Dear Ray,
With home prices so high, we’ve decided to stay in our present home, rather than sell and buy a new home. In a previous column you suggested tips for “aging in place.” Can you recommend improvements to make our home more livable as we grow older?
— S.P.
The Great Recession was responsible for an historic upheaval in the U.S. housing market. Home foreclosures dominated the headlines. Less talked about was the decline in mobility, mostly due to fewer Americans relocating for jobs. It’s increasingly apparent that there have been other changes in housing patterns as a result of the Great Recession. For example, retirees are choosing to “age in place,” instead of moving to the Sun Belt.
The choice to age-in-place is influenced by a number of factors, including a desire to stay in a familiar community where you’ve put down roots. Being near family is another reason homeowners are staying put, as is declining retirement income.
Back in the 1980s, homeowners stayed in their homes about seven years. That was a time when incomes, home values and the number of jobs were growing in many parts of the country. As recently as 2001-2008, the average length of homeownership was relatively short, just six years, according to Credit Sesame Daily.
In 2011, following the Great Recession, the length of homeownership had grown to nine years. A new study from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) found that a typical buyer of a single-family home will stay in their home for 13 years before moving out.
The data shows homeowners are staying in their current homes longer and upgrading their homes to improve livability.
“Staying in your home longer means you’ll need to plan ahead for a time when you may be less mobile. You have to design for a ‘you’ that doesn’t exist yet,” said Louis Tenenbaum, a Rockville, Md., contractor and founder of the Aging in Place Institute, a nonprofit that educates businesses and consumers about aging in place.
A plan for your home
You have a financial plan, an insurance plan and an estate plan. So why not have a frailty or disability plan for your home? For example, start by eliminating steps wherever possible; create a sloped walkway or ramp to a step-free door.
“Nearly half of all remodelers report seeing an increase in the number of homeowners who undergo remodels to avoid moving,” according to the NAHB survey.
Bathroom remodels were cited as a common job by 78 percent of remodelers, and 69 percent said kitchen remodels were common, both up 17 percent from two years ago. Since 2009, the NAHB reports that bathrooms and kitchens have switched places in popularity, with bathrooms sliding into the top spot.
Bathrooms typically feature narrower doors, with bathtubs and sinks that are awkward for aging people. Start by widening the doorway to accommodate a walker or wheelchair. Raise the vanity to make it gentler on the back, and add faucets with levers rather than knobs. Remove the old bathtub and create a double sliding-door shower, for walk-in ease. Add a tiled bench at one end of the shower and a second set of faucet valves and a hand shower at a lower level.
For a simpler remodel, replace the bathroom sink and vanity and add grab bars to the existing bathtub for less than $2,000.
Kitchen renovations are important for aging persons. Upper cabinets should be few, and a walk-in pantry is a more useful feature. Add wide, self-closing lower drawers to make accessing kitchen equipment and utensils easier. Add additional outlets that are lower, within easy reach. If you’re planning a major kitchen remodel, make some kitchen counters lower, for working from a chair or wheelchair.
Start with a simple improvement: Eliminate tripping hazards in your home. Get rid of area rugs. Remove wall-to-wall carpeting, and replace it with hardwood or laminate flooring. Eliminate thresholds between rooms and recess front door and porch pats so they are flush with the floor and not a tripping hazard. If your remodel is more extensive, add heated flooring, which improves comfort in colder weather.
Staying home
According to the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard, the nation’s housing inventory is in no shape to accommodate the 70-percent increase in the number of Americans age 50 and older that will occur between 2000 and 2030.
The center’s “Housing America’s Older Adults — Meeting the Needs of an Aging Population” lays out the numbers that could give builders and remodelers insight into how and when to begin aging-in-place conversations with clients.
Indeed, aging in place is the preference of most people. The majority of those 50 and older currently live independently. Among individuals age 80 and older, more than three-quarters live in their own homes.
According to AARP, 73 percent strongly agreed that they would like to stay in their current residences as long as possible. It’s not too soon to begin having a conversation about ways you can adapt your home to successfully age-in-place.
RAY AKERS is a licensed Realtor for Lake & Co. Real Estate in Seattle. Send your questions to ray@akerscargill.com or call (206) 722-4444.