For the month of July, Bridgewater Communities is pleased to offer our customers a free gourmet kitchen!
Often referred to as “The Heart of the Home”, we find that today’s Villa buyers are looking for exceptional finishes and and high functionality in their kicthens.
For details, please contact any our our Villa Experts to learn more!
There are an estimated 77 million Baby Boomers in this country born between 1946 to 1964, which represent 28% of the population. This is the largest segment of our population, and one that may very well shape the economic future of this country over the coming years. That being said, all aspects of the Boomers transfer of wealth and changes in their housing, draw great attention in the real estate industry. Their needs and expectations regarding housing have changed from those of their parents.
The Boomers reshaped a host of industries, services, and trends that are now part of our everyday lives. Rock and Roll is here to stay, as is online shopping (shop till you drop in the hot tub), Botox (wrinkle free zone), and Viagra (forever young). As we move into 2011, understanding the needs, wants and trends of the Baby Boomers will be crucial to the real estate industry and in turn the economy. Let’s look to 2011 and the Baby Boomer Housing Trends.
One thing is to be learned from these Baby Boomer Housing Trends. Do not under any circumstances, try to label or categorize the baby boomers as they approach retirement. They are all their own Peter Pan on an indirect route to Foreverland.
Baby Boomers Dominate New Housing Trends
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The Villa Lifestyle allows you to maximize your fun time and rid yourself of time consuming exterior maintenance chores, which could be a welcome reality to escape the triple digit, record setting heat waves we’ve been having during the day here lately.
http://www.greatriverroad.com/stcharles/stcharlesevents.htm
Check out the link above to the many social, recreational and entertainment opportunities that await you right at your doorstep if you live (or are considering a move to) any of our three great St Charles County locations!
Some Highlights:
O’FALLON FARMERS’
& ARTISTS’ MARKET
O’Fallon, MO April 16 – October 15, 2011
Every Saturday: 7 am – 12 pm
In the lot by River City Rascals Ballpark, 900 T.R. Hughes Blvd.
Customers can shop for locally-grown produce, plants and flowers, herbs, honey, and hand-made baked goods, gourmet items, jams and jellies, original art, hand-made crafts and more. The market also features a variety of events and special guests throughout the season, plus live music, free yoga classes at 9 a.m. on Saturdays, cooking demonstrations and more.
Free
For more information call 636-293-1256
or visit www.ofallonfarmersmarket.com
MUSIC ON MAIN
St. Charles, MO May – September, 2011
Third Wednesday of the month
Downtown Historic District, 100 & 200 blocks of North Main Street
Join the fun every third Wednesday for food, drink & live music. It’s a party! Musical acts include Butch Wax & the Hollywoods in May, Serapis in June, Hillbilly Authority in July, Rogers, Nienhaus & Crawford in August, and The Arbogast Band in September.
Free
For more information call 1-800-366-2427
HOT SUMMER NIGHTS
St. Charles, MO May – August, 2011
Fourth Saturday of the month
Begins at around 5 pm
Historic Downtown St. Charles District
North Main Street is closed off for the evening for this fourth Saturday of the month event. Around a dozen restaurants on N. Main Street place tables outside on the sidewalk so diners can enjoy eating outdoors as well as listening to the live music. The art galleries and specialty will remain open offering patrons a chance to browse while waiting for a table or walking off dinner – SORRY, NO COOLERS ALLOWED.
Free
For more information call 1-800-366-2427
FREE CONCERTS
St. Charles, MO June 2 – August 25, 2011
8 pm every Thursday
Frontier Park, Riverside Drive
The 50 piece St. Charles Municipal Band presents free band concerts in Frontier Park on the Missouri river in Historic downtown St. Charles each Thursday evening June through August. The concerts feature all types of American band music including marches, Broadway shows, big band, Dixieland, overtures, and contemporary music. Bring a lawn chair or blanket.
Free
For more email info@stc-muny-band.com
Low-maintenance living
Sunday May 22, 2011, 10:40 , by Giselle Borg Olivier
Most people own a lot of stuff – more stuff than they really need or even realise they have. Yet somehow it’s accumulated over time and has taken up residence in that corner of the room, or under the bed, or up there on those high shelves that are never really touched.
