
When Ken and Sharon Thomas, residents at Del Webbโs Sun City Peachtree in Griffin, Georgia, retired, the coupleโs first move was to downsize from the house where they raised their six children. It didnโt take long for the couple to realize that upsizing would be the better choice.
โAll 12 of our grandkids could fit here if we got them all to visit at the same time because we have a sunroom and a living room, plus a loft and more bedrooms upstairs,โ says Sharon.
The Thomases arenโt outliers. A recent survey by Del Webb found that 65 percent of younger baby boomers and older Gen Xers, all between 50 and 60 years old, donโt plan to downsize. They prefer their next home be the same size (43 percent) or larger (22 percent) than their current home.
Why Some Baby Boomers Go Big
A Merrill Lynch Retirement Study conducted in partnership with Age Wave, Home in Retirement: More Freedom, New Choices, found that 30 percent of recent retirees had moved into a larger home and 19 percent moved into the same-size home. Among the reasons cited for upsizing were so that more family members could visit (33 percent), so that family members could move in (20 percent), to move to a more prestigious house or location (19 percent) and so that more friends could visit (16 percent).
โMany people in this age group still have teenagers living with them because they started having kids later in life than some previous generations,โ says Mark Ash, national director of design for the Pulte Group, owner of the Del Webb brand. โTheyโre also thinking ahead to allocate space for aging parents.โ
More people want a dedicated home office space, so they can work from home, says Ash. โAnd people like to entertain at home a lot, so they want the larger kitchen and usable indoor-outdoor square footage, too,โ he says.
Spaces that Match Upsizing Priorities
When Ken and Sharon Thomas upsized, they wanted a bedroom and bathroom for Sharonโs mother, who lives with them, a sewing room, an office, and space for guests. Theyโre also happy to own a newly constructed home with less maintenance and to live in Sun City, where outdoor maintenance is provided by the homeowner association.
โThereโs no such thing as having too much space,โ says Ken.
One couple who purchased a home in Provenance, a planned community near Chicago built by Red Seal Homes, opted to customize their ranch-style home with a fully finished basement, which expanded the 3,600-square-foot floor plan to a total of 6,000 square feet. The couple wanted room to entertain family and to accommodate their grandchildren. They also were relieved they didnโt have to downsize their possessions.
โWe see a fair amount of demand among Baby Boomers for homes with anywhere from 4,000 to 10,000 square feet,โ says Brian Hoffman, a third-generation owner of Red Seal Homes in Chicago.
Besides space, he says, these buyers are looking for home customization with eight or nine feet of kitchen cabinets reaching the ceiling, special lighting packages, home automation, and oversized master bathrooms.
โWhen we started building at Provenance, we had a fairly traditional 3,600-square-foot ranch-style floor plan with two bedrooms, a formal dining room, an office and a kitchen with a butlerโs pantry, plus a family room,โ says Hoffman. โWe quickly observed that buyers wanted a larger, more open ranch-style house with a third bedroom and no formal dining room. We opened up the kitchen to a great room so thereโs now about 1,000 square feet of open entertaining space. Thatโs our best seller among all our models.โ
For extra space, buyers often choose to finish the basement, which Hoffman says is dug extra deep to accommodate high ceilings. Baby Boomer buyers often personalize this space with a bar, a game room and a home theater for entertaining adults and kids at family gatherings, he says.
โThe feedback we get from Baby Boomer buyers is that even if they want the same amount of space they already have, they want that square footage allocated in different ways,โ says Ash. โThey want a larger kitchen, a bigger laundry room with storage, a luxury master bathroom, and a home office because theyโre retiring later and want the flexibility of working at home.โ
In addition, Ash says, they often like the second-floor option with a loft, a bedroom, and a bathroom.
โThe buyers want their privacy while their grandkids and kids are visiting, so itโs great to have the entire second floor space for guests,โ says Ash.
All of the Del Webb floor plans include extra storage space as well. โAll of our floor plans have a walk-in pantry, an ample linen closet, and storage off the garage entrance,โ says Ash.
For the Thomas family and many other baby boomers, a larger house with storage, space for visitors and for hobbies and work makes more sense than skimping on size. โA lot of people want a new house, but they donโt want to get rid of all of their stuff,โ says Ash.
Michele Lerner is an award-winning freelance writer, editor and author who has been writing about real estate, personal finance and business topics for more than two decades.