After months of study and research, we have just released 8 new house plans.  These homes range in size from 2800 to over 4000 square feet, each with a choice of four distinct elevations.  People love to look at house designs and the section on our website featuring our plans is consistently one of the most popular.

Each of these plans offers something different in terms of room count, function, and flow.  While each plan is different from the next, what they all have in common is they reflect the changing lifestyles and preferences of today’s buyers.  Though each plan is designed to appeal to a broad cross-section of the buying public, make no mistake, when it comes to house plans—one size does not fit all!

One example of this reality is the two-story family room.  Buyers seem to be clearly divided into two distinct camps: those who love the drama, light, and volume of this two-story room and those who see it as wasted space that is expensive to heat and cool.  For that reason, several of the new plans have the availability of a two-story family room with the option of flooring it in thus creating an upstairs game room or fifth bedroom at a very modest price.  It is the same basic plan that can be modified to appeal to two distinct buyer preferences.

Home designs often have floor plans with flexible rooms that have more than one use.  One example is the living room.  About half of the new plans come with a formal living room while the other fifty percent utilize the same space for a study.  As working from home increases and our lifestyles become more informal every year, the home office becomes more practical for many owners than the formal living room.  In plans with first floor owners’ suites, the same space set aside for the living room or study can be opened into the owner’s bedroom creating a private sitting room.  In larger floor plans, we often include the home office/study in addition to the formal living room and dining room.

One characteristic these new plans have in common is their ability to be customized to meet individual buyer preferences.  All of these plans have been designed to allow buyers to create additional bedrooms, add extra baths, or accommodate the third garage.  In some cases, the laundry room can be located on either the first or second floor or both.  Finally, several of these plans contain unfinished storage areas that can be finished now or later to create additional living space as the family needs change.

We invite you to take a look at our new house plans and vote for your favorite in the poll below. We encourage you to post your comments suggesting any changes in the plans that would improve their function and appeal.  We know, when it comes to homes, “one size does not fit all” but the right plan for you that fits your lifestyle is still the only design that matters.

The Dog Days of Summer is the marketing tag line on our mid-year sales promotion.  We wanted to be very clear in our advertising copy that the long, hot, summer weather was the appropriate “dog” reference and not the houses.

All of that led me to reflect on a current trend in home buying that has been emerging over the last couple of years and growing in strength in the last 90 days.  That trend is the negative bias against buying a foreclosed home.  National surveys show that almost half of all consumers would now choose NOT to buy a foreclosed house.

Horror stories abound about unsuspecting buyers finding out that the home of their dreams became the house full of nightmares after closing.  It doesn’t take much to see how prior owners would leave the premises in less than satisfactory conditions upon their forced exit. Some, more vindictive, actually sabotage the plumbing and electrical systems causing the new owners thousands to repair.

Beware of getting caught up in the “deal” mentality.  Just this week a customer, against the advice of his realtor, chose to buy an 11 year old house in foreclosure rather than a new home that was equal in size and features priced only $20,000 more.  The older home had no warranty, no builder standing behind the product, an 11 year old roof, hot water heater, heating and air conditioning equipment, etc..

So, when we say, “Don’t Buy the Dog,” we ARE talking about a ‘dog’ of a foreclosed house that doesn’t compare to new construction.  New homes have never been priced as competitively as they are right now and you get better energy efficiency, a 5 year warranty, and everything fresh and unspoiled.  I think new homes are something worth wagging your tail about!

What about the formal dining room?  Is it going the way of the formal living room?  The answer depends on what buyer demographic you ask.  For example, many of the first time buyers in the Gen Y group have opted for no formal dining space whatsoever.  Instead, they have chosen to have a larger great room with a generous informal dining space occurring at the kitchen.  Baby Boomers, moving down in size, usually keep the formal dining room to accommodate holiday dinners with the extended family.  In smaller condominiums targeted at first time buyers, a breakfast bar in the kitchen may be all the floor plan can accommodate.

Usually the area designated for formal dining is in the front part of the house just off the foyer but not always so.  In Florida, for example, single level plans tend to be more open and informal.  In their case, the single dining area is completely open to the kitchen, great room, and sun room and have few, if any, walls separating the spaces.  Many of the Federal and Colonial house built in the Northeast have both the formal living and dining rooms off the Great Foyer in the front of the home.

