Information was as abundant as optimism this week at the International Builders Show in Las Vegas, where more than 75,000 home builders and suppliers gathered to discuss topics ranging from new building products to buyers preferences.

Many economists predict that 2014 will build upon the home-market gains from last year, bringing big increases in the number of homes built and of new homes sold. That bullish outlook contributed to rising attendance at the conference and a resurgence of exhibitors offering luxury and discretionary items.

Meanwhile, builders boned up on strategies to keep the momentum going, such as learning that buyers covet low-emissive windows and dont much care for outdoor kitchens. Heres a look at a few pearls offered up at this weeks conference.

1) Walk-In Closets In, Laminate Countertops Out: Buyers this year really like big closets attached to their master bedrooms. Outdoor fireplaces? Not so much.

The conferences organizer, the National Association of Home Builders, outlined the results of its December survey of buyers preferences. The top new-home characteristics most favored by respondents, in order: walk-in closets, low-e heat-reflecting windows, laundry rooms, great rooms, energy-star related appliances and programmable thermostats.

Getting the most thumbs-down votes from respondents: laminate countertops, outdoor kitchens,outdoor fireplaces, sunrooms and two-story family rooms.

2) New Homes Are Still Growing: Americans, when they can afford it, nearly always opt for a larger house. Consider that the average size of a newly built home in the U.S. has increased for five consecutive years to 2,679 square feet.

Census data shows that, last year, 48% of newly built U.S. homes had four or more bedrooms, according to a builders association presentation at the show. Thats up from 34% in 2009. New homes with three or more bathrooms increased to 35% last year, up from 23% in 2010. Those with three-car garages increased to 22% last year from 16% in 2010. And two-story homes rose to 60% of all construction starts last year from 51% in 2009.

3) Boomers Not Done Yet:The Baby Boomers arent ceding the home market to Generations Y and Z yet.

Jonathan Smoke, chief economist at research firm Hanley Wood LLC, pointed out at the conference that buyers aged 55 years and older are forecast to account for 25% of the home-buying market this year. That ratio is likely to grow in the coming years, he added.

Link:
Three Takeaways From the International Builders Show

Backsplash Ideas For Granite Countertops
Back splash ideas for granite countertops are based on a single rule of thumb: Choose your backsplash theme and material to compliment the granite countertop...

By: backsplashpictures

View post:
Backsplash Ideas For Granite Countertops - Video

How to Measure For New Countertops - The Stone Cobblers, Worcester, MA
Jim Donlevy of The Stone Cobblers in Worcester, MA, explains how to measure your existing countertops so you are prepared with measurements for your first co...

By: The Stone Cobblers

See the rest here:
How to Measure For New Countertops - The Stone Cobblers, Worcester, MA - Video

Why Choose Marble Countertops? - The Stone Cobblers, Worcester, MA
Jim Donlevy of The Stone Cobblers in Worcester, MA, discusses the best projects for marble countertops.

By: The Stone Cobblers

See the rest here:
Why Choose Marble Countertops? - The Stone Cobblers, Worcester, MA - Video

The new home sales center, once a supermarket of paint colors and cabinet designs, now sells something more, something less tangible than granite countertops.

Condensed in tricked-out double-wide trailers with free coffee and scones, the American ethos of opportunity -- and tennis -- oozes from carefully designed showcases worthy of an Epcot exhibit and so secret that developers are often loath to share the details.

Sunrise, Fla.-based builder GL Homes politely declined to discuss, or demonstrate, its super-charged, proprietary technology that allows buyers to manipulate visions of their potential home on a touch-screen model of the community, even though the public can freely wander its sales centers.

A Colorado designer said she was barred for years by a developer from taking pictures of sales centers she set up for fear the competition would copycat. The builder relented recently, defeated by shared images on the Internet.

From the wattage of the lights to the scents in the air, sales centers for new homes have evolved, orchestrating a feeling of not just what your new home will be, but who you will be when you buy it.

"The building side of the home industry wants to make buying a home a journey where you are creating the dream," said Lita Dirks, CEO of the Denver-based design and consultancy firm Lita Dirks & Co. "It's an atmosphere where the buyer can make it happen, in the spot they want it to happen and at the moment they want it to happen."

