Will boomers be more proactive about home mods?

I was chatting with an old friend yesterday and we got on to the topic of a long planned addition to his home. Among the several reasons he was questioning the wisdom of the expense was that part of his goal was to build an accessible bathroom. Being hale and hearty today, they may not need such a bath for many years, if ever. This got me thinking about the whole “Boomer revolution” as it applies to home modifications.

One of the conventional bits of wisdom about the home modifications is that the Baby Boomers will get more proactive and be more willing to make (demand?) changes to their environment. But how do we know this will occur? Will we really take a different path than our parents or will we struggle to retain youthful ways and delay addressing practical realities? It's hard to say what the effect of growing older will be on boomers, but we can be sure there will be conflicting forces. Sure, Boomers has a group are seen to have been less stoic and more focused on "self actualization." But prior generations have been just as concerned about maintaining their independence and being in control of their destiny. The problem is, as we age, too many of us lose some of the motivation and give up at the realization that our destiny is never fully in our control. Even if we avoid a crippling condition like ALS or Alzheimer's, we are going to age and it will affect our abilities. But are any of us going to be more receptive to kids harping "Dad, you shouldn't be climbing that ladder”? I suspect this is less an issue between generational classifications and more a reflection of individual personality and family dynamics.

Its probably a good bet that many boomers will fall victim to the same patterns--postponing making hard choices for too long, just like their parents did. Oh sure, modifications will be a lot more commonplace, just because a lot more of us aging into our 70's, 80's and 90's will create the demand. This demographic swell will create one big difference from today--more and more homes will have had the necessary modifications. Once that happens, the idea of adapting the home environment to our needs will be more commonplace and will swell demand further. And since more of us will have helped our parents make these decisions, it should be more natural to consider getting support to keep the home maintained and to make modifications--when we get to “that point.” But these changes are not because of an inherent difference in the Boomer mindset. It will be interesting to watch will be if boomers are really any more proactive in this regard than their parents.