As we age, one of our considerations is whether we are going to stay in our home or move to assisted living. Many of us prefer to stay in our homes as long as possible. One of the growing considerations is updating our homes to include features that will support comfortably living as we age.
If you’re among those aren’t planning to downsize and want to stay in your current home, consider focusing on making age-friendly changes.
The National Association of Homebuilders’ What Home Buyers Really Want, identifies the most common aging-in-place remodeling projects as well as the motives and ages of those requesting the projects.
According to the remodelers, 78% of the people they performed aging-in-place updates for were at least 65 years old, but 73% were between the ages of 55 and 64.
Twenty-two percent of the respondents reported a significant increase in the number of clients they performed these updates for in the Midwest.
The reasoning for updates included “Planning for future needs” as the main impetus for the remodeling project.
Renovations included the following in order of frequency and type of improvement. Bathroom renovations were the most common with grab bars, higher toilets and curbless showers rounding out the top three projects.
If you are considering aging in place and are looking for a professional to help you with the work, I have a list of contractors that have completed work for my clients and I. Don’t hesitate to reach out and ask for their names.
