The smaller of the two Responsive Homes, the 2,130-square-foot Contemporary Farmhouse breaks down several barriers that prevent first-time buyers from entering the housing market. Its $320,000 price tag is attainable for a single young professional or a newly married couple just starting their careers. With a 5% down payment, the monthly mortgage would be $1,950, making it a comfortable purchase for owners with an annual household income as low as $75,000.
In addition, the home’s flexible design provides several ways to lessen the financial and emotional burdens of owning a home. Buyers will rest easy knowing that the house can adapt as their living needs change. For example, an upper-level loft area can be converted into a bedroom, and a 384-square-foot optional flat over the garage—which was built here, bringing the total size of this home to 2,514 square feet—makes room for elderly parents, a nanny, or guests. In addition, a first-floor bedroom with full bath, kitchenette, and separate entrance can be used as rental space to help the owners offset their monthly mortgage payments.
Despite the project team’s focus on affordability, it squeezed in plenty of high-style, high-tech amenities that are rarely found in an entry-level product. Multiple connections to the outdoors, a huge patio, nearly net-zero solar power, and a combination of modern and rustic finishes were chosen to entice young buyers.
This fresh approach to design is based on extensive input from the team’s young architects and designers, most notably Responsive Home creative director Bobby Berk of Bobby Berk Home.
“At this price range you find a lot of cookie-cutter homes in Vegas, but a millennial doesn’t want a cookie-cutter home,” Berk says. “They want something customized and unique, and I think that’s what we’re really bringing to the table here.”
Many of the Bassenian Lagoni associates who worked on the house are millennials who are recent or soon-to-be homeowners, and their perspective helped shape the entire project, says lead architect Hans Anderle.
“They’re looking at things with a certain fresh eye,” he explains. “They have an attitude that a lot of things are possible and I think to capture that and hone that into this process is something that we’ve all benefitted from.”
