. The quirks that once drew you to your 1930s bungalow are now filling you with hatred on a daily basis. The floor plan that was once “charming” is now suffocating, you need a home builder. Let’s not even talk about your energy bills. You’re ready to take your house down to the studs and bring it into the 21st century or just cut your losses and start from scratch. Either way, you should begin your journey with a little information. We surveyed the 2015 Best Builders to find out what’s happening in the world of custom home construction.

SIZE MATTERS

In casual conversation, people talk about living smarter—and that suggests more efficient usage of space. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that houses are getting smaller. Obviously, building a 2,500-square-foot house on a lot in the Park Cities doesn’t make a lot of economic sense because the lot is so expensive. You want more bang for your buck. Most builders say their average square footage ranges from 4,000 to 7,000—although we had a few that said their average homes were in the 14,000 (!) range.

10 Things Your New House Builder Can Do With Concrete

Concrete is an industrial stalwart in custom homes, but its ascendance from cheap building material to cool component for a home’s best architectural features is giving product designers some novel inspiration. Concrete is now being used in housewares and furniture, fixtures and fittings, producing some unexpected concepts. In the lighting category, lamps and pendants are sporting pale-colored concrete shades. In kitchens, concrete is being poured to form weathered-looking countertops, to bring industrial flair to the heart of the home. Even in the sanctuary of the bathroom, tubs are being sculpted into stony cemented shapes so sculptural, they look like works of art. And in the outdoor arena, furniture, fire pits and crazy paving are all getting the hard-edged treatment.

1. Fireplace. Exploiting the architectural potential of concrete, the design of this circular fireplace makes it a standout feature in this long, barn-shaped living room at the center of a contemporary farmhouse in rural Victoria. It has been worked into a round shape that features a wide ledge around its circumference for extra seating and cozy fireside chats, no doubt.

Decorating Advice for Custom Homes

Lucy Call

When my clients ask me what I mean by “the tailored look for,” for custom homes I often refer to a beautifully tailored suit. Much like a fine suit, a tailored decorating scheme must be custom fit perfectly, with close attention paid to function as well as comfort. As Leo, my tailor, sums it up, “Sophie, it’s quite simple: Tailor made is made to measure. It works with you and your body. It is structured; it is in proportion; the lining is as important as the buttonhole; and the drape of the fabric is as important as the stitching.”

We can take Leo’s suit-tailoring points into our homes by creating a balanced style that has strong lines, a harmonious color palette and a scheme in which every fine detail is as important as the next. Here’s how to get a tailored look your home will love to wear forever.

Lucy Call

1. Find a focal point. What’s the focal point of a great suit? It’s not usually the tie or the pocket square; often it’s the large block of shirt material, the structure of the lapel or the shape of the shoulders. When creating a tailored room scheme, employ this theory and create a focal point using large artworks, a block of wall color or a tonal wallpaper feature wall. These will draw your eye into the scheme without jarring the room’s mood — and the beautiful thing is, you can always change your shirt.

Home Building Trends - Open Floor Plans (Part 2)

Balance Privacy and Togetherness

Home building trends will assist in the relative placement of rooms that play a major role in how a home lives. Do you really want your children's bedrooms directly above (or adjacent to) the master bedroom? We all love our children, but even the closest of families need their privacy. Ideally, the master bedroom shouldn't be too close to your home's media room or main television set. With the popularity of surround sound, TVs have become louder. The best plans keep the master suite at a comfortable distance from other activities in the home — ideally in its own wing, with nothing above or below it, and few common walls.

Not all room adjacency issues deal with privacy. Sometimes it's about togetherness. For example, kitchens should not isolate the person preparing the meal. Eat-in kitchens are great places to bring families and friends together. By combining food preparation and dining, you can create wonderful opportunities for conversation and closeness.

Home Building Trends - Open Floor Plans (Part 1)

As you plan your new home, one of the most important home building trends is selecting the floor plan. The arrangement of rooms, the flow from one room to another and the use of space help determine the feel of your new home.

Builders have long recognized the vital role that floor plans play in determining your opinion of a home. That's why many builders create furnished model homes that home buyers can walk through, to better experience a new home before purchase.

However, like many buyers, you may be considering a floor plan that's not available for tour as a model home. If so, there are several simple tips that will have you reading a two-dimensional floor plan like a pro.