Double Nesters

Posted by Sheila Redick on January 22, 2006

We've written about the trend of third home ownership.  The New York Times is following the "double nester" trend.  "Enabled by cheap airfares, flexible work schedules and technology like cellphones, Blackberrys and the Internet, a growing number of people are shuttling between two or more homes, blurring the age-old distinction between the primary and the vacation home," wrote Motoko Rich in Thursday's NYT.  Rich even has a name for them -- splitters.  "Unlike previous generations, these 'splitters' do not think of themselves as living and working in one place and relaxing in another.  On the contrary, they come and go as they please, making friends and doing business in places hundreds, even thousands of miles apart."

The new two-home lifestyle is largely available, Rich writes, to those who have outgrown the obligations of young families, making them more likely to be in their late 50s or early 60s.

Having two equal homes can create a sense of rootlessness.   (One couple described by Rich has the husband maintaining residence in their new home of Florida and the wife maintaining her full residency in Pennsylvania. )  But duel nesting can also create an opportunity for cities that are open and accepting of newcomers and make it easy to connect to community life.