Lennar debuts Next Gen – The Home within a Home

Lennar Homes has a new option for family members and in-laws who want to live together without those daily battles over the remote control, bathroom use and who washes the dishes.

The home builder recently opened the first multi-generational housing option at Shenandoah in El Dorado Hills’ Blackstone community.

Next Gen — The Home within a Home features two homes under one roof. The main home has all the bells and whistles — energy-efficient appliances, the latest technology — plus a completely separate living suite with stacked washer and dryer, partial kitchen (refrigerator, sink, microwave), separate bathroom and bedroom and a patio. This living suite even has its own entrance on the side of the home and its door into the main home can be locked from either side for privacy.

“You actually have a fully functional suite,” said Laura Stickelman, Lennar’s vice-president of sales.

Homebuyers all over the country have embraced this concept, she said, and there are endless options for the separate living suite — a place for elderly parents or boomerang adult children, mortgage share, home office, etc.

“And (the suite) doesn’t take away from the main home,” Stickelman added.

The Evolution — a Next Gen — The Home within a Home model currently on display at Shenandoah — in a 3,485-square-foot, two story home with four bedrooms and three bathrooms in the main home plus the one bedroom, one bathroom suite. It also has a three-bay tandem garage. The purchase price is about $514,000.

Dale Billy, Lennar’s division president, recently gave tours of the model. He said about 30 percent of today’s households are multi-generational. “That’s why we’ve designed this flexible space.”

Lennar has several communities in the Sacramento area that now feature Next Gen — The Home within a Home plans, which range from about 2,100 square feet to nearly 3,500 square feet. The community’s response, he said, has been “fantastic.”

“It’s not for everybody but it does meet a lot of people’s needs,” Billy explained.

To check out the Next Gen — The Home within a Home stop by Lennar’s welcome home center at 3015 Aldridge Way in El Dorado Hills. For more information call 916-933-4615 or 877-368-8464 or visit lennar.com.