Smaller Floor Plans in Big Demand

It's true – bigger isn't always better, and sometimes less is more! Helping clients find the home that will best suit their family's needs, perhaps considering alternatives that had not occurred to them before and how those might really work to their advantage – that's a big part of what I love about my job!

"American’s appetite for big homes and over-sized furniture appears to be shrinking. New-home buyers began asking builder KB Home for smaller floor plans right after the collapse in subprime lending last year, says CEO Jeffrey Mezger. The demand for a huge, high-ceilinged great room is giving way to the desire for special-purpose rooms, including media rooms and home offices, says a spokesman for luxury specialist Pulte Homes.

In three of its four new sofa collections, Younger Furniture is offering 'apartment size' sofas, which are about 10 inches shorter than full-sized ones. Citing a trend toward smaller homes, Rowe Fine Furniture says it expects its Mini Mod line will account for a quarter of its collection this fall.

'They're finally getting it,' says Jodi FitzGerald, owner of Door Store Furniture, an 11-store retail chain in metropolitan New York that specializes in small-scale furniture. She estimates the number of smaller offerings has grown by about a third over the past year."

For the full Wall Street Journal article from Realtor magazine online: http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2008041503?OpenDocument