Does anyone here have an opinion on the future market for multigenerational housing? My parent and I are looking around and thinking seriously about buying something together that either would be retrofitted for this purpose (adding an entirely separate in-law apartment or an "accessory dwelling" (cottage for grandma in the back yard)), or maybe a 2-family that we could convert. She is doing great and is totally independent now, but is reaching the point where having someone close by within a couple of years could be a good idea. We get along well with very low drama, and can discuss pretty much anything frankly and honestly. It would be parent in one unit and my family in the other.
(I realize there are potential issues with basically making a single family into a 2-family, like are 2 kitchens allowed? etc. Because of this, in our area, the accessory dwelling idea may be more viable than adding an in-law, though it's still not entirely clear. Still figuring all that out.)
In the near future it sounds like a great idea financially and emotionally. However, though I have read articles saying that such housing will be in demand in the future, I wanted to see what people here thought about it. Once parent moves on, we would probably still be living in the house -- and if we then wanted to move, I would not want to be stuck with something that would be difficult to sell. This is in a very popular, medium-sized university city in the midwest, with many near-retired or retired professionals. (I keep going to open houses where the owner has either just gone into assisted living or died!)
We have actually located a good house that has already been renovated this way, but the fact that it's been on the market for almost a year, in a good location, makes me wonder. (Though I think the problem there is more that the original asking price was insane and is probably still high. They've lowered it by more than $100K and still no takers)
I would think that given the aging baby boomer situation -- something like 30% of the population is going to be over the age of 65 by 2020 (I don't remember exact stats but it's pretty high) that future demand would definitely exist for this kind of thing. The parent unit would be all on level, have walk-in shower and other ADA considerations, etc. (And since we are looking for a place where we could age in place ourselves, it doesn't seem like a bad idea from that POV either! Especially since it would be pretty much paid off by the time we got to be that age.)
But since this is really a new idea for housing for the U.S. I am wondering how long it might take to actually become a thing in the real estate market.
Thanks for opinions/ideas!
