Don't Miss the 2005 International Builders' Show
If you haven't made your reservations yet for the 2005 International Builders' Show in Orlando, FL, time is running out. After Friday, Dec. 17, you must register onsite for the housing industry's premier event Jan. 13-16 at the Orange County Convention Center.

Here are three good reasons to register now for IBS.

1. Save up to $25 off the on-site registration fee — or pay only $100 if you are an NAHB member attending the Show for the first time.
2. Arrange housing through NAHB's housing stock.
3. Beat the long lines and receive your badge credentials in the mail.

Of course, there's a fourth reason to register online today — and it has nothing to do with Disney. The NAHB Seniors Housing Council will make your trip to Orlando worthwhile, offering a wide range of education sessions, networking opportunities, and special events. The 2005 IBS is the perfect venue to increase your knowledge of the 50+ housing market and make valuable connections with seniors housing industry leaders. Check out the Council's IBS schedule for the full list of activities, including Seniors Housing Council committee meetings.

Don't miss the following activities at IBS (all are at the Orange County Convention Center, unless noted):

• The Boomers' Next Move: Marketing Breakfast — Friday, Jan. 14, 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., Room 224B. Nationally recognized housing expert John Burns of John Burns Real Estate Consulting, Inc., will deliver a thought-provoking, fact-filled presentation on how the next wave of buyers will differ from previous generations. Cost is $35 per person, and pre-registration is recommended. Check out the breakfast flyer for details and to make your reservations.
• Architectural plan reviews — Friday, Jan. 14, and Saturday, Jan. 15, Room 107. Bring your community, clubhouse, and home plans to be reviewed one-on-one by the country's top active adult and service-enriched architects and designers. Or, just stop by to get great tips and design ideas. Morning and afternoon sessions are available. Cost is FREE. See the plan review schedule for specifics.
• Meet the Experts — Friday, Jan. 14, and Saturday, Jan. 15, Room 312C. Have you ever wanted to talk to an expert to help you make the right decisions? Well, here's your chance. At Meet the Experts, you'll have access to the best minds in the business who are waiting to answer your questions. Cost is FREE, and lunch will be provided. Check out the list of sessions and experts for more information.
• Community bus tour — Saturday, Jan. 15, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., pick-up at South Hall. Check out several of the Orlando area's premier communities in one of the country's hottest retirement destinations. Tour the clubhouses, models, and amenities — and come away with ideas to apply to your own communities. Among the communities are Baldwin Park, a traditional neighbhorhood development in Orlando that is attracting empty nesters and an award-winning example of smart growth and urban infill, and two active adult communities by The St. Joe Company, Artisan Park in Celebration and Victoria Park in DeLand. Cost is $75 per person. The tour is guaranteed to sell out, so register early. View the bus tour flyer for more details.
• Seniors Rental Housing Committee — Wednesday, Jan. 12, 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., Room 230C. The committee will present a program titled Meeting the Challenge ... Making It Work: Affordable Seniors Rental Housing. Affordable rental housing is a burgeoning industry that appeals to a vast number of low- and middle-income households ages 55 and older. For builders, success involves knowing the basics: market demand, finance options, site selection, and design parameters. This informative program is a must for multifamily developers, tax-credit developers, builders interested in mixed-use developments, and architects who design multifamily product.

Also, visit the Seniors Housing Council's Hospitality Suite, located in the Orange County Convention Center, Room 107, to pick up valuable seniors housing resources and to network with your peers. Don't forget to drop by the Council's Membership Reception from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 12, in Room 222B.

E-mail Eucklan Matthews or call her at 800-368-5242 x8220 for more information on Seniors Housing Council activities at IBS.

Special thanks to the following Council 2005 IBS sponsors:

Hord Coplan Macht, Inc..

JBZ Architecture + Planning

David Jensen Associates, Inc.

JSA, Inc.

Kephart Community • Planning • Archecture

Kraft Development/Gold Coast Seniors Housing Council

KTGY Group, Inc.

Minno & Wasko Architects and Planning

Quincy Johnson Jones Myott Acevedo Vaughn Architects

Trace Marketing, Inc.

Wattenbarger Architects, PLLC

Drop By These Educational Sessions In Orlando
Want to bolster your knowledge of the 50+ housing market? Hear from the experts themselves about the hottest trends and learn how to succeed with the growing active adult market. There are a total of 14 education sessions being offered at the 2005 International Builders' Show in Orlando.

