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2007 Industry Outlook
Residential Real Estate
As the residential market cools, pricing becomes key.
All in the Family
More developers are planning multigenerational housing.
 A place for everyone: Builder magazine incorporated a granny flat in its 'Reality House' in Celebration. |
Growing up in the Big Apple, Michael Rodriguez was accustomed to several generations of family members living under one roof. "The three-story brownstones in New York -- commonly built as luxury homes in the early 1900s -- those eventually ended up becoming multigenerational housing. If you ended up owning it, you'd live on the top floor. The elderly parents would live on the first or second floor, and if you were wealthy enough, you could have a lift.
"Today, the president of Orlando-based Ample Realty is offering Florida home buyers a new twist on the age-old concept by offering 658-sq.-ft. "multigenerational additions" as an option on new homes it's developing with ICI Homes in the east Orlando community of Lake Price Estates. The MGAs, which Rodriguez believes sounds more palatable than "mother-in-law suites," add about $125,000 to the price of homes, which range from $300,000 to $400,000.
But Rodriguez thinks the added value is worth it. "A lot of families don't have a solution. The greatest expense for assisted living and independent living is the real estate portion of it, followed by the maintenance of it."
Nationally, 4% of all households are intergenerational. In Florida, extended family options have become a strong selling point around the state. Last year, Builder magazine incorporated a "second-generation suite" into the "Reality House" it unveiled at the 2006 International Builders' Show in Orlando. The auxiliary dwelling unit was "designed as a pod stemming from the main residence" complete with its own outside entrance and doorbell.
Susan Watts, a senior vice president of the Naples-based Bonita Bay Group, says the high-end developer is incorporating so-called "granny flats," carriage homes and above-garage units into many of its homes.
Watts says the chief obstacles to building more accessory dwelling units are municipal regulations and zoning codes that limit density. Many cities and counties are already revising their codes to allow for intergenerational housing, which in addition to solving some affordable housing conundrums has the added benefit of reducing urban sprawl.
Jacksonville Realtor Debbie Shagnea says the in-law suites are still a unique enough feature to add significant resale value to the home. "I think it's a great selling feature to be able to say you have an in-law suite." -- Amy Keller
