Excerpt from The Total Package, Chapter 2

A big part of achieving and experiencing your ideal lifestyle is enjoying that place you call home. A home gives us many emotional, practical, and financial benefits, but maybe the most attractive and pleasurable feature of home ownership is the sense of security, independence, and peace of mind that comes with knowing that we own something of substance that can be shared with our family and friends. A home becomes a special haven, even a magical place to be “home for the holidays,” to raise a family, to entertain guests with delicious home-cooking, to relax in the jacuzzi, enjoy the fireplace, or engage in any number of pleasurable activities that provide enjoyment for ourselves and others.

The trends we are experiencing today with regard to home ownership reflect major long-term shifts in the values and desires of today’s homeowner. Some of the major factors currently influencing home ownership trends include:

• An aging baby-boomer population that desires better and more “flexible” lifestyle amenities, including customized home layouts and features
• Interest in homes that take advantage of and blend in with the natural environment
• A shift towards more home-based businesses, which will popularize home designs that comfortably accommodate both home office and family activities
• More time spent in the home due to improvements in home entertainment technologies as well as less inclination to travel, partly because of safety concerns and traffic congestion
• The desire for a more fulfilling and affordable lifestyle with more of a “small town” feeling, including interaction with neighbors we know and a rebirth of community spirit
• Better communication and technology in the form of cellular phones, more powerful and less expensive computers, the Internet, e-mail, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and video conferencing
• Major trend towards home-based on-line shopping and purchasing from “e-tailers” as well as from traditional TV home shopping channels and informercials

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