Facts About Log Home Owners

Who are log home owners? What are their ages? What do they like?

When it comes to log home trends, there are a number of things we can say about log home owners, in general.

Log homes are also becoming popular in the cash-laden celebrity world. While the producers — log home producers, that is — would love to name drop, confidentiality agreements keep these identities guarded more closely than our nation’s nuclear secrets. [Hint: One is a female media mogul who rules daytime TV.]” And don’t rule out the mainstream buyer. More “everyday” people are looking to infuse little slices of luxury into their log homes, too. Whether it’s a spa-style master bath or an indoor rock-climbing wall, choosing a few special amenities works for many buyers — and their budgets. Source

More about log home owners below…

People who opt for log homes are generally:

• Professional with more education than other buyers
• More careful and detail-oriented and on average, taking around 2 years to plan their homes vs 6-7 months for conventional buyers
• Married, in their mid-40s
• Focused on increasingly spacious layouts, most often around 2,300 square feet.

Manufacturers of log home building materials say more home buyers are making log homes their primary residences — or at least buying them with the intention of living there full time in the future.

Who’s Buying? Enter the baby boom generation. Weaned on Bonanza and Davy Crockett, many boomers now have the wherewithal to buy luxurious log homes as primary residences or as second and third homes. “Most of our high-end clients are successful entrepreneurs, who have worked years to earn their money and now they’re rewarding themselves with a log home,” says Matt Franklin, design department manager at Precision Craft Log Homes in Meridian, Idaho.

Typical log home owners:

• Are 50-65 years of age, with children; most are empty-nesters
• Have a median annual income of approximately $85,000
• Are respectful of nature, but not necessarily “tree-huggers”
• Are inquisitive, able to think outside the box, confident

The typical buyer is a married couple in their mid 40s to early 50s whose children are grown, or almost grown. They and others like them constitute the most important group of housing customers in this country — the move-up buyer. Their family-raising responsibilities behind them, they plan to start a new life, one focused on themselves. building their dream home is an important part of this plan. Many of them have longed to own a log home for years, often from the early days of their marriage, according to Essinger. For them, the time to fulfill that dream has arrived, and they want everything to be just right. That’s the reason for the long decision-making time. This “starting over” trend has given the log home industry a new and booming market.

And don’t rule out the mainstream buyer. More “everyday” people are looking to infuse little slices of luxury into their log homes, too. Whether it’s a spa-style master bath or an indoor rock-climbing wall, choosing a few special amenities works for many buyers — and their budgets.

Log homes have gone from being country cabins to being primary residences. Almost 90% of these houses are their owners’ primary home and 84% are built in or near metropolitan areas. As they have become mainstream houses, log homes also have become easier to mortgage, insure and sell, according to Lynn Gastineau, president of the Log Homes Council.