Once you have listed a wheelchair accessible home for the first time it will dawn on you how little inventory there is with this feature. Although a little planning upfront really does not make a home more expensive to build (unless it is not one level and would need an elevator) the thought obviously hardly ever crosses the mind of builders.
But with the baby boomer generation retiring in masses, people getting older and with that the probability that one needs to have a wheelchair accessible home one day rising rather dramatically it is about time to give this issue a bit more attention.
If you do an internet search for handicap or wheelchair accessible homes you will find literally only a handful. You find tons of accessible vans and RVs, all kinds of facilities that offer accessibility but if you want to buy a home and need this feature, it's tough.
So what is really needed to make a house basically accessible and keeping a nice residential ambiance?
One level, no stairs, no steps.
Floor coverings that allow for easy movements (plush carpets do not really work well)
32", better 36" door openings
level shower entrances with either very wide or no door at all
higher toilet
handle bars
free standing or hanging sinks in the right height
accessible cabinets and counter tops in the kitchen
automatic garage door opener
Of course there are plenty more possibilities or opportunities to further increase accessibility but the basic idea should be to think about the probability of this needed when building. If the party building the house will never need them it will be a feature that increases the saleability of a home dramatically, simply because of scarcity.
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