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Forty-five percent of adults would opt to convert their child's bedroom

RISMEDIA, August 21, 2006--As millions of kids pack up for college this fall, KB Home found in a nationwide survey that 45 percent of adults would opt to convert their child's bedroom into a home office or study, once their child leaves home.

While there was virtually no difference in responses between men and women, those more likely to turn the spare room into an office or study tended to be more affluent (49% of those making over $100,000), have children (54%) and be college graduates (50%) themselves.

Seventeen percent of respondents would convert the child's room into a craft or hobby room, 11% would opt for a home gym and 10% would convert the space into a home theater or media room.

"Many homeowners select homes with flexible floorplans, which enable them to easily convert rooms as family members move out and, very often, back in," said Caroline Shaw, KB Home senior vice president, corporate communications. "This survey indicates that as the nest empties, parents are finding new ways to make their homes work for their changing needs and family dynamics. Many of KB homes are built with that purpose in mind, bedrooms and lofts can easily serve as game rooms and homework centers when children are young and then evolve into home offices, hobby rooms or even home gyms once the kids have left the house."

Among the thousands of design choices available to new homebuyers at the KB Home Studio, are pre-wiring packages which enable the home to keep up with new technologies, from high speed internet connectivity ideal for a home office, to surround sound for the perfect home theater experience.

The telephone survey of 1000 adults was conducted during the week of August 6-10 by KCR Research with a +/-3.1% margin of error.

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