Longer homeowner tenure drives creative home improvements in Tucson | News

Tucson realtor Holly Greenhalgh has a sure-fire set of recommendations for any home seller wondering what home improvements will increase the curb-appeal and salability of their house.

“New appliances, new paint, updated lighting fixtures, modern sinks, bathroom vanities,” she counted off on one hand. “You can resurface cabinets, if it’s good wood. Maybe there’s still that shag carpet in that one room that you need to get rid of.”

But ironically, the one Tucson home Greenhalgh is best known for selling is the one house in town that violates every one of those norms.

In June, the Coldwell Banker agent sold the locally infamous “Bottle House” in the Avra Valley area, a three-bedroom house built primarily out of thousands of discarded bottles from roadsides and the Marana dump.

In the mid-1960s, Tucson couple Theodore and Meletis Bryson began building a carport next to their mobile home out of mixed mortar and gathered bottles. As often happens in home improvement projects, it gradually escalated, and by 1968 the chiropractor and his wife had constructed a whole house from the unique materials.

The couple turned out to be unheralded green building pioneers, 25 years before Leadershio in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). “The bottles keep the house really comfortable,” the late Theodore told the Tucson Citizen in 1978. “Insulation is basically air pockets, and what has more air than an empty bottle?”

“I mean, it is just such a unique home,” Greenhalgh said. “It has this really original design, and it’s shown the ability to stand the test of time, because the materials that the builders used, the rock and bottles, are still in amazing condition.”

Greenhalgh ended up selling the house for $440,000, and the home garnered media coverage in everything from USA Today to Architectural Digest. HGTV’s “Zillow Gone Wild!” even raved about it.

“It seemed to attract so much attention,” Greenhalgh said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

The lesson for home improvement hobbyists? Sometimes it’s best just to let your freak flagstone fly.

That advice is particularly applicable now, as more homeowners are opting to stay in their homes longer. The average U.S. homeowner now stays in their home for a little over 13 years, according to a 2024 study by Redfin — about twice as long as they did in 2005. 

Rising home prices and increased equity have made it financially beneficial for homeowners to stay put, and the increase in older Americans opting to age in place (nearly 40% of boomers have lived in their current homes for at least 20 years​) is also driving the trend.

All that has been quietly affecting the home improvement industry. On the one hand, longer homeowner tenure has put a dent in home sellers’ spending on improvements to increase the salability of their house — traditionally a big driver of activity in the business. 

On the other hand, analysts are seeing growth in what’s called “discretionary” projects: basically homeowners tackling renovations aimed at just making themselves more comfortable and happier in the home they’re stuck in.

“Homeowners are changing what they’re thinking about their current home, knowing that they can’t easily move this year or maybe for a while,” said Abbe Will, senior research associate at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which releases quarterly spending reports on homeowner improvements and maintenance.

“And if you’re planning to stay in your home and not move anytime soon, why not take on that project that you’ve been really wanting to do? Whether it’s that new kitchen or that new bathroom — or, you know, the beer bottle wall!” she laughed, recalling the attention given to the Bottle House. 

“If that brings you joy, you know, then do it, and enjoy it. And if that kitchen remodel won’t be someone else’s style or desire, at least you’ve enjoyed it for however long you’re living there. There’s value in that.”

Will specializes in researching trends in remodeling, home improvements, maintenance and repairs, and she’s noticed some significant recent shifts in the market.

“Demographically speaking, it’s always been the middle-aged homeowners that spend the most on home improvement,” she said. “Those are your prime income years, they’re the years when your families are likely to be changing and growing, and they’re also the years when you’re physically more able to do remodeling projects.

“But in the last 10 years, we’ve seen a really dramatic shift in the share of total spending in the U.S. Older homeowners, age 55 plus, make up fully half of spending on home improvement today.”

Part of that is simply a reflection of the growing older population. According to the 2020 census, 1 in 6 people in the U.S. today are 65 and over. “But when we look at spending by homeowners in this age group over time,” Will added, “we also see that older owners today are spending quite a bit more than older owners 10 or 20 years ago.”

And what they’re spending their money on in the home improvement sector is changing as well. Seniors choosing to age in place rather than considering moving to an assisted living facility, are opting for renovations like walk-in showers, toilet risers and grab bars in the bathroom, brighter lighting throughout the house (including some voice-controlled smart lighting), and widened doorways to prevent bumps and injury.

“We are seeing that a lot of older owners are looking to do projects that could help them stay in their homes longer,” Will said.

They’re also spending more on professional remodeling services than do-it-yourself materials – bad news for Home Depot, but good for companies like Tucson’s Assurance Builders, whose owners recently told U.S. News & World Report that they’ve been taking on a lot of door-widening projects, ranging from $300 to $2,500 and up.

“We’re definitely seeing a much higher share of older homeowners doing pro projects, rather than DIY,” said Will. “That’s due to a combination of a couple of things. Older owners may not be as physically able to do remodeling projects themselves, or they’re maybe just not interested in spending their time that way, and would rather hire someone else to do it.”

This increased spending by older homeowners, it should be noted, has not been enough to reverse the decline in overall homeowner expenditures for improvements and repairs that’s been occurring since its post-pandemic peak, when the widespread adoption of working from home, coupled with growth in home equity and saving rates and the continued aging of the housing stock lifted the home remodeling market to an unprecedented height of nearly $500 billion in 2021, according to the Harvard report.

“But it’s leveled out, and is now ticking up,” Will said, noting that annual spending on homeowner improvements and maintenance is expected to reach $466 billion through the second quarter of next year.

Once home sales pick up, Greenhalgh expects to be handling more homes that have gone through creative renovations during the last few years. Less neutral, broadly appealing colors and more vibrant, personality-defining paint jobs. And quirky add-ons done by homeowners who’ve been focusing more on their own enjoyment and functionality rather than making their homes more sellable.

“I haven’t seen anything come out of the woodworks yet that’s as unique as the Bottle House,” she said, with a laugh. “I’m still waiting to see if someone’s going to reach out to me to say, ‘Hey, I’ve got a really unique home, and you’re just the realtor for this.’ 

“But Tucson’s a really creative place,” she added. “We have a lot of culture here, with a diverse population, and a lot of rich influences to draw inspiration from. I wouldn’t be surprised if another really unique home comes my way.”