Newmark Homes will begin sales this weekend on a new series of homes designed to appeal to millennial home buyers, a segment showing increased interest in homeownership.
The Portrait Series in the Richmond, Texas, community of Veranda, comprises 14 floor plans ranging from 1,800 to more than 2,800 square feet and priced from the $230,000s. The interior design reassigns underutilized spaces to add value to busy homeowners, says Rodney Mican, product development manager for Newmark.
“We have replaced a small breakfast area and formal dining space with a casual dining room that serves both purposes,” he said. “A study nook replaces a full study, with the saved square footage reinvested into bedrooms, closets and family rooms.”
Buyers also will have versatile kitchen layouts — five for each home design. “Our research has shown that many buyers select a home design based on the kitchen and possibly sacrifice other wants,” Mican says. “Now, they can pick a plan independent of the kitchen layout and get more of what they want. Most builders only offer one kitchen design per plan.”
Consideration also has been given to the functionality of the home’s exterior, with garages pulled back to lengthen the driveway for more play space, increase the surface area for elevation elements and provide additional screening for cars.
“The design also creates a more appealing streetscape, which was a primary focus,” Mican says. “Most plans of this size have garages at the forefront of the exterior. We wanted to do something different.”
Mike Moody, president of Newmark Homes, says the Portrait Series is targeted to millennial first-time home buyers.
“Millenials are starting to come around to the idea of homeownership,” he says. “Because of the thoughtful design of these floor plans, we are able to deliver coveted amenities while still building a product in line with first-time homebuyer budgets.”
According to the National Association of Realtors, the number of first-time home buyers is rebounding following a decline over the past couple of years. First-time buyers accounted for 35 percent of all homebuyers from July 2015 through June 2016 — and 61 percent of those were under age 35.
