May 1998 - Volume 55, Number 5
by Janice Johnstone
Pin down the baby boomer market and you've got a headlock on the entire real estate market, said a national speaker on trends in aging.
That's because baby boomers, that generation that recently began turning 50, are more strong-willed and individualistic than any previous generation, said Maddy Kent Dychtwald, author of the soon-to-be-published book, "Power Trends: Boomers at the New Millennium." They're setting the tone for future generations, simply by "doing their own thinh," said Kent Dychtwald, a mother of two who, at 46, is a baby boomer herself.
"Boomers are doing the aging thing differently," she said. "In the past, people expected to have the disabilities that they assumed were a part of aging. They thought aging and infirmity were directly linked and that you passed your prime at a certain point. What people are beginning to see now is that aging and disease are two different things: Just because you grow older doesn't mean you have to become sick and disabled."
For anyone selling real estate, the speaker said, that change in attitudes toward aging means an accompanying change in attitudes toward housing. While retirees in the past dreamed of selling the family home and buying a condo in a senior citizens' development in Florida, the baby-boomer generation dreams of working part-time at a job they love, even during retirement - so they'll need a home office. And even in retirement, they'll want to remain active, travel, participate in sports and attend cultural events - so they'll want to live in similarly vibrant, active communities.
For that reason, Kent Dychtwald predicted that so-called "lifestyle communities" centered around residents' hobbies - golfing, horseback riding, hiking and flying, for example - would grow even more popular as boomers' choices for ultimate moves. After working 60-hour weeks much of their lives, boomers are seeking better balance between their work and personal lives, she explained. And women - pressing for flex time, job sharing and telecommuting to ease child-care arrangements - are at the forefront of the changes, she said.
She illustrated the concept of a balanced life, and its effects on housing choices, with an example from her own life. When Kent Dychtwald and her husband were looking for their latest home in California, they listed several "must-haves:" a great view, a location where the weather offered an indoor-outdoor lifestyle and specific amenities. "I was more interested in having a hot tub than having a kitchen," she said. "We were definitely looking for a lifestyle."
"In the past, people expected that by the time you were in your 40s, you were pretty much out of the home-buying market," Kent Dychtwald said. "That's no longer the case. Now, boomers are buying vacation homes with the thinking, "Where would I like to live when I have more free time?" They won't necessarily be retiring in the same way our parents have retired."
One type of community in particular should prosper because of boomers' more active retirements, she predicted.
"Boomers are the best-educated population in the history of America and they're very interested in education. Communities where there are universities will become very intriguing to boomers," Kent Dychtwald said. "Boomers are now choosing communities based on schools for their children. Ten years from now, many will still be choosing communities based on the schools - but it will be based not on elementary or high schools but the local university and the cultural activities it sponsors."
Unlike their parents, moreover, boomers won't choose a retirement destination solely because of its mild winters and sultry summers. Access to major highways and airports will be important, because they like to travel. But as long as the climate suits them, boomers may even retire where snow falls - satisfying their quest for good skiing - or rain soaks the earth, providing good soil for gardening and clear streams for fishing.
"Baby boomers are active, so they'll look for places with lots of natural beauty, where they can hike and fish," Kent Dychtwald said.
"They're realizing that people are not just living better at any given age. They're living longer. At the turn of the century, the average life expectancy was 47. In our lifetime, there's a real possibility that the average life expectancy will move up to 100.
"So to think of 50 as being old is ridiculous."
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