Even Baby Boomers seek CoolTowns

BOBOs (bourgeois bohemian boomers) and Nexers (empty nester boomers) are as keen on CoolTowns as Xers and Yers. Why? The National Association of Home Builders and market researchers have concluded:

Nexers will keep working to stay mentally active or stay solvent. In other words, no retirement communities. In fact, ‘active adult communities’ turn nexers off. “They wouldn’t want their friends or children to know they were living in this type of community”, says Myrl Axelrod, president of NY-based Marketing Directions Associates. “They believe these communities are segregated from the rest of society”, she said, “They want to be with a mixed population that makes them feel young.” They believe the homes all look the same: “The people look the same and they even do the same things.”

They highly prefer maintenance-free homes and a Main Street concept where “homes are planned within walking distance of restaurants, coffee shops, movie theaters, boutiques and services”. Nexers are looking for a return to a simpler life, Axelrod continues, and “don’t want to have to get into their car for everything they do.”

Image: Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class, is a boomer himself that fits the ‘nexer’ profile.

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