Baby Boomers Can Capitalize on the Aging-In-Place Trend

Many people from the Boomer Generation (and even their parents from the Silent Generation) are still living in the homes they’ve owned for decades.

Times have changed, and people are living longer, healthier lives which allow them to stay in their house many years beyond what was seen in previous generations. There’s often no need to move into a nursing or retirement home, or move in with family. In fact, many stay in their homes to remain close to their families, and an active part of their lives.

This is all obviously good news.

The only problem is, it’s creating a logjam in the housing market. People have been predicting for years that the majority of Boomers and their parents will sell soon, creating a much needed supply of move-up homes for Gen X (and now Millennials) to purchase, but that time just never seems to come. This in turn causes the younger generations to stay in smaller houses, since there’s nothing to move up to, and leaving first-time buyers waiting for their whack at buying a home of their own.

It’s not that the older generations are at fault or responsible for solving the issue for the younger generation. It’d be great if the construction industry could build more houses to ease the shortage and demand crunch, but that’s a many layered issue in and of itself. And none of it is really the point of this article…

The point is, there’s an opportunity for you to capitalize on the fact that many people are staying in their homes longer, if you have a move-up house in this current market and have been thinking about selling in the near future. Here are a few reasons why:

• There’s currently high demand for any house, but even more so for the “forever homes” many Boomers have been keeping for what seems like forever.
• Mortgage rates are still historically low, but are on the rise, causing buyers to try even harder to make a purchase sooner than later.
• Home prices are at an all-time high in many areas, despite predictions that prices will come down in the near future.

The Takeaway:

Now might be the perfect time to sell if you’ve been thinking about moving in with family, into a retirement community, to a less expensive area, or a second home you already own.

While the predicted avalanche of houses being sold by Boomers never seems to happen, it will at some point, which will create more competition, and likely soften prices and the level of demand there currently is for move-up homes. (Not to mention if rates go up, or other economic issues cause demand to lower and values to go down.)

So ask your local real estate agent to do a thorough market analysis and see if it makes sense for you to capitalize on the current market conditions, or continue to live in your home for the time being.