Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
In the past many Americans wanted to have as a bigger home as possible, but nowadays the idea of having a huge mortgage has lost much of its appeal. In addition more people are choosing to live alone for longer periods of time before getting married or living with someone else, and this has led to demand for a different type of apartment, and so-called micro-apartments are gaining in popularity.
These types of apartments are already popular in other areas of the world that have a much higher population density such as Asia and Europe, but now they're catching on over here, in spite of stricter zoning laws. Some of these micro-apartments are as small as 200 ft.², and this may be smaller than the minimum square footage requirements for homes in many cities.
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According to the article in aol.com, approximately half the households in the US consist of just one person and a number of developers have been working to support the introduction of more micro housing units. These units are likely to appeal to young single professionals who want to live in the heart of the city and who haven't yet accumulated large pieces of furniture and other belongings. Often these micro-units are constructed to have built-in furniture that is designed to be multipurpose. They tend to include design features such as a lofted bed but still incorporate a small kitchen area and bathroom.
Today's so-called millennial generation have a different attitude towards housing compared to their parents or older siblings, and prefer to live in urban areas where there are plenty of things to do than to have a huge house or apartment. Developers are designing these micro-apartments with the idea that anyone could move in with just their clothes, creating a lifestyle similar to university and college students. One of the problems with such small homes is that there's not much room for entertaining, so developers are including common spaces for this purpose to make these homes more appealing.
One of the other problems often faced by developers is the minimum number of parking spaces that need to be included, and for this reason micro-apartments tend to work best in areas with good public transportation plan. Some of these buildings are designed to include spaces for car sharing vehicles or bicycles.
Even though these apartments are aimed at young adults, developers are keen to point out the potential for older people who may be looking for a second residence in a city or who simply want to live in the city and enjoy everything it has to offer.
