ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 9, 1997 TAG: 9702120015
SECTION: HOMES PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: CALVIN WOODWARD ASSOCIATED PRESS
The foundation will last longer than it takes some nations to rise and fall. The outside door, properly sheltered, will span a century. Cast-iron waste pipes are for the ages.
Tough things, houses.
Move as we must - and Americans move more than most people - some things stand for permanence.
You (or successors) will get 20 years out of a quality chrome faucet and up to 100 from wood siding if it's treated right. The kids can be born and gone before the flames finally die on that gas range.
But garage door openers beyond 10 years old are cranking on borrowed time. So, too, with carpet, depending on traffic from the little rug rats.
So says the National Association of Home Builders, reporting on trends and facts in its line of work.
Against that backdrop, the government said last week that last year was the best for home sales in 14 years. Americans bought 756,000 new single-family homes, up more than 13 percent in a year.
The upbeat builders say people are getting more for their money:
Today's typical new single-family home has 25 percent more living space than 20 years ago.
The percentage of new homes with central air conditioning, 21/2 or more bathrooms, a two-car garage or carport and more than one story has doubled in that time. More than 60 percent have a fireplace, another big jump.
And people want more:
First-time home buyers want bay windows in the living room and kitchen; move-up buyers want them in the living and dining rooms. Both want cathedral ceilings in the living room and a half wall or no wall between the kitchen and family room.
Mover-uppers expect everything first-timers want, plus far more space, a fourth bedroom, a bigger garage and a screened rear porch. They are willing to pay nearly $50,000 extra for all that.
But the story of American housing is still very much an old one. Of houses around today, one in 10 was built before 1920 - twice the number that went up in the first half of this decade.
Three in 10 were built before 1950. And while any confounded weekend handyman might think otherwise, they're typically tough as nails.
That's one reason so many people fix them up. People spent $42 billion in home repairs last year, but almost twice that on improvements.
Some improvements are better than others in driving up resale value. The builders say a kitchen spruce-up can return 94 percent of the investment; a deck, 72 percent; conversion of a room into an office, only 67 percent.
Bathroom renovations also pay off handsomely, but a turquoise toilet won't do. People want white, white, white.
The builders are quick to note homes represent by far the largest portion of the nation's worth. They use a bit of their report to bleat about government regulation.
Even though home affordability may have declined over two decades, the rate of home ownership has risen in the most recent years. In the third quarter of last year, it hit 65.6 percent, matching the 1980 record.
As for longevity, houses generally fall apart as people do. First the cosmetics, then the serious stuff.
The foundation may last 200 years, a veritable monument. Copper wiring and slate roofs join cast-iron pipes in the century club. Father Time's huffing and puffing may bring down vinyl and aluminum siding before wood.
But that wood will only last a decade if it's wet a lot. And treating for termites is not a long-term wood fix: they'll be back munching in five short years.
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart by AP.by CNB