In today's Los Angeles Times, reporter Alejandro Lazo covered the extended family homes Lennar is building in San Bernardino and in Arizona. He had also called me to comment for the article, and I told him about the casitas that become very popular for larger new homes prior to and during the run-up to the building boom. From the story:
The company has built two San Bernardino County models of its so-called NextGen designs for its master-planned Rosena Ranch community. Like a Russian nesting doll with a smaller doll inside, the new residential design incorporates a smaller home with a separate front entrance, kitchenette, bathroom and bedroom...
For now, it seems to me that there are certain ethnic groups which have a history of inter-generational living (such as Hispanics and Asians), but he didn't delve much into that, preferring instead to focus on the economics of doubling up but with the advantage of private spaces.
I think it definitely shows that some builders are serious about innovating in ways to compete with their recent plans of the past as well as deeply discounted foreclosures:
"Here is a clever way of addressing something that wasn't built during the boom years," said Patrick Duffy, principal for research firm MetroIntelligence Real Estate Advisors. The main question builders are asking themselves, he said, is: "How do you make it special, not only against foreclosures, but a cheaper home that they themselves built only a few years ago?"
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