Traditional Starter Homes No More
The mission of the Starter Home 2.0 Project is to re-think the Starter Home model for the Millennial Generation by providing contemporary new homes in walkable neighborhoods, with the flexibility to accommodate growing house holds in future years (i.e. 3-bedrooms, 2.5-bathrooms, and the ability to add 1 more of each in the basement if desired). While this mission primarily came about as a result of my own personal experience combined with observations of my Millennial homebuying peers, there is now a growing amount of research data coming online that is providing additional evidence supporting this effort. One such study by The Bank of America was recently published as part of a Builder Online article, titled 'First-Time Buyers Will Wait for What They Want: A new survey from Bank of America finds that, for many, the first home is no longer a starter home.'
The most telling statistics from this study of 1,000 prospective first-time homebuyers as it relates to the Starter Home 2.0 Project were that 75% of buyers were looking for a home that they can grow into and will fit their needs in a few years, even if it doesn't now, and that 69% would rather wait to save more money and move into a nicer home in the future, vs. the 31% that would rather move into a traditional starter home now.
