Newest Home Gadgets
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Introduced at the Consumers Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, the best new home gadgets for 2018. Gadgets may not be the best description considering the price tag on some of the equipment, but the ingenuity and creativity of the show is a road map for how our homes may be soon.

Foldimate. A new machine the company hopes will be a staple in the laundry room by your HE washer and dryer. Feed your shirts, blouses and pants into the top of the Foldimate and your laundry is deposited in the bottom…perfectly folded. Target retail: $980.

Kohler’s Verdera Smart Mirror. Built-in Amazon Alexa and dimmable LED lighting will create a pleasurable morning routine of checking the news, listening to music and adjusting mirror lighting…all by voice command. Includes a voice activated night light. Retail price: pending.

Xeros. Revolutionary new washing machine. Uses polymer beads that deploy to manipulate your clothes during the wash cycle, using less water. At the end of the cycle the beads return into the drum until they are activated during the next wash cycle. Market introduction: 2 years.

Toto’s Floating Tub. Designed with water jets in the bottom of the tub and curved to mimic the posture of astronauts resting in space, Toto’s floating tub has a built-in head rest and LED lights. Still less expensive than a ride in space. Retail price: $19,000.

New LED Light Bulbs
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Light emitting diode. That is what the “LED” on the newest energy saving light bulbs stands for. Although LEDs have been on the market for several years in at least the basic bulb style used in residential housing, there has been a big jump in availability of specialized sizing and options as well as price improvement.

The new LEDs deserve immediate attention for function, durability and energy savings which creates cost savings.

Light. Gone is the harsh blue-light that many early LEDs were associated with. Instead there is a range of light to pick from. For a soft warm light choose a LED label advertising “soft or warm” and if you want a bright clear light choose one labeled “daylight”. LEDs give an instant light without the need to “warm up” as most compact fluorescent lights (CFL) need to achieve their brightest light.

Cost. The price of replacing old incandescent or even CFLs has reached a “buy” point. Readily available in the retail market, LEDs have equalized in price from the $20 range to $3 to $5 for a regular bulb comparable to a 75W incandescent bulb and are available in a wide range of bulb styles.

Savings. The savings is dramatic when compared to a home that still uses incandescent. If comparing to CFLs the savings is still significant especially when factoring in the life of the bulb and quality of light.

40 bulbs in a home, averaging 2 hours per day of use:

Incandescent: $4.80 per bulb annually = $192, bulbs lasts 1000 hours

CFLs: $1.20 per bulb annually= $48, bulbs last 10,000 hours

LEDs: $1.00 per bulb annually = $40, bulbs lasts 25,000 hours

The New Empty Nesters
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The kids are finally out of the house. They are in college, finished with schooling and starting careers or married and starting families. History would predict it is a good time to downsize. Current real estate figures, according to AARP, dispute that former trend.

Instead, there is at least a percentage (up to 30%) of empty-nesters who are not downsizing, but in fact are in some cases buying bigger properties than they raised their own kids in. The trend explains how the population of baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) is approaching retirement.

Working longer. Many boomers are working longer extending their careers by working from their homes or establishing a second career based from their homes. Extra space for home offices or work space is needed.

Staying healthy. Boomers are healthier and more active than their parents were at their age. They mean to stay that way. They need more room for exercise equipment and storage for recreational equipment like bicycles, skis and golf clubs.

Grandkids. Being a big part of their grandkid’s lives means having the room to host their kids and grandkids in a comfortable way. In some cases that means more bedrooms and recreational spaces rather than less.

Parents. Taking care of their own aging parents is an increasingly big responsibility for the baby boomers. Even with long term health insurance, most will remain in their own home or living with family using part-time support care.

Millennials 2018
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Millennials, born between 1982 and 2000, constitute the largest population of U.S. workers. They started their post-college careers slowly, with large college loans and sluggish employment.

They are finally beginning to settle down and start families. As a group, they are fiscally conservative, and finally can save for and buy homes.

This influential faction of the population brings their conservatism to their home buying. It isn’t so much glitz and glamor they want as practical efficiency.

Energy-efficient homes and appliances. Millennials understand the comfort and value of low maintenance and saving energy. They also understand the idea of connecting all those home appliances and services to a hub they can control on their phones.

Laundry rooms. Instead of a party room, they need a well-organized area to conquer day to day laundry.

Patios. Millennials are active and when out of their office jobs, embrace the outdoors.

Eat-in kitchens. The formal dining of their parents is not how millennials live. Meal preparation is a family activity.

Hard-surfaced floors. The maintenance and durability of wood is preferred and timeless.

Millennials 2018

Millennials have different characteristics and preferences from earlier generations, which
explains why their homeownership rate is lower.

Millennials are more racially and ethnically diverse, and minority households have
homeownership rates almost 15 percentage points lower than white households.

Although millennials are more highly educated, even the homeownership rate among
highly educated millennials has fallen 5 percentage points compared with the prior two
generations.

Millennials are more likely to delay marriage and childbearing, life changes that frequently
lead to homeownership. The marriage rate among young adults has fallen from 52.3
percent in 1990 to 38.5 percent in 2015. Millennials also delay household formation and
are more apt to live with their parents.

Even for white households married with children and with substantial household income,
the homeownership rate is 2 to 3 percentage points lower than for similar households in
the previous two generations, suggesting an attitudinal shift toward homeownership.

Millennials prefer living in high-cost cities, where housing supply is inelastic. Within a city,
millennials prefer living in counties with a more urban environment, where the house prices
have increased more than in the surrounding areas. The shift in geographic preference is
mostly observed among highly educated millennials.

See Also: https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/millennials-dominate-buying-market-generation-z-now-active-buyers-says-nar-report