It’s a different world for amenities, these days.

Just a decade ago, if you were fortunate enough to live in a building with a gated entrance or a nicely-landscaped swimming pool, you thought you hit the jackpot. It was easy for the building or condo association too, because they simply had to water the lawn or add chlorine regularly, and the residents were happy.

If you had a health or fitness center in your community center, it contained some free weights and maybe a treadmill—and no one complained.

But those days of simple amenities are long gone. At a time when empty condos are a dime a dozen, and home prices are falling, technological advances and an increasingly sophisticated real estate consumer have prompted condominiums old and new—but especially new—to raise the amenities bar in order to attract buyers, increase value and preserve the importance of the building. From dog runs to playrooms for kids, from private media screening rooms to resident lounges, condos and HOAs are taking it to the next level.

Heated Competition–and Pools

Even during the housing recession that crippled the market in New Jersey and the rest of the country, luxury amenities remained a priority for many buyers. While super-luxe, over-the-top perks like full-service doggie spas and free daily breakfasts may be on the wane, things like indoor basketball courts, jogging paths, and media rooms are still on the menu, and the demand for certain, more basic amenities remains strong.

As the competition for a limited pool of choosy buyers heats up, associations are becoming increasingly savvy when it comes to adding amenities, says Sheldon Salnick, a Chicago-based real estate blogger and an agent with Prudential Rubloff Properties. “Everything you can think of is available now,” he says. “A lot of buildings are looking to New York City for trends.”

And these new high rollers have specific requests.

Dog walking, 24-hour room service from local hotels and restaurants, private chefs, full-service concierge services, spas, high-end business centers and enhanced privacy are some of the new demands that are becoming amenity trends.

Whereas in previous years, a small room with two computers and a printer would classify as a business center, some of today’s buildings are outfitted with computers, fax machines and even people to help you create corporate presentations.

And some buildings are doing whatever they can to stand out from the others.

“Some of the most commonly-asked for amenities these days are high-end fitness centers and exercise rooms, and social gathering places, like a media room or children's playroom,” says Robert A. Francis president and CEO of The Planned Companies in Parsippany.

Those family-oriented amenities are big and getting bigger, says Marisa Kochnover, director of operations for the online community CityMommy.com (northjersey.citymommy.com) for northern New Jersey and the “gold coast” area. “For most families—especially young families—the first thing they search for when it comes to a place to live is a sense of community,” she says. “A lot of people move out of Manhattan in order to have other families nearby. They’ve been missing that backyard. So when you buy a condo with a pool or a playground, that’s a huge plus.”

Concierge and valet services are an always-popular bet, says Francis. "It depends on how you define the concierge concept,” he says. “But they need to have at their fingertips what restaurants are in the area, to make a reservation for the homeowner, to know the hot spots for new people moving in, to have the train schedules, the bus schedules, to know where the sports stadiums are. Just like a hotel concierge knows the restaurants and the events and the travel and transportation options, the airports—they need to have that same type of information."

The product and consumer in New York and New Jersey is very similar, Francis continues. Regardless of whether a home buyer is shopping in Manhattan or in Jersey City or Hoboken, “The expectation is that they're going to get the same high quality service here that they get in New York, so the concierge here has to be armed with that same information.”

21st Century Tech

As always, cutting-edge technology is also a key draw for buyers, says Karen Ruffner of RE/Max First Realty in East Brunswick. "A growing number of properties—particularly high-end buildings and upscale developments—are incorporating a wide variety of advanced technologies designed to support and enhance their residents' lifestyle," she says. "Buyers don't just want the latest thing, they want the thing that will become the latest thing down the road."

For example, "Imagine being able to turn off every light in your home by just touching a button next to your bed," says Ruffner, "or just by setting your alarm as you leave. Those things are happening. People are asking about this now because they know it's already out there."

Buyers also have come to expect systems integration in their new homes, says Richard Holtz, president of Daytona, Florida-based InfiniSys, a company specializing in pre-wiring homes for interlinking entertainment systems."We want to keep speakers off of unit party walls," says Holtz. "The design includes either stereo or monaural distribution with impedance matched volume controls and in-wall speakers in each designated room."

Screening rooms with big screen TVs, surround sound and comfy seating were extremely popular for a few years but nowadays most people have those amenities in their own apartments. As previously mentioned, business centers with computers and fax machines are no longer a necessity. Most people have these items in their own private homes nowadays. Many buildings also no longer offer magazines and newspapers in their lobbies or common areas as an effort to save on costs.

An example of some of the new amenities can be found in some Manhattan-styled buildings. For example, at 20 Pine, a property in Manhattan's Financial District, the Armani/Casa-designed building includes a billiards room, golf simulators, a library, a terrace lounge and an outdoor reflecting pool. The facility also has a 60-foot indoor pool, spa and overhead rain shower. Some of the amenities in high-end buildings might be considered over the top but anything a building can do to attract buyers is seen as a plus in tight economic times.

I Want to Be Alone

The ultimate in amenities—privacy—is becoming a more common offering too, Salnick says. “A lot of home buyers want privacy,” he says. “Some people don’t even like the idea of other people going to their floor.”

So some buildings have added a keyed system to their elevators that only allows residents with a key access to their floor. Other people living in the building can only go to their floors too.

Other buildings are combining forces with hotels so that their amenities are simply an extension the hotel’s normal perks.

At What Price, Fabulousness?

While amenities are a great way to show off your building, make residents happy and draw in new buyers or renters, they also always come with a price—to the residents and to the buildings.

For older buildings or HOAs that don’t have room for a ballroom, indoor pool or entire basketball court, there are other amenity options that won’t cost the association millions, Salnick says. For example, the first thing people see when they walk into a building is the lobby. Fortunately, you can make a few cosmetic changes to really make it a lovely place to walk through and even sit for a few minutes.

“You have to bring the lobby up to 2011 standards,” Salnick says. “It has to be gracious, and the carpeting, the décor and everything else has to be there.”

Adding new gym equipment to an existing fitness facility will also draw in the 25-to-35-year-old crowd, he says.

Changes such as these might cost the association money upfront, but won’t require too much extra upkeep—as opposed to something like a pool, which will add much more in terms of insurance costs, building maintenance fees and then assessment costs.

Amenities Equal Appeal

While the real estate industry continues to flail in many markets—including ours in the Northeast—it may be well worth it for both developers and current building and HOA administrators to carefully consider their community's amenity offerings.

What are their target buyers really looking for? Are existing spaces and amenities being fully utilized? Could they be updated or overhauled?

These are questions that may be tough to answer. However, coming up with the right answers for your individual community can add value, even in the toughest of markets.

Danielle Braff is a Chicago-based freelance writer and a frequent contributor to The New Jersey Cooperator.