Check out the following sessions:

• Forever Young: Customized Universal Design — Thursday, Jan. 13, 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., Room 303. As we move through the age boom, there is value in marrying the concept of universal design and high-end custom home design. Within the production lifestyle community, this involves dispelling negative stereotypes relating to "seniors." In the high-end custom home market, this takes customized design to new heights. At every price point, this speaks to the aging boomers' battle cry, "I want my way." This program takes a look at universal design that sends a "high-end custom" message. Presenters include: Mary Jo Peterson, Mary Jo Peterson, Inc., Brookfield, CT; Tom Hall, Renaissance Homes, Littleton, CO; and Rob Williams, KTGY Group, Inc., Irvine, CA.
• Four Fundamental Steps to Build Successfully for Boomers and Beyond — Thursday, Jan. 13, 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., Room 314. This lively discourse between two builders and two researchers will apply research from eight local market studies and a 2004 national lifestyle and preferences study of boomers and beyond to define four steps to success in today's marketplace. Presenters include: Margaret Wylde, ProMatura Group, LLC, Oxford, MS; Dave Schreiner, Pulte Homes, Inc., Scottsdale, AZ; Robert Karen, Symphony Village, Crofton, MD; and Charlotte Wade, NAHB Research Center, Greenbelt, MD.
• David vs. Goliath: Active Adult Strategies for Entrepreneurial Builders — Friday, Jan. 14, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Room 307. With entrepreneurial builders always looking for new products and market niches, this program shares the research, product and amenity planning, and marketing strategies that are essential for those considering the emerging active adult market. Learn how builders can compete against the national builders and their "mega" active adult master-planned developments with small, well-designed, and lower-priced communities. Presenters include: John Schleimer, Market Perspectives, Roseville, CA; Mary DeWalt, DeWalt Design Group, Austin, TX; George Rawson, Pueblo Builders, Las Cruces, NM; and Ralph Spargo, Standard Pacific Gallery Communities, Irvine, CA. 
• Best of the Best: Retrospectives and Future Trends — Sunday, Jan. 16, 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., Room 307. Before fielding audience questions, seasoned professionals will look at current active adult housing trends and review research, strategic positioning, product design, and marketing concepts for this growing sector.  Presenters include: Tracy Lux, Trace Marketing, Inc., Sarasota, FL, and Kelly Sheppard, Village Communities, Midvale, UT.

Check out the complete schedule of education sessions with descriptions. [return to top]

Boomer Expert Goldstein: Today's Retirees Want More Than Sun
Mark Goldstein, president of The Impact Presentations Group in San Ramon, CA, and a featured speaker at the 2005 International Builders' Show in Orlando, feels today's retirees have changed dramatically in recent years. Goldstein, one of the country's foremost experts on the mature market and its implications for business, the workforce, and marketing, notes that the sun itself was an amenity that suggested recreation, health, and vitality. That message was reinforced by Del Webb's marketing campaigns in the 1960s.

But Goldstein believes that some seniors actually view the sun as an enemy to aging. While he feels the sun always will be a draw, builders need to reevaluate their approach. "Boomers have had a love affair with the sun since the first Annette Funicello movies and the early Beach Boys tunes," Goldstein says. "It would be a mistake to assume that the sun will not play a role in boomer retirement. It would be an even greater mistake to assume that the role of sunshine and warm weather will not be redefined."

Goldstein suggests that builders should give their prospects alternatives, especially if their new community is not in the traditional Sun Belt states. He notes that the definition of 21st-century retirement includes a shift from "leisure to legacy" and "recreation to contribution." "Boomers will want access to venues where they can fill their days with a sense of purpose," Goldstein says. "For example, savvy builders will combine the elements of retirement living and college or university life to have a winning formula. You must ask yourself what 'experience' does my community offer?"

Goldstein added that some communities from areas that may not have been popular destinations are viable options for builders. "Even an area such as Seattle, with its substantial rainfall, offers an extraordinary lifestyle and a unique experience," Goldstein says.

Goldstein says the key for builders is to capture the community's experience and market it with the key attributes that boomers seek. As for the sun, many sunshine states become undesirable when the temperature exceeds the comfort zone. As a result, moderate weather may replace the tropics and desert as the best locations.

Despite the old cliche, location isn't everything. "A sense of community may replace location as the key driver for retirement living. It will depend largely on the experience created in the community and communicated in the marketing materials."

