Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MILWAUKEE – Gen X is putting its stamp on the home construction market – a big, tech-driven, design-oriented stamp.

It’s hello media rooms, goodbye living rooms. Goodbye big yard, hello fourth bedroom.

Those born between 1965 and 1979 have redefined what “the comforts of home” mean.

“What’s important to us is high quality,” said Vince Aman, 38, of the brick and cement board two-story house he and wife, Bonnie, 31, commissioned Trustway Homes Inc. to build on 4 acres in Wayne, Wis. They chose Pewaukee, Wis.-based Trustway for its attention to detail and willingness to accommodate their design wishes, he said.

The price for their model was $318,900, assuming a 2,868-square-foot size, Trustway President Steven R. Clavette said.

“We exceeded that significantly” by commissioning a larger, more customized house, Vince Aman said.

Among the add-ons in the Amans’ nearly finished 3,600-square-foot house: a built-in entertainment center and bedrooms over the garage, well-suited to a couple with two young children and a bevy of in-state family and friends.

“It was quite a bit more expensive,” Vince Aman said, “but a good idea for the long run.”

The long run is a common home-buying vantage point for Gen Xers, who represented 49 percent of all purchasers in 2003, new U.S. Commerce Department research shows. Among other 2003 buyers, 33 percent were born between 1946 to 1964; 12 percent were born before 1946; and 6 percent were born after 1979, commerce figures show.

That makes Gen X the industry’s 800-pound gorilla, getting pretty much whatever it wants.

“Gen Xers in particular are wielding their buying power to shape today’s new-home characteristics,” said Jerry Howard, chief executive officer of the National Association of Home Builders in Washington, D.C. “They’re techno-savvy and more likely to be house-shopping on the Internet. They have a strong awareness of all their options.”

His statement accompanied a May 19 report by the association on generational differences among new-home customers.

Builders already knew that 20- and 30-something customers expect the best, but trade group research discovered they weren’t the less-is-more type as long believed.

In fact, they expect more personal space than their “gotta be me” baby boom elders.

“It’s not need; they have smaller families. It’s lifestyle,” said Gopal Ahluwalia, the builder association’s research director.

In focus groups, Gen X buyers emphasized a belief that extra amenities would boost resale value.

Only 15 percent of today’s new-home buyers are willing to trade away amenities to make the purchase more affordable, according to his trade group’s consumer preference survey.

How do young people finance all this space and amenities? With both spouses’ income and, in many cases, heavy debt, Ahluwalia said.

“They want to have everything but can’t afford it. Their belief is that home prices will go up, and their income will go up,” Ahluwalia said.

The U.S. median new-home price in May was $217,000, up from $211,700 in May 2004. In 1980, the median price was $64,600. Meanwhile, the American house size grows and grows – from an average 1,500 square feet in 1970 to an average 2,300 square feet last year, Ahluwalia said.

His group found, in its consumer preference survey, that 67 percent of Gen Xers consider four bedrooms a minimum, and 77 percent want ceilings at least 9 feet high.

That’s more ambitious than baby boomers, of whom 40 percent have a four-bedroom minimum and 65 percent want ceilings at least 9 feet high.

That isn’t necessarily pie in the sky. Some people in their 30s are already buying their third house, like the Amans, who now live in the suburb of Sun Prairie, Wis., or their second, like Rebecca and Dodd Miller, who now live in Wauwatosa, Wis.

Such couples have dual incomes, a long-term view – and equity.

Gen X buyers wind up with about the same space as older buyers, but for different purposes, Milwaukee-area builders say.

“Young buyers don’t want to pay for space they don’t use. Maybe their elders always wanted a dining room, but their idea is, “Can my house be flexible enough to accommodate everyday meal needs?’ Maybe they’d rather have a nice dinette or snack counter and skip the dining room,” said Joe Orendorf, a partner in Brookfield, Wis.-based Joseph Douglas Homes and Gateway Homes.

No room is a given with Gen X, said Trustway’s Clavette.

“More of our customers are saying, “Instead of a dining room, living room or great room, let’s put our money into a den or a finished lower level,” he said. “And a huge thing the last couple years is mud rooms with built-in lockers, and laundry rooms.”

Builders hear “cozy” a lot from younger buyers.

“They want all the amenities in their home, so they can be at home,” said Craig Rakowski, president of the Metropolitan Builders Association of Greater Milwaukee. He runs James Craig Builders in Wauwatosa. “Home theaters, structured wiring, granite or Corian countertops, built-in hot tubs and saunas, hydrotherapy pools, pizza ovens. It”s all about pampering yourself,” Rakowski said.