Some investors are converting older hotels into affordable homes. For young buyers who want to live in an urban setting, this is ideal.
Figuring out what’s current and worth implementing when we renovate is an important part of our jobs. We read magazines, look at houses (Carol even gets to look at NICE houses as part of her retail real estate business), and watch the all-important television shows (OK, that’s just for fun).
There’s more to it than just what paint colors to choose and what color fixtures to put in the bathrooms, though. We also are keeping a close eye on what kind of properties people want now, and what they’ll want in the future. Here are a couple of learnings that we are keeping in mind right now as we try to not blindly follow trends just to be trendy, but to look for trends that will lead to good investments of our time and money.
Need More Starter Homes
Our reading confirms what we have observed where we live: there are not enough units of housing available for people just starting out, and mid-range housing is disappearing as well. Traditional single-family housing is especially hard to find for folks who aren’t lucky enough to have inherited money or have one of those few well-paying starter jobs. That’s led to a trend for different types of housing. Curbed sums it up:
Whether it’s urban row houses, transit-oriented development, or a new type of tract housing, practical and affordable mid-market homes, as well as starter homes and affordable rental units for young adults, remain potential goldmines for developers who figure out the right balance of price, land costs, location, and amenities.
We are intrigued by the idea of creating new types of housing, and hope to figure out some in our Cameron property, which has some emtpy lots that could be turned into affordable housing of some kind, perhaps one of those with retail on the first floor and housing above, like I saw in Bryan last year.