To find out more about boomers and their impact on the building industry, attend Goldstein's session, Reinvention of the Housing/Building Market: Boomers and Beyond, from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Friday, Jan. 14, in the Orange County Convention Center, Room 308. Goldstein also will be available for questions afterwards in the Seniors Housing Council's Hospitality Suite, Room 107. Read the recent interview with Goldstein in Nation's Building News for more of his insights. [return to top]

Star Wars, Futuristic Design: 2005 Best of Seniors Housing Awards
The force will be with you, not to mention the seniors housing industry's finest builders, designers, and marketing professionals at the 2005 Best of Seniors Housing Awards Presentation and Luncheon at the 2005 International Builders' Show. The event will take place from noon to 3 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 13, at the Rosen Plaza Hotel Ballroom, 9700 International Drive in Orlando.

The 2005 program, “Celebrating Excellence: Visions of the Future,” will reward cutting-edge, futuristic designs for the 55+ market, not to mention innovative marketing. The Seniors Housing Council will honor the winners in style — with a fun, multimedia presentation that celebrates Star Wars and other science fiction favorites.

Awards will be presented in dozens of categories, including active adult, service-enriched, multifamily, aging-in-place, and renovated seniors housing. See what's hot in design and marketing to today's mature consumers. Tickets are $70 per person or $650 for a table of 10. Limited tickets are available at the door. E-mail Eucklan Matthews or call her at 800-368-5242 x8220 to make your reservations.

Special thanks to the 2005 Best of Seniors Housing Awards Presentation and Luncheon Sponsors: Moen, Wells Fargo Home Mortage, and Dupont, Corian and Zodiaq. [return to top]

New Course: Designing for the Active Adult Debuts at 2005 IBS
Increase your business by designing homes and communities to better meet the needs of the growing active adult population. NAHB offers Designing for the Active Adult, an in-depth look at the many design considerations for single-family and multifamily housing for active adults, as a pre-show course during the 2005 International Builders' Show in Orlando. The course will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 12, at the Orange County Convention Center, Room 330B.

Among the topics covered in the course are:

• Various design possibilities for active adult living
• How active adult lifestyle can be enhanced by design features
• Community design preferences for active adults
• Amenities and common-area design elements that enhance active adult living
• Product design components that are critical to meeting the needs of active adults
• Universal design and aging in place
• And more!

The course is the first in the NAHB Seniors Housing Council's Professional Development Series. NAHB members also can earn continuing education credit toward their CAPS, CGA, CGB, CGR, GMB, MIRM, and CMP designation. Cost is $150 for Seniors Housing Council members, $175 for NAHB members, and $225 for non-members.

Register by calling 800-368-5242 x8338 or by going online at www.nahb.org/preIBS. Check out the pre-conference flyer for more details. To schedule the course at your local HBA, e-mail Tara Occhipinti or call her at 800-368-5242 x8153. [return to top]

New American Home 2005 Mixes Technology, Universal Design
The New American Home® 2005 (TNAH) at the International Builders' Show in Orlando will feature a distinctive design that combines luxury with universal design features. The fully accessible, 9,036-square-foot home also incorporates home automation, new technology, energy efficiency, and healthy home construction techniques. TNAH will use 47% less energy for heating and cooling and 64% less energy for water heating than a traditional home of similar size in the same climate.

Other high-tech features include technology that will link a dozen televisions positioned throughout the house with telephones, computers, lights, and security and audio systems, which easily can be controlled via touch-screen keypads and remotes, coupled with LCD (liquid-crystal display) monitors that allow computers and televisions to be used interchangeably. The homeowners also will be able to program lights, control shades, monitor the front door, activate the sprinkler system, turn on the central vacuum, and chlorinate the swimming pool from anywhere in the house.

The National Council of the Housing Industry, NAHB's organization of building product manufacturers and suppliers, annually sponsors The New American Home with BUILDER magazine. The home is located at 4397 New Broad in Orlando, 10 miles from the Orange County Convention Center, in Baldwin Park, an upscale, mixed-use development with architecture reminiscent of the pre-1940s Central Florida era.  

Registered attendees at the 2005 IBS can tour The New American Home during exhibit hours on Thursday, Jan. 13, through Sunday, Jan. 16, with shuttle buses departing every hour from the convention center. Tickets are free and are required, and can be picked up at The New American Home booth located in the "C" Hall Lobby, West building. Check out the press release or visit www.tnah.com for more details. [return to top]

Building for Boomers & Beyond Lands Nationally Recognized Speakers
The NAHB Seniors Housing Council has landed several nationally recognized speakers for Building for Boomers & Beyond: Seniors Housing Symposium 2005 to be held May 16-18 in the Washington, DC, metro area at the Westfields Marriott in Chantilly, VA. Among the featured speakers are Paula Sonkin of J.D. Power and Associates and respected author and marketing expert David Wolfe of The Center for Ageless Marketing.

