Page 40 - Green Builder Magazine Jul-Aug 2021

To know where

millennials are headed,

you need to focus on

where they are now,

and what they see as

roadblocks to living

their best lives.

Within the first 20 minutes of the focus
group discussion, it became clear that
there is a variety of influences coloring
millennial decision making. Four
themes emerged:

too concerned,” Fulmer admits. “In a different type of market
1. To Do or Not to Do it might actually be a huge benefit or amenity to already have
electrified the house or have solar panels. The barrier to
When millennials enter the housing market by buying an
investment is really challenging.”
existing house, they often learn about making retrofit decisions
In deciding where to spend her money, Fulmer takes a page
the hard way.
out of her own advice book as founder of Recipric, a sports
“It seems every time I buy a house, I spend a lot of money
sustainability consultancy. “I remind my clients all the time
retrofitting because it was built in the 1980s, and there are
of [the concept of] steps along a journey, where you don’t have
all sorts of things that are inefficient,” says Zach Ronstadt,
to go from purchasing electricity off the grid to putting solar
a researcher with Meritage Homes. “I’ll have to strip out
panels on the roof,” she says. “There are many sustainable
the windows and replace them with low-emission ones as a
steps along the way, and not many people know about those.
starting point. And, the A/C unit is a complete energy sink, so
They think of one or the other.”
I end up taking it out. I wish I knew about a two-speed model
Fulmer thinks that a sliding scale is important to
at the time, because we are including that in most Meritage
understand as an individual owner and consumer, and as
homes now.”
a professional in the industry who is selling to a millennial
Kristen Fulmer and her husband took advantage of the work-
buyer. “You need to be able to communicate what that scale
at-home opportunity brought about by COVID-19 and migrated
actually is and the return or cost benefit for each of those
out of New York City. “I just bought a house in Portland, Maine,
points on the scale,” she notes.
on a bit of a whim,” she says. “It’s not our dream home; there’s
The new home market requires a similar set of
nothing glamorous or romantic about this house. We bought
considerations, says Ronstadt. “In softer market conditions,
it for practical reasons, hoping to maximize on the market or
a lot of [sustainability] stuff we are talking about are great
rent it out in the future.”
differentiators,” he notes. “That seems to be something we
She now grapples with how much to spend and what
are consistently finding at Meritage. It’s a different narrative
upgrades to do because the market may not reward her for
for every home builder, supplier, remodeler and general
her efforts. “The biggest roadblock I am running into is that
contractor as to what those priorities are.”
I desperately want to invest in this, but I know that I can sell
this house with whatever comes in it, and people would not be
38 GREEN BUILDER July/August 2021 www.greenbuildermedia.com