Michele is extremely funny, and is generally seen as a sweet empty nester.

There's still the retiree, the empty nester who's alone and the second-home buyer.

"The big turning point in my life was that I became an empty nester," Ms. Barasch said.

Technically, the label baby boomer empty nester includes both boomers and pre-boomers, now in their early to mid-50's.

"I'm what you call an empty nester," Ms. Wood said.

"The empty nester moving into something a little bit more appealing," she added.

"I had noticed people talking about not liking to cook for themselves," said Toni Lydecker, who calls herself an empty nester.

Even if you're an empty nester, you want a refrigerator that's as big or bigger than the one you had when you were raising kids.

"Our statistics show that one out of every four buyers in these luxury buildings is an empty nester coming from the suburbs," Mr. Koss said.

Terms like "empty nester," "yuppie" and "soccer mom" derived their meaning from targeted market studies.