Perhaps formal dining rooms have more “staying power” today because they represent more than just a place to eat.  For many of us, there is an emotional component attached because this is the room we use to entertain family and friends.  We make fond memories on Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Birthdays by celebrating them around food served in this room designated for such “special” occasions.  Dining rooms help us commemorate the present and have a way of fondly anchoring us to our past.

• What part of town do we want/need to live in? Most often, the part of town is dictated by such considerations as school district, proximity to work or friends or family, or some other high level need that makes one area more desirable than another.  Before choosing a plan, eliminate at least 75% of the locations because they do not meet some or all of the requirements listed above.
• What type of neighborhood do we desire? Some buyers want subdivisions with full amenity packages such as pool, golf, or tennis. Other buyers specifically do not want a neighborhood with a Home Owner Association that dictates rules that each house must conform to.  Wanting a neighborhood with children the same ages as your own for playmates is often a major consideration for young families.  Age-restricted neighborhoods are often the perfect pick for the empty nester buyer and may be the driving force in the selection process.
• What price range of house do we want to target? Once geographic location and type of neighborhood has narrowed the search, the price range of the homes for sale should be used to further define the 2 or 3 neighborhoods that fit within the search criteria.  As we all know, the value of the location and the size of the homes being built has a direct impact on the price range of every community.  We may want a golf course neighborhood, but don’t want to pay the price these homes end up costing.  Price range is usually a consideration and can be used to limit the search.
• What size of lot do we want? Finally, we can narrow the search even more by deciding upon the desired lot size.  Some communities on well-located (and expense) land, often contain small lots that keep the price range of the homes within limits.  Communities with larger lots may be located further out from the central business district where land is less expensive.  In some cases the limitations of the lot size may eliminate certain types of houses such as single story plans simply because the house will not fit on the smaller lot.  If lot size is important, it can help eliminate some of the neighborhoods under consideration.

All of the above considerations precede the actual selection of a floor plan. By answering the four questions, you can eliminate a lot of the community choices and make the selection process much less confusing and more time efficient.

Which raises the question, “Why Are New Homes Getting Smaller?”  The answer may not be what you have been led to believe.  Historically speaking, in times of prosperity, new homes tend to grow in size.  Some economists speculate it tracks the higher consumer confidence that exists during a healthy economy as wealth accumulation is often invested into the new home for both status and practical reasons.  Even existing homes “grow” in size during this part of the cycle as remodeling projects often add extra square footage onto the existing structure.

As the housing market has significantly cooled over the past three years, new homes have begun to retreat in size and all the numbers support that trend.  Some, who observed that the prolonged booming housing market fueled demand for larger and more opulent housing as a status symbol, argue that discreet and constrained spending needed to return to home ownership.  Perhaps they are right, but I think the return to smaller new homes has more to do with economics that a resetting of our global social conscience.  It is not that we have suddenly been convicted of the error of our ways as a result of some moral epiphany, it has more to do with who can buy and what can they afford.

As the market begin to slide and housing values took a tumble, many buyers who had purchased during the height of the market, simply had little or no equity and could not afford to sell and move up or down.  Then, when the first-time buyer tax credit became available, that buyer was motivated to consider a new home.  They had financial constraints and were, for the most part, price sensitive with affordability being a limiting issue.  In response, builders of new homes began to introduce new, smaller floor plans to meet that market demand and the dominance of the first-time buyer and the house they could afford began to pull down the average size of all new homes sold.  Most move-up buyers simply were out of the market and are only now beginning to shop for a new home.

A friend of mine and a new home marketing specialist once told me, “Square footage is the ultimate amenity!”  Though we do see a trend to smaller (but nicer) mid-range housing, and a desire for new homes that are “fresh” in appearance and more practical in design,  the universal benchmark will, over the long run, continue to be size (assuming locations are equal).  It is not solely an issue of status; it is also practical.  Growing families need more living and storage space and move-up housing provides that.  As the economy improves, financing loosens up, and employment opportunities return to normal, I predict we will see the average size of new homes begin to grow as it historically has.