Another new trend in real estate is that first time home buyers are passing up the starter homes and townhomes.  According to the Star and Tribune, many first time buyers are spending more money to move into a larger home that has the space and many of the amenities they are looking for as they plan to live there for a very long time.  For some the home seems way to big and empty when they move in but they realize that once they are ready to start a family it will start to fill up and they won’t have to move again.  Reasons for this change are that buying is still very cheap with the low interest rates and low home prices and many first time buyers don’t think their first home will appreciate very quickly so they just move up to start with.  First time home buyers are finding that the “starter” homes are rather disappointing when it comes to amenities but are finding these “missing amenities” when they look at larger more expensive homes.  It used to be that buyers planned to spend about 5 years in their first home, now they are planning on 10 to 15 years or longer which is another new trend.