First-time homebuyers are often young couples either just starting a new family or likely to start a family in the near future. Because relocation is often the best option for viable employment, many of these young people start their new families far from other family members (parents and siblings) who would normally provide social support during stressful times such purchasing a home or becoming pregnant.
These factors are important when identifying the right home or residential design because it is well-known that moving and starting a new family can be among the most stressful times in a person's life. This stress can manifest in both negative behaviors such as petty bickering, irrational stubbornness and unrealistic demands as well as physiological changes such as increased appetite, increased incidence of illness, and even increased probability of miscarriage.
Stress can be caused by either physical or emotional conditions. Physical stressors might result from pain, fatigue, or sensitivities to noise, temperature and crowding. For example, a young couple that has relocated from Michigan to Arizona might find the high desert temperatures unbearable. Stress can also occur as a result of emotional situations such as unrealistic expectations, separation from family, fear for one's safety or homesickness.
Because our bodies are designed for self-preservation, during times of stress a host of physiological responses begin to take place. For example, during a stressful situation the hypothalamus reacts by sending messages to the pituitary gland (the "master gland"), which regulates the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands then release several stress hormones referred to as adrenaline (epinephrine), noradrenaline (norepinephrine), and cortisol. Likewise, the central nervous system causes the adrenal glands, either through the sympathetic nervous system or through the pituitary gland, to release soluble chemical messengers into the bloodstream which help to break down muscle and fat into glucose. While this process may seem a little complicated, what is important to understand is that increased levels of stress can cause the body to produce physiological responses as well as behavioral actions that are contrary to health and well-being.
For young couples the advent of pregnancy brings an entirely new set of stressors, from hormonal changes within the woman, fears of the awesome responsibility associated with raising a child for both the man and woman, and increased pressures on both to provide for the family.
Likewise, many men begin to dwell on and question their ability to provide for the financial future of their wife and child. This fear often evokes feelings of being trapped in one's job and new limitations to one's hopes and dreams. These increased levels of stress can be damaging to the marriage, the pregnant woman and the developing fetus. For example, women who experience high levels of physical and emotional stress have a greater probability of miscarriage, premature birth, or birth of a child prone to illness and disease.
Clearly stress reduction requires a holistic approach that might include exercise, diet, pharmaceutical interventions, and even coaching or some other form of talk-therapy. Included in an optimal stress-reduction program are environmental considerations or modifications. As such, young couples will depend on the professional expertise of a reputable realtor and designer to help them make the important decisions regarding their home environment.
For most young couples starting a new family and looking for their first home, finding a community with people in a similar life stage (other young couples having their first child) will help to provide a social support system. Often, simply being around others experiencing similar changes and fears reduces the impact of the stressors. In these communities both husbands and wives can communicate thoughts and feelings with others going through similar experiences.
Another important consideration is the provision of personal space. While most husbands and wives like spending most of their time together, both will occasionally need time alone to work through some of their own questions and anxieties. This private time can be accommodated through temporal or physical means. Temporal privacy simply means that each partner agrees that they will have the home to themselves between certain times.
For example, the wife might take a yoga class from 6 to 7 pm three days a week. This will allow the husband guaranteed time alone for at least three hours a week. In this situation, it is important for the realtor to know that the wife needs a yoga studio near to the new home. Privacy can also be obtained through physical means. In the past we have often seen this manifest by the husband retreating to the garage or some work shed and the wife finding refuge in a sewing or crafts room.
While these solutions continue to win favor among many couples, we also have a new group of people needing alternative options. For many young couples refuge can be found in an exercise room, home office, media room, greenhouse, or patio garden. How the private space is used is irrelevant; what is important is that both the husband and wife each have a private place where they can retreat in order to process their emotions.
For realtors working with first-time buyers, understanding the needs of the client is paramount. Ideally, the location should be in close proximity to services and facilities that young couples are likely to use, e.g. drugstores, grocery stores, gyms and medical facilities. Also, the location should provide an array of other people in a similar life stage for social support when needed (i.e. child care).
For the designers of homes for young couples, it is important to identify what each person does to relax. Once this is known, it is important to design the environment to accommodate those activities. To illustrate, a young man might find relaxation in rock climbing so a climbing wall might be incorporated into one of the rooms or in the back yard. Through proper site selection and subsequent design, one's home environment can be a viable source of stress reduction, which will ultimately lead to greater physical and psychological health for the couple and their current or future child.