And it’s because this stuff has found a home and blended into the background of our lives that we don’t realise the sheer amount of what we hold and hoard.
Afflicted with the mentality of “I won’t throw it away because I might need that shoelace/rusty nail/single toy car wheel one day”, we place things in drawers and boxes assuring ourselves that we’ll remember where everything is when the need arises. Naturally this rarely, if ever, happens – neither the need nor the remembering. Yet we keep adding to our hoard of stuff, always buying more and never throwing anything away. Until one day, something happens to force us to deal with the clutter: whether redecorating or moving house.
Shopping, and spending money, brings a certain satisfaction to people (although the worthiness of that satisfaction is often questioned) and when we see something we like, it’s instinctive to want to own it; however, owning too much stuff can tie you down, leaving you with a cluttered house and cluttered lifestyle, often finding yourself a slave to material items.
Owning many items means you have more to clean, to be responsible for, to worry about – leaving you with less time to spend on yourself.
The recent economic crisis has led people to rethink their lifestyle and spending habits, paving the way for a more minimalist and low- maintenance style of living.
To be clear about the terminology used, low maintenance doesn’t mean not owning items that are useful, so your kitchen will still be equipped with a kettle, toaster and microwave – but do you really need that bread maker?
Owning too much stuff can tie you down, leaving you with a cluttered house and cluttered lifestyle.
Sure, it seemed like a great idea at the time and the salesperson made a very convincing argument about how baking your own bread is a very satisfying process, but did they also mention the overall time and cost involved? There are certain ‘luxuries’ which we don’t need and which do not lead to a better lifestyle, especially if they are money drainers. Certain items may not cost much to purchase but end up costing a lot to run.
Even your basic house structure could be wasting you money. If you’ve got a large property with high-maintenance fees and which costs even more to furnish, you’ve just lumbered yourself with a money drainer.
Living in a more compact, yet comfortable, house means you have saved twofold: you have more money to put away and you have more time that isn’t spent on the maintenance and upkeep of the property.
There are many benefits to low-maintenance living. By clearing out the visual distraction of clutter, you’re clearing out visual stress, leading to a more calming and peaceful atmosphere. Spring cleaning is often seen as a therapeutic process because you’re getting rid of the old and the unnecessary, leaving behind clean, fresh space.
Clearing out the distraction of clutter also allows for your more important items in the house to have greater appeal. Whether it’s a beautiful piece of furniture, a painting or decorations, giving them their own space will make you appreciate them more, as they’re not competing with inferior items for your attention.
Some characteristics of low-maintenance living would include select pieces of necessary furniture, clear surfaces and select decorations. A house without any items would be boring, so a vase of fresh flowers would be a good idea, but a shelf full of knick-knacks would definitely not conform.
Low-maintenance living is about quality over quantity and choosing what you need over a long period of time, rather than what a salesperson has persuaded you is the latest must-have item.
Tackle a room at a time, keeping just the essentials. Move furniture around if need be and find new homes for certain pieces that deserve their own space. Once you’ve simplified your house, see whether anything is lacking or needs to be changed. De- cluttering doesn’t mean you won’t be buying any more items; it’s a matter of picking choice items that will enhance the room rather than engulf it.
A low-maintenance lifestyle does not mean that you’re poor or cannot afford luxuries; it means you’re frugal and are aware of the value of money and time, choosing to spend them on more important aspects of your life than merely stuff.
Nice article that ties to Bridgewater Communities’ mission of continuous improvement and our philosophy of the steps that we take every day to earn the distinction of being “Your Villa Experts”!
Jerry Seinfeld’s Productivity Secret
Editor: When software developer Brad Isaac told us he had productivity advice from Jerry Seinfeld, we couldn’t turn down the chance to hear more. Read on for the whole story from Brad.
