Value-conscious new-home buyers have Chicago-area home builders scrambling to compete for a share of what is shaping up to be a more practical, competitive housing market in 1992.
”Today`s home buyers are shopping for the biggest bang for their buck,” said Richard Faltz, president of Oswego-based Primus Corp.
Al Goodman, senior vice president of United Development Homes, agrees.
”People are shopping and comparing developers,” he said. ”They`re price-conscious, but they`re not just looking for discounts. They want value received for their housing dollar.”
”It`s a price market,” added Roger Gatewood, president of Gurnee-based Westfield Homes. ”It`s the first-time and first-time moveup buyer who`s looking for a home priced from $120,000 to $150,000 and townhouses from $90,000 to $110,000.”
”The buyer is buying the best value that`s out there and right now it`s a single-family home,” said William J. Ryan, vice president/sales and marketing for Oak Brook-based Town & Country Homes. ”It`s a difficult challenge for developers with a lot more competition in design and an emphasis on value for the dollar.”
Michael Schall, vice president/sales and marketing for Sundance Homes of Rolling Meadows, concurs.
”Increased demand for value and affordability has placed more burdens on designers and developers,” he said. ”No matter what the price range, homeseekers today don`t want to make sacrifices. They want it all.”
Schall said home buyers` perception of value means basic design and simplicity in structure, concepts that he said have always made sense in such areas as foundations, roofing, plumbing stacking and heating systems.
”These practicalities enable people to afford things they notice in a home, such as vaulted spaces, additional windows, interesting architectural details, a deluxe but practical bath,” he said.
To meet this demand, Schall said, production builders are concentrating on efficient, economical floor plans of 1,200 to 2,200 square feet with an average living space of 1,600 square feet.
The new home that sells today, he said, offers three or four bedrooms, two to 2 1/2 baths, a family room, basement and attached garage. It is base- priced from $100,000 to $150,000 with the basement either included or discounted as an incentive to buyers.
”As square footage shrinks, volume space becomes important to give the home a dramatic feel,” Schall said. ”To provide more space, homes now have fewer interior walls with living areas divided by use. You can see this in the open kitchen-breakfast area-family room areas as well as the open two-story foyer-living-dining areas.”
The shift in buying habits also has influenced product changes at Arlington Heights-based Lexington Homes, the state`s largest volume home builder.
”What`s happening in the 1990s and is driving the market is not a function of taste or desire; it`s a function of affordability and
attainability,” said William A. Maybrook, executive vice president/sales and marketing. ”Clearly, the builders had to respond.”
Lexington`s response this year will be a new single-family detached home of 1,800 to 2,200 square feet priced from $135,000 to $165,000.
Maybrook said their new product will have less ”soaring volume”
throughout the home but will concentrate it in primary living areas.
”Simplified truss and roof systems enable volume in key areas, providing visual excitement and a sense of space,” he said. ”But with less volume overall, we end up with less glass. We also will end up placing bedrooms over garages to save space and make volume in master bedrooms optional for smaller homes.”
Town & Country Homes is also busy designing new products, which it says will set it apart from competitors.
”Starting in July, 1990, we`ve been hitting the drawing boards to learn from what the customer was saying,” Ryan explained. ”We`ve competed well on price, but the customer told us he wanted more. We had to see what we could do with design to maintain the price level but still add value and interest.
”Buyers today are more practical. To give that buyer a better value demands we be more efficient with floor plan design.”
He cited as an example the Preakness model at Town & Country`s Bridlewood development on Illinois Highway 132 in north suburban Gurnee.
The 1,678-square-foot, two-story home, designed by a California architect, has three bedrooms, including a master suite, and an optional fourth bedroom. The open living-dining room with vaulted ceiling has a
”window wall” effect with three picture windows extending the length of the house. A second-floor balcony overlooks the foyer and living/dining room. It is priced from $143,900.
Design innovation also is being introduced in new products offered by Primus Corp. at its Hamlet development in west suburban Montgomery.
”A typical suburban subdivision would have an average density of 2.5 housing units per acre, but with the cooperation of the Village of Montgomery, we`ve been able to do a single-family detached-home project with two-car garages at 6.7 per acre,” Faltz said. ”We have 67 individual houses on 9.87 acres. It`s selling very well.”
The best sellers in the new development are both two-story models, he said, accounting for 58 percent of sales since August.
The 1,300-square-foot Ashford, priced from $107,990, has a two-story living room with dining alcove, two-story foyer with U-shaped open staircase, eat-in kitchen, 1 1/2 baths, two bedrooms and a loft that can be converted to a third bedroom for $450.
The Langham, priced from $118,990 for 1,600 square feet, has a living room with vaulted ceiling and an enclosed den with double doors, both off the entry foyer. The home has three bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths and a large country kitchen.
The Hamlet offers four other floor plans ranging from 1,052 to 1,960 square feet.
Production home builders are ”on target” with their value-driven products when it comes to understanding the needs of Karen and Ross Mathewson, a 32-year-old couple who recently looked at model homes in the new developments that have sprouted on the Randall Road corridor between Elgin and Crystal Lake.
”We want a single-family home that we can afford and that gives us the best value for our money,” explained Ross, a patent attorney. He and Karen, a graphic artist who works out of her home, have a 3 1/2-year-old son and live in a two-bedroom condo on the North Side of Chicago that they bought in 1987. ”Location is not as important as the quality of construction,” Karen said. ”We don`t want to delay a decision too long in case mortgage rates go up again, but we also want to be sure we`re making the right choice.”
Karen was scribbling in a notebook filled with pages of notes accumulated from visits to six subdivisions.
She said they want three bedrooms, two or 2 1/2 baths, an open kitchen-family room and attached two-car garage. The home should be priced under $150,000 and in a ”good” school district.
Judging by the direction that the home-building industry appears to be taking, the Mathewsons should find plenty to choose from.
