Basic Instinct: Yesterday's options are today's standard equipment in new homes
June 30-1995

BY JOE CATALANO. Joe Catalano is a free-lance writer.

STEVEN OBRAITIS and his family bought a house three years ago, and Steven's brother Mark and his family signed a contract to purchase a house earlier this month. In many ways, the houses are similar. Both are in Manorville projects built by the Park Ridge Organization, and both have four bedrooms, a two-car garage and central air conditioning.The big difference is that Steven and Judy OBraitis had to order the
fourth bedroom, the larger garage and central air as options. Those amenities are standard equipment, included in the basic price, on Markand Susan's new house. That's a reflection not only of changing buyers' tastes, but of a new approach to marketing by home builders. taking popular items standard "started when the real estate market softened and builders were looking for ways to entice buyers," said Michael Dubb, co-owner of the Beechwood Organization, a Williston Park-based builder. Home builders were trying to eliminate the fear among many buyers that the advertised price would increase greatly when the amenities they wanted were added, he said. In some cases, Long Island builders have been able to expand the standard home package without raising prices.

The OBraitis families said the cost of the 1992 house, including the three options, was about the same as the base price of the 1995 house. Part of the reason in this case was a difference in land costs,said Charles Mancini, Park Ridge's vice president. The land for the newer development, Hunter's Run East, where prices start at $199,990, was purchased eight years ago, before land costs soared, Mancini said. Land at the other project, Hunter's Run, cost about $20,000 more per lot when the company acquired it three years ago. The recession also had a role, Mancini said, with labor costs and some supply costs either stabilizing or dropping since 1992. Long Islanders generally want the same things in new houses as buyers nationwide. The National Association of Home Builders, using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, said buyers in the last eight years increasingly preferred houses with four or more bedrooms and 2 1/2 or more bathrooms. The average size of a new house in 1994 was 2,100 square feet, up from 1,825 in 1986. Local builders say buyers like opulent kitchens and bathrooms, and vinyl siding is gaining popularity at the expense of wood. Traditional exterior designs have made a comeback, and fireplaces and skylights are not as popular as they used to be. But perhaps the most significant change is that buyers expect the things they want to be included in the basic price. In the mid-1980s, when the market was roaring, buyers expected to pay extra to get the house they wanted, said Marilyn Larsen, owner of Lane Realty in Great Neck, the marketing agent for a half-dozen single-family developments. Today, "even low-end buyers want as much as they can get included" in the basic price, she said. Depending on the location, she said, development houses that cost about $179,000 and up include basements, two-car garages and central air as standard equipment.

In the 1980s, buyers made hasty decisions in the belief that they could make a quick profit if they sold. Now, buyers increasingly believe that they will be in the house a long time, and they want to make sure
they won't outgrow it. This keep-it-forever attitude has, in part, fueled the increasing demand for four or more bedrooms. Both OBraitis couples wanted an extra room that can be office space or a place for their
families to grow. Even though it's their first house, "we were thinking long term," Judy OBraitis said. And Susan OBraitis, ready to move into the family's second home after four years in Ridge, said: "This is it until we
retire." Not everyone believes buyers will stay put forever. "I don't think anyone is buying to stay through the entire 30-year mortgage," said Steven Klar, president of the Klar Organization, an East Meadow-based builder. As income brackets and family composition change, so do housing needs, he said. Still, many builders are responding to the desire for bigger houses. "We don't build anything less than four bedrooms anymore," Mancini said. He pointed out that people who don't need a fourth bedroom use the room for other purposes, such as a study or library. At Dix Hills Farms, where the 36 homes are priced from $389,900 to $525,000, Manhattan-based Wharton Development Corp. has models that include a fifth bedroom on the main floor. Salespeople tell prospective buyers that the room can be used for live-in help or to house an aging parent, a situation faced by many baby boomers, said Peter Lewis, a principal at Wharton.There are still many homes being designed with three bedrooms, said Jerold L. Axelrod, president of Jerold Axelrod & Associates, a Commack architectural firm. But, unless the lots are too small, a four-bedroom option is usually available, he said.

Beechwood's Dubb and his partner Leslie Lerner have built increasingly large homes for the mid-price market. In 1985, they sold homes in East Meadow that had 2,300 to 2,700 square feet. Last year, the firm completed a comparable job in East Meadow in which the homes were about 300 square feet bigger. This year, their newest project, Country Club Estates at Oceanside, has homes ranging from 2,700 to 3,200 square feet. Lewis said size alone won't sell a house if the price isn't right. Consumers look for "a crossing of value and space," he said. Some of the changes in buyers' preferences in recent years: Bathrooms. Buyers used to be satisfied with 1 1/2 bathrooms, but now want 2 1/2 or more. Wharton offers a second upstairs bathroom as an option at Dix Hills Farms, and 70 percent of buyers take it, Lewis said. Garages. The conventional wisdom is that two-income households are more common, so home buyers need space for two cars. In truth, though, many people leave one or both cars in the driveway and use the garage for other things including storage, Mancini said. Susan OBraitis said only one of her two vehicles is stored in the garage of the Ridge home, with the second spot taken by a washer and dryer. Central air conditioning. "It's a necessity of life," Klar said. When his firm recently took over the Mills Pond project in St. James, 150 units had been built by the previous developer without central air. Klar made central air standard on the 56 units he acquired, and more than 30 have been sold, he said.

On the other hand, at developments where central air is standard, some buyers are asking that it not be included, with the buyer receiving a reduced price, Dubb said. The reason is that central air increases a home's assessment and property taxes. Several of the 17 buyers at Beechwood in East Meadow last year opted for the credit and installed window air conditioners, he said. Combined kitchen and family room. This design has grown in popularity, Axelrod said, because when both parents are working, time spent at home with the family becomes important. Combining this space allows those in the kitchen to be part of what's going in the family room, he said.

Vinyl siding. Maintenance-free living is the chant of today's buyer, said Larsen, the broker. While cedar and other wood sidings dominated exteriors in the 1980s, Larsen said, the siding of choice today is vinyl, or vinyl combined with stone or brick - even on expensive homes. Nationwide, vinyl's market share grew to 28 percent of new homes sold nationwide in 1994, up from 25 percent the year before, according to the National Association of Home Builders. Wood, found in 31 percent of new homes in 1993, dropped to 27 percent last year. Architectural design. The contemporary design, a staple of the 1980s, "is dead," Axelrod said. Popular designs include traditional and country with wrap-around porches.

Fireplaces. Once very popular, fireplaces have lost some of their appeal because buyers see them as a nuisance and a place for heat to escape, Dubb said. The Klar Organization used to include a fireplace in the base price of many homes, but now it's an option. Park Ridge includes fireplaces in houses that cost $500,000 or more, but makes them optional in lower-priced houses - and only half of buyers take them, Mancini said. In 1986, 80 percent opted for a fireplace, he said. Skylights. These, too, are less appealing to buyers, who discovered that they can leak, and that the sun's rays make carpeting and furniture fade. "While we still include a couple, they are no longer everywhere," Mancini said. "It's rare when people ask for more." One way to increase interior light without adding skylights is to put
in floor-to-ceiling windows, Klar said.

Copyright 1995, Newsday Inc.
JOE CATALANO, Basic Instinct Yesterday's options are today's standard equipment in new homes., 06-30-1995, pp D01.

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