Developers have jumped back in the home-building business in the past two years, buying up land and gussying up sales centers that were quiet during the recession.

In January, GL Homes debuted its sales center at Valencia Cove, a new 55-plus community west of Boynton Beach, Fla.

National home builder Toll Brothers has also been revamping its sales centers.

The introduction of technology has been the key change in home center design, said Linda Cohen, vice president of marketing for the Horsham, Pa.-based Toll Brothers.

Read more from the original source:
Builders guard sales gadgets that help market new homes

Gem Jar Tray Insert For Jewelry Displays, Showcases Countertops
Gem Jar Tray Insert For Jewelry Displays, Showcases Countertops This is a new gem jar insert that contains removable clear plastic round jars These jars wi...

By: findingking.com

Continued here:
Gem Jar Tray Insert For Jewelry Displays, Showcases & Countertops - Video

Nashville Kitchen Contractor Home Remodeling Showroom Franklin Countertops
http://kitchenshowroom2you.com/ 615-800-7999 1229A Lakeview Dr. Franklin, TN (just off the I-65 Hwy 96 Exit) Let us bring the showroom to you!! Just one phon...

By: Kitchen Showroom 2 You

Visit link:
Nashville Kitchen Contractor Home Remodeling Showroom Franklin Countertops - Video

I spend a lot of time in model homes. Way more time than a man should have to spend in one, especially since I live in a home less than five years old.

But the problem is that I dont live in that new home all by myself. I live in it with a wife who has shared one home or another with me for the last 45 years, and she likes to visit model homes even if the home we are currently living in suits us fine and might be newer than the model.

But as they say, Happy wife, happy life, so I spend a lot of time in model homes. With her. Trying to make sure that she isnt signing papers with a real estate agent behind my back and then coming home to tell me that we should start packing.

I dont really know why she loves visiting model homes so much. Maybe its just to see if we might be doing better than we are currently doing another reason I go with her, just in case there may be other men hanging around those models. I know she could be doing better in that department, but thats a secret Id rather keep her from realizing.

Or maybe she likes to hang around model homes to see whats going on this week in the home dcor department. She does spend a lot of time gazing at the wall treatments, or the color schemes or the cabinet handles.

But I dont know why she would want to study any of those things in the models, because to my way of thinking the home builders should be hiring her to provide the finishing touches. She has always had a knack for interior dcor, and even if one of her ideas sounds crazy when she explains it to me, it always blows me away when I see her hang it on the wall or stand it in the corner.

But lately Ive started to worry about our visits to the models, because my wife has been spending way too much time caressing the granite countertops. And these days theres no chance that you will go into a new model without finding granite countertops. Or tile floors. Or marble backsplashes.

Because when it comes to keeping your home current and up-to-date, welcome to the New Stone Age. Youre not really living in a modern home unless youre a neo-cave dweller.

I finally relented and had some guy come in to take a look at our countertops and let us know how red my bank account would bleed if we wanted to fully stonify our kitchen.

The guy walked into the kitchen to take a look around with a tape measure, and he was polite enough to say, Wow, your counters look pretty good as they are. My wife wasnt in the room at the time, or hed have limped back to the car. Missing an eye or two.

Read more:
The View From Planet Kerth: Model homes force a welcome to the New Stone Age

Brentwood granite countertops Franklin Kitchen Home Remodeling Center
http://kitchenshowroom2you.com/ 615-800-7999 1229A Lakeview Dr. Franklin, TN (just off the I-65 Hwy 96 Exit) Let us bring the showroom to you!! Just one phon...

By: Alan U

See more here:
Brentwood granite countertops Franklin Kitchen Home Remodeling Center - Video

Hendersonville granite countertops Best Kitchen Showroom Nashville
http://kitchenshowroom2you.com/ 615-800-7999 1229A Lakeview Dr. Franklin, TN (just off the I-65 Hwy 96 Exit) Let us bring the showroom to you!! Just one phon...

By: Alan U

See more here:
Hendersonville granite countertops Best Kitchen Showroom Nashville - Video