Nov 19 2012
When Lennar Minnesota posted a survey on its website asking consumers how they would live in its Next Gen concept home, consumers jumped in from across the country with a wide range of ideas.
“The Next Gen home concept pioneers a home-within-a-home concept,” said Tim Fohr, Marketing Manager of Lennar Minnesota. “We are addressing the growing need of families with multiple adult generations living together. We knew the Next Gen concept, a home-within-a-home could be utilized in a variety of ways and we were pleasantly surprised at the number of ideas we’ve received from potential buyers.”
Lennar posted a survey contest on the Lennar Minnesota Page of Facebook and received over 2300 responses.
“The replies we received not only showed us that people understood and were engaged in the concept, but their ideas reflected the needs that many people have today,” said Fohr.
Here are some consumers' ideas about the home-within-a-home:
- Invite grandparents to move here to live with us so the kids could see them
- Use for a spa
- Use for an office
- Snowbirds’ own suite within their children’s home
- My own getaway
- Retreat for my wife and myself – no kids
Place for a nanny
- We have guests who come for long periods of time
- We have many guests
- Help out a friend who needs a place to live
- Place for my relatives, who are not vegetarians like we are, so they could cook for themselves
- Game room
- Kids play room
- Rent it out
- For me - I’m the mother-in-law, and I’d fence in the back part of the yard for my dog
- My adult child could live here, and later, I would hand the home down to him and I’d live in the home-within-a-home part of the year
The Lennar Minnesota Next Gen model in the 2012 Builders Association of the Twin Cities Fall Parade of Homes tour drew more than 2,600 guests in four weekends, which exceeded most of the over 300 Parade of Home models’ tour numbers around the greater Twin Cities. The model is located in Maple Grove.
The Next Gen initial floor plans range from 2,400 to 3,200 square feet or 4,200 to 4,900 square feet with basements. They have the exterior appearance of a single-family home, with separate garage and access to a spacious suite, complete with laundry, kitchenette and outdoor spaces. Rather than retrofit a home to accommodate a defined living space, this new home concept builds it in for flexible long-term use.
Source: http://www.lennar.com/