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Just curious to see what the current house-style "trends" may be for Long Island house-hunters nowadays. If you're currently househunting, what style are you looking for? Or if you're not actively looking, what style would you want if you were in the market right now?
If you're flexible as to particular style, please choose the one style that most appeals to you.
I made Farm Ranch a separate category because there are buyers who are looking only for a house with everything on one level (for handicap access, for example) and a Farm Ranch doesn't qualify for that because usually 2 of the 3 or 4 bedrooms, plus one of the baths, is on the 2nd floor.
There's also a separate category for Vintage because I know that old-house lovers are a breed apart and also some of the golden oldies defy architectural classification because they've been added to over their many years!
I think it's interesting that so far, the favored house styles aren't all the ones that seem to be ubiqitous: namely, the highranch and the cape. The cape, especially, in Nassau County (a Levitt legacy?); the highranch seems to have the edge in Suffolk although I see tons of them in both counties.
Colonial, not surprising; the true ranch, a little surprising considering that ranches are often considered to be unfairly taxed (I agree) because of their footprint, and definitely more expensive to build than a 2-story style.
IMO there aren't enough true ranches on LI in a wide enough range of sizes. Where does everyone expect us Baby Boomers to live when we're in our 70s, 80s, and 90s? Not everyone wants to migrate south like a bunch of graying lemmings, nor to live in a retirement village where we have little space and no privacy or peace and quiet. Two-story homes become increasingly impractical the older one gets. There is of course the option of installing a stairlift (currently ranging from $5000-$8000) but the layout has to accommodate that. We've seen a lot of colonials whose top or bottom stair landings simply don't have enough space for the resting "chair" to sit, even when folded up, because one or both hallways are just too narrow.
Top of my list would be Victorian, Tudor, Colonial (traditional), Craftsman/Bungalow or "vintage" if by vintage you mean one of those narrow two story homes with an either enclosed or open porch on the front/back usually with a detached garage on a similarly narrow property. I like big (true) ranches as well but they don't quite make the top of my list...they'd be in the next tier with Capes and Splits, both of which I'm very neutral on. Splanch, high ranch and basically anything else built since the 70s can take a hike. I'm not necessarily opposed to the idea of new architecture, I just think most of it sucks and is boring or cheesy.
If I really had any choice, I would live in the firehouse from the Ghostbusters movies.
Last edited by sean sean sean sean; 12-30-2008 at 04:12 PM..
[quote=sean sean sean sean;6766148]Top of my list would be Victorian, Tudor, Colonial (traditional), Craftsman/Bungalow or "vintage" if by vintage you mean one of those narrow two story homes with an either enclosed or open porch on the front/back usually with a detached garage on a similarly narrow property. I like big (true) ranches as well but they don't quite make the top of my list...they'd be in the next tier with Capes and Splits, both of which I'm very neutral on. Splanch, high ranch and basically anything else built since the 70s can take a hike. I'm not necessarily opposed to the idea of new architecture, I just think most of it sucks and is boring or cheesy.
If I really had any choice, I would live in the firehouse from the Ghostbusters movies.
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and also some of the golden oldies defy architectural classification because they've been added to over their many years!
