ShareThisBy MARILYN BOWDEN
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Households made up of several generations are on the rise, and it's not just about Grandma and Grandpa needing more assistance in their sunset years. The numbers speak for themselves: In 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau counted 3.9 million American households consisting of three or more generations living together _ a jump of about 60 percent over its 1990 findings.
In response, some homebuilders are offering multigenerational configurations among their design options.
Developer Jim Greenup, who is building two projects in Spokane, Wash., that will include multigenerational options, says he got his ideas from his own family's living arrangements. Thirty years ago, Greenup says, his widowed mother and his grandmother moved into attached units in a duplex. When the grandmother died, his uncle moved into her apartment.
"Both were caregiving situations for my mom," he says. "Twenty to 25 percent of families in America are caring for an aging relative, and duplexes aren't designed right for the concept of joined housing. There are problems, because the bathrooms don't work right for aging in place, and the stairways and other circulators do not function well.
"I am making bathrooms that are wheelchair-accessible, with showers with roll-in capability."
One of Greenup's housing options revives a traditional form of multigenerational living: accessory dwelling units, more informally known as mother-in-law apartments, built on the same lot as the main dwelling. He plans smaller, secondary residences attached to the back of the main house, each fronting different streets, with a courtyard between them.
Some local building codes don't allow for accessory units in single-family-home neighborhoods, on the grounds that they could be used as rentals. In Spokane, Greenup says, such developments can be approved by the municipality's planned-unit development process.
Other Greenup homes are to include two master bedrooms and two master bathrooms. Some are designed with primary and secondary suites on the same level; others will be on separate levels.
They will range in size from 2,500 to 3,500 square feet, Greenup says, and are priced from the mid-$200,000s to the upper-$500,000s.
Quail Construction in Vancouver, Wash., has built 40 to 50 homes for extended and nontraditional families, says President Jon L. Girod. He says there's no standard template; each home is custom-designed. Prices range from $400,000 to $600,000.
"We had an 82-year-old client buy a fairly large home," he says, "with one level on top and one with full services in the basement below that included a complete kitchen and laundry room. His idea was he could have a live-in caretaker."
The arrangement also works well for families that prefer to take care of an aging parent at home rather than put him or her in a skilled-nursing facility, he says.
Some Quail clients have adult children with special needs, Girod says, "who will be with them for the long haul." Others have children going to college who may be living at home or coming back to stay from time to time.
"There are a lot of different dynamics. I had one situation where a couple of divorced nurses at a hospital wanted to live together," he says. "Each had three children. One worked days and the other worked nights. They figured child care would be easier if they teamed up and bought a house together."
Girod says he has also designed two-story homes with double master suites and homes with two kitchens.
"Privacy is a big issue," Girod says. "So is accessibility." Quail uses "universal design" products, which are designed for maximum usability by people of all ages and abilities, to increase accessibility in multigenerational homes, he says.
While there's definitely a growing market for multigenerational housing, he says, the concept only works on lots of at least 6,000 square feet _ not easy to find, especially in urban areas.
In the Arizona desert, five related families occupy a mammoth compound of bubbles called Yumadome. Built by the Monolithic Dome Institute of Italy, Texas, the three-story structure has eight separate but interconnected apartments, says David South, Monolithic's owner and president.
"They're all members of the same family, but different generations," he says. "They say it's been an extremely positive experience. They have a big, huge common living room for lots of interaction, and yet have private space, too."
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The benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage fell 1 basis point to 6.44 percent, according to the Bankrate.com national survey of large lenders. A basis point is one-hundredth of 1 percentage point. The mortgages in this week's survey had an average total of 0.3 discount and origination points.
One year ago, the mortgage index was 5.76 percent, and four weeks ago, it was 6.51 percent. The 30-year benchmark has fallen in nine of the past 11 weeks. It was 6.93 percent June 28 _ almost half a percentage point higher.
The 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage fell 2 basis points to 6.12 percent. The 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage fell 5 basis points to 6.19 percent.
