Along with many other Chicago- area Baby Boomers, Tara Gilligan raised three children in a two-story suburban house. But several years ago, she found herself longing for the convenience of living on one floor.
“I was tired of climbing stairs all the time,” said Gilligan, a 47-year-old preschool teacher. “The two-story had the laundry in the basement, so I was doing more steps than just those two floors.”
Gilligan and her husband, Peter, 48, built a ranch house in southwest suburban Yorkville two years ago, then moved to another new ranch-style house in North Aurora last year to be closer to Peter’s job.
“We love everything on the first floor,” said Gilligan about the comfort of the 2,200-square-foot, three-bedroom residence in the Tanner Trails subdivision by Neumann Homes.
Gilligan is not alone in her quest for single-level living.
Realtor Eileen Landau of Realty Executives, Naperville, says the Baby Boomers she deals with “would like a ranch if they could find it. Most of the builders in the suburbs are building four-bedroom, two-story homes.
“There are ranch-style homes in the active adult and over-55 communities, but a lot of people don’t want to live there.”
In a recent check of Naperville homes for sale on the Multiple Listing Service, Landau found 704 twostory houses on the market, compared with 66 ranchstyle homes, but most were older and on small lots.
Nationally, more than half of all home buyers bought a single-story residence last year, according to Los Angeles-based KB Home, a national builder.
Most of those homes were sold in markets across the South, including Texas and Florida, where single-story living is traditional. Most were smaller homes bought by budget-minded, often first-time, buyers, said Glen Barnard, senior vice president of KBnxt Group, a division of KB Home.
Sensing an opportunity in traditional two-story markets, KB is one of several builders that is adding or expanding single-level living choices for Chicago-area buyers.
A classic American design that never entirely disappeared, ranch homes were eclipsed by two-story styles as builders chased buyers moving up to larger homes during the recent five-year housing boom.
“The ranch sort of disappeared for a time,” but the style is “pretty routinely being introduced in bigger subdivisions,” said consultant Steve Hovany, president of Strategy Planning Associates, Schaumburg.
The reason is that “on average, the buyer is getting older,” Hovany said; so builders are adding a choice of traditional ranch floor plans, ranch homes with an optional second floor, all-on-one floor duplexes and ranch-style townhouses.
It is all part of a trend to single-level living, in which middle-age empty-nesters also have fueled the condo boom in downtown Chicago and the suburbs, Hovany said.
This year, buyers 55 and older are expected to account for 370,000 housing starts, according to the National Association of Home Builders 50-Plus Council. In addition, buyers over 55 will place 24 percent of orders for new custom homes.
Buyers over 55 account for more than one-fifth of new home sales and about 18 percent of the total home-buying market, the council reports.
The first wave of Baby Boomers, the 78 million people born between 1946 and 1964, turned 60 last year. They have been one of the biggest and most influential demographic groups in new-home construction and are expected to swell the ranks of the 55-and-over set to 85 million by 2014.
“They wanted the two-story house with center entrance,” noted Hovany. “But as they are getting older, they are saying they want something more convenient–and the ranch doesn’t look so bad.”
One reason the traditional ranch house has not been more popular is cost, say builders.
Single-story homes dominate lower-square-footage housing, noted Barnard of KB Home. But as buyers trade up to bigger houses, demand for ranch plans drops off sharply.
“It does have a cost,” agreed Hovany, who said the price of land, the foundation and roof is about 20 percent more when figured for one floor rather than two.
Those costs do not deter all buyers.
“We know we had to pay more,” said Tara Gilligan. “It is worth it to pay for the ranch.”
“The square footage was not the issue,” Gilligan said. “It was the layout of the house that was important. We didn’t want a formal dining room and living room.”
Gilligan said too many two-story plans look the same.
“You’ve got to be happy with what you get,” she said. “I wasn’t going to settle.”
One solution to higher costs is offering ranch plans in attached housing, though a number of those all-on-one-level units currently available resemble walk-up apartments or condos and require climbing some stairs.
Leigh Nevers, vice-president of marketing for the Chicago region of Lennar, said many downsizing Boomers “may think they want a single-family ranch, but when they factor in the price and maintenance that’s attached to it, they often realize a ranch town home or duplex that requires less upkeep and is more in line with their budget better fits their lifestyle.”
The most important thing for many buyers is to have a master suite on the same floor as the main living area, Nevers said. Buyers choose plans that are not true ranches because they are still active and can climb stairs, she said.
Rolling Meadows-based Kimball Hill Homes has offered a ranch design for most of its 68-year old history and sells ranch styles at five Chicago-area developments. Last year, it added two new designs at Legend Lakes, a 600-acre development in northwest suburban McHenry.
The builder also increased from one to four the number of ranch townhouses, which are selling especially well, although some have stairs, said Ruth Stefl, area sales manager for the Chicago North division of Kimball Hill Homes.
Among the buyers are Larry Schwartz, 66, and his wife Althea, 63, of McHenry. They jettisoned a four-bedroom raised ranch house several years ago when Schwartz took early retirement from a chemical company.
For several years, they divided their time between a 1,000-square-foot 40-year-old ranch condo in a complex in McHenry and a home in Florida.
Several years ago, the couple sold the Florida house to spend more time with grandchildren here.
“We wanted something a little bigger, a little more upscale” said Schwartz, about their decision to buy a 1,400-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bath ground-floor ranch townhouse with attached garage for about $200,000.
“We don’t want to go up and down stairs,” said Schwartz. “Health issues come along.”
They have looked at active adult developments, which are “great, but it’s expensive for what you are getting,” Schwartz says.
Monthly assessments “can run $200 or $300 a month just for the amenities,” he noted.
Still, Schwartz is pleased with the expanding array of choices for aging buyers.
“I would say 15 years ago there weren’t many builders who were interested in building condos on the small side,” he said.
But that has changed, for the better.
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PART 1: NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Most Baby Boomers plan to stay put, and remodeling with an eye to the future makes it easier.
SEE THE STORY AT CHICAGOTRIBUNE.COM/YOURPLACE
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