Years ago when Seinfeld was a new television show, Jerry Seinfeld was still a touring comic. At the time, I was hanging around clubs doing open mic nights and trying to learn the ropes. One night I was in the club where Seinfeld was working, and before he went on stage, I saw my chance. I had to ask Seinfeld if he had any tips for a young comic. What he told me was something that would benefit me a lifetime…
He said the way to be a better comic was to create better jokes and the way to create better jokes was to write every day. But his advice was better than that. He had a gem of a leverage technique he used on himself and you can use it to motivate yourself—even when you don’t feel like it.
He revealed a unique calendar system he uses to pressure himself to write. Here’s how it works.
He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker.
He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. “After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain.”
“Don’t break the chain,” he said again for emphasis.
Over the years I’ve used his technique in many different areas. I’ve used it for exercise, to learn programming, to learn network administration, to build successful websites and build successful businesses.
It works because it isn’t the one-shot pushes that get us where we want to go, it is the consistent daily action that builds extraordinary outcomes. You may have heard “inch by inch anything’s a cinch.” Inch by inch does work if you can move an inch every day.
Daily action builds habits. It gives you practice and will make you an expert in a short time. If you don’t break the chain, you’ll start to spot opportunities you otherwise wouldn’t. Small improvements accumulate into large improvements rapidly because daily action provides “compounding interest.”
Skipping one day makes it easier to skip the next.
I’ve often said I’d rather have someone who will take action—even if small—every day as opposed to someone who swings hard once or twice a week. Seinfeld understands that daily action yields greater benefits than sitting down and trying to knock out 1000 jokes in one day.
Think for a moment about what action would make the most profound impact on your life if you worked it every day. That is the action I recommend you put on your Seinfeld calendar. Start today and earn your big red X. And from here on out…
Don’t break the chain!
Brad Isaac is a lead software programmer and blogger. You can read his motivational strategies every day on his goal setting blog, Achieve-IT!
Come on out to our BaratHaven Community on Sunday, June 5th between 11 am and 5 pm for an exciting day of fun! Come see why your lawnmower may be worth $ 5,000.00 and how you can help Habitat for Humanity make a positive difference in our community.
May 12, 2011
Your Villa Experts at Bridgewater Communities are here to listen to your needs, wants and desires first before we make any assumptions about which unique features may appeal to you as you plan the details that you’d like to incorporate into your next home. When you open the doors to a Bridgewater Display, you’ll experience a “wow” factor that comes from tried and true feedback that our customers have given us over the years; feedback that we’ve taken seriously that has influenced the general design principles that go into our portfolio of Villa homes. Like a finely tailored garment fits the person, the team of Villa Experts at Bridgewater Communities takes careful measurements by listening to how your lifestyle interplays with your housing needs, then we put a plan in place to recommend features that can be chosen to “personalize” your home to your tastes and living patterns.
Starting with three well-thought out Villa Designs, our customers can choose from over 2,600 pre-priced options to dial in just the right features that will make their chosen plan their preferred home. We have prepared a “Dare to Compare” comparison checklist for our prospective customers to use in making the best choice possible in choosing what they think the best value is in Villa living and we are honored that many Villa buyers have chosen our company as the “Best in Class” builder in Low-Maintenance lifestyle living.
We realize that time is a valuable commodity and, in many cases, flexibility, convenience, competence, trust and customer focus are key attributes that today’s Villa buyers are looking for. Bridgewater Communities offers many pre-designed Kitchen, Master Bathroom, Sunroom, Hearth Room, Finished Lower Level, Main Floor Study and decorative choices to our customers. We are also committed to working with our customers to dial in personalized, unique features that they may request to make their home perform well for their needs.
Our goal isn’t to be the biggest home builder in town; we aim to be the most efficient, customer-centric company that puts our expertise to its fullest in serving our customers and delighting them in the process. We’ll bring in Villa Experts from our purchasing & estimating team, our construction team, our low-voltage team and your community Villa Expert to ensure that the planning, coordination and building process of your Villa is sound and organized.