Sonkin is the executive director, real estate industries, for J.D. Power and Associates, a national leader in conducting customer satisfaction surveys and scoring companies on their performance. A market researcher with 25 years of experience, Sonkin will discuss findings from the recent J.D. Power Home Builder Study and share her insights on the active adult market in her keynote address, The Mystique of Creating the Satisfied Customer. 

Wolfe is one of the leading experts on second-half markets (people ages 40 and older) as well as the author of two books, Ageless Marketing: Reaching the Hearts and Minds of the New Customer Majority and Serving the Ageless Market.  Wolfe, who will speak at the Icons of the Industry Awards Breakfast, will discuss Serving the Ageless Market.

Stay tuned for more updates on Building for Boomers & Beyond. Click here for information on exhibit and sponsor opportunities, or e-mail James Boston or call 800-368-5242 x8208 for more details. [return to top]

Around the Industry: Cohousing, Viva Las Vegas
A recent article in AARP Bulletin (November 2004) revealed a new trend among seniors, who are actively planning their own communities with family and friends. Cohousing, a concept the Seniors Housing Council reported on in its Fall 2002 issue of Seniors' Housing News, allows residents to own their own units and divide duties for maintenance, gardening, and other household chores. The residents share the cooking duties and enjoy meals together a few times a week in a community building. This housing type combines a built-in social network with convenience.

Cohousing communities are more condominiums than communes, allowing would-be neighbors to decide what kind of home they want before designing it. Usually, the homes include custom-design features and a lavish community house for residents.

This new trend is gaining popularity, with 22% of the 500 respondents in a survey conducted by MetLife Mature Institute and AARP last spring saying they would be interested in "building a new home to share with friends that included private space and communal living areas." According to data from the Cohousing Association of the United States, a nonprofit organization, there are nearly 80 completed cohousing communities housing more than 5,000 people in more than 30 states.

Check out the AARP Bulletin article for more on the cohousing trend.

Elsewhere, around the industry:

• Las Vegas, NV, has been a popular location for second homes for affluent buyers since its conception, but it is quickly transitioning into a thriving second-home makret for boomers, according to a recent PRWeb Newswire release. Las Vegas developers have tapped into this niche market by offering plenty of luxury condominiums, golf communities, and age-qualified communities. The condo market has been especially strong for boomers, who are seeking a low-maintenance lifestyle that allows them free time to enjoy the Vegas strip instead of cutting grass and trimming the hedges. Despite a decrease in housing permits in October and November and predictions of a "bubble" burst, home prices have stabilized and sales continue to be robust. 
• Long-term care facilities pay as much as $3,500 to replace a frontline employee who leaves, according to a recent policy report titled The Cost of Frontline Turnover in Long-Term Care by labor economist Dorie Seavey. With an average 45% annual turnover rate among long-term care workers, the nation-wide cost of high staff turnover is nearly $4.1 billion. Check out a press release from AAHSA's Institute for the Future of Aging Services or read the full policy report.

Member Advantage: Save on Dell® with NAHB
Dell, the world's leading computer systems company, offers discounts to NAHB members on Dell Dimension™ Desktops,  Dell OptiPlex™ Desktops, Dell Precision™ Workstations, Dell Inspiron™ Notebooks, Dell Latitude™ Notebooks,  Dell PowerEdge™ SC Servers, PowerVault™ Storage, and Dell Printers™.

Go to http://premier.dell.com to order your Dell system. Enter access code “NAHB” and access key “NAHBDELL” (case-sensitive). Your NAHB discount automatically will be applied.

Your dedicated Dell Association Sales Representative is available at 1-888-577-3355 Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. (CT), and Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (CT).

For the most up-to-date details on the Member Advantage discount program and all of the participating companies, go to http://memberadvantage.nahb.org. Or visit www.nahb.org to explore the full range of benefits associated with membership in your local, state, and national home builders associations. [return to top]

Got A News Tip? Contact Seniors Housing e/Source
What's going on in your own backyard? Please let us know about the latest company news, new projects, or other interesting topics you'd like to see in an upcoming issue of Seniors Housing e/Source? Feel free to contact me:

Seniors' Housing e/Source

c/o Jeff Jenkins

NAHB Seniors Housing Council

1201 15th St., NW

Washington, DC 20005-2800

jjenkins@nahb.com

800-368-5242 x8292

202-266-8195 (fax) Body text here. [return to top]