Stop by any of our communities to see what a difference a Villa Expert can make for you. You owe it to yourself to experience the “Dare to Compare” difference that Bridgewater Communities is known for.
www.BridgewaterCommunities.com
May 10, 2011
From Homegrown designer Karen Mills, often dubbed by fans as the Martha Stewart of Kansas City, is the force behind Living Large, the luxury design and lifestyle show broadcast on the Entercom Radio Network. Mills, who believes everyone should have access to fabulous design, inspires people worldwide through her broadcast radio show, internet TV show, speaking engagements, nationally published articles and design blog.
“Ever wonder if maintenance free living is the life for you?
I have to admit when my parents moved to Town Village Leawood and began the maintenance free lifestyle, I was a little envious. Suddenly they no longer had to deal with peeling paint on their home exterior, snow on the driveway or plumbing gone awry. They had time to go out with friends, travel, or do whatever they wanted, while also having gourmet meals prepared by an award winning chef every night. That’s when I started to dream about maintenance free living. Then to make matters worse (just kidding) my daughter moved to an oceanfront hotel in Southbeach where she ate chef prepared meals every week and my dream to experience a similar lifestyle got bigger. So I decided to check it out.
Know what I found? I realized that losing square feet doesn’t mean losing luxury or lifestyle, just less to worry about. I also discovered that most of my material belongings really didn’t hold the value I originally thought and was suprised to find that letting go of 80% of my belongings was actually a moment of liberation. Suddenly I felt freed and ready to travel, to discover the world and not worry about what I needed to do around the house. And sometimes when you free your mind up for more fun in life, you often find more ways to reduce your personal workload by having someone else prepare your meals, your taxes, your laundry or whatever is consuming your time. And if you play your cards right, you can spend the extra money on travel or even another home.
If you’re about to take the plunge yourself, make sure that you put together a floorplan for your new space first so you’ll know what furniture can go with you. And if you’re buying new furniture, try to pick pieces that are versatile like ottomans which are perfect not only for seating, but also coffee tables or just to put up your feet on.
For more great ideas about designing for maintenance free living and the advantages, don’t miss Living Large this Sunday at 10am CST on News Radio 980 KMBZ (streams live on kmbz.com) in Kansas City as I talk to Hallmark’s VP of Visual Merchandising, David Jimenez, along with other experts including Kerstin Kluck from Healthy Meals who delivers fresh organic meals to your home!”
May 4, 2011
Bridgewater Communities, “Your Villa Experts”, is pleased to report the following article from Bloomberg News, which shows that younger buyers are leaving the nests to create households of their own. We see that some of our homeowners start their search for the low-maintenance lifestyle when their nest empties and they’re ready to begin a new chapter in their lives that includes more free time to enjoy their new lifestyles!
“Millions of young adults are beginning to move out of their parents’ homes and create new households at the fastest rate since 2007. Some housing experts are predicting these young adults may provide a major jump to U.S. housing starts–possibly by more than 50 percent, even by next year–and increase housing consumption at a rate nearly double that of the past two years, Bloomberg News reports.
In 2011, between 750,000 and 1 million new households are expected to be created, says UBS Securities LLC’s Maury Harris and IHS Global Insight’s Patrick Newport. In the year ended March 2010, new households stood at 357,000–the lowest on record, according to U.S. Census data. The “depressed rate” in new household formation has continued to jeopardize the housing market’s recovery, experts say.
But as the employment picture continues to improve, more young adults are leaving Mom and Dad’s house and making a new home for themselves. The “moving-back-in-with-Mom-and-Dad phenomenon” had caused a backlog of pent-up households, Charles Lieberman, chief investment officer with Advisors Capital Management LLC in Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., told Bloomberg News. “Improved economic conditions” will “enable these households to split up and resume living in their own residences.”
Housing starts are expected to get a boost to about 648,000 this year and near 900,000 in 2012 (it stood at 586,800 last year), says Brad Hunter, chief economist and national director of consulting for Metrostudy. The increase in housing starts, he says, reflects a “shadow demand” for new homes among family members who have moved in together because of economic conditions.
“The demographic component of housing demand is strong,” he says. “It’s just the economic and psychological components that are holding things back.”
Source: “New Households Form at Fastest Rate Since ’07 in Resurgent U.S.,” Bloomberg News (May 1, 2011)
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