Real Estate Agent Podcast Episode 69: Real Estate Architecture

Hello and welcome to Shop Talk: The Real Estate Show. I’m Jon Forisha, and on this episode we’re talking about real estate architecture and what it means in modern America.

Joining me now is Jeff Erbert, Regional Content and Social Media Specialist at The CE Shop.

JON: Jeff, thank you for joining me.

JEFF: Thanks for having me back, Jon.

JON: Okay. So this time we are talking about architecture. What is the role of architecture in real estate?

JEFF: Well considering real estate touches everyone's lives in some shape or form then architecture does too. So depending on the context and the client, the architecture we're building could be a more utilitarian, which might help a building suit a buyer's needs in terms of a cost and functionality. While other people might kind of view architecture more as an art form, and they're kind of willing to spring for properties that make them feel a certain way, whether it's a sense of individuality and nostalgia, or just a sense of calm.

JON: Yeah. So can you give some examples of famous American architecture?

JEFF: Geez, so many to list. But the first house that comes to mind is Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, which is undoubtedly his most famous work. And perhaps the most American considering much of the architecture predating Wright was so heavily influenced by European design languages that when he kind of popularized the very union or Prairie unison style that I guess many architects split agrees one of the very first uniquely American styles. And yeah, it's interesting because it kind of paved the way for the American craftsman style, which is still emulated by a lot of builders today. Yeah, definitely. And another another house that comes to mind too which I'd be remiss not to mention is the white house because it is the most visited house in the country. So yeah, that comes to mind and it's got a lot of neoclassical elements, which are kind of neat because there are illusions to the ancient Greek philosophers that kind of, or the ancient Greek philosophies that helped shaped our founder's visions.

JON: Yeah. Yeah. You, you mentioned the craftsmen style. I think that is probably the style that we're most familiar with, but what are some other dominant styles you would find in the average American neighborhood?

JEFF: America actually, as it turns out is a pretty architecturally diverse place. So you can actually find pretty much any style that fits you, but I would say that in like an average neighborhood it really depends on where you are in the country on the East coast. There's obviously a lot of colonial Georgian Federalist and the Italian data guard around and on the other side of the country let's say in like Palm Springs you'll find mid century modern done. Right. but I actually dug into this a little bit and found that the majority of homes in America are tend to 70 years old. So that generally speaking means on average, we'll find a lot of, kind of mid-century minimal architecture ranch style homes craftsmen style influenced whether it's actual craftsmen from the twenties and thirties even, or new builds today, which still emulate a lot of the craftsman, I guess designs. Yeah. Modernist is also kind of seeing that kind of rise in popularity and then yeah, Mediterranean revival is also trending.

JON: Okay. And so all these styles you mentioned, do some styles sell better than others?

JEFF: Yeah. So again, it kind of depends on where you are in the country and what's available in your market. But what I can tell you is that a realtor.com study mentioned that Mediterranean style homes actually have the highest median list price at $750,000. Yeah. So you see a lot of those in like Florida and California well, ranch style homes, which are common just throughout the us. They actually fetched the lowest prices with like a median list price at like $190k.

JON: Oh, wow. That's a big difference. So what, what makes a certain style more popular than another?

JEFF: I like to think of it like this. There's a reason why there's a lot more Toyota 4Runners on the road than Lamborghinis. So overall cost is likely a large factor in why ranches are so popular and widespread throughout the country.

JON: Yeah, for sure. Leave it to you to come up with the car metaphor. I love it. So do you have an example of a home's architecture going too far?

JEFF: Of course the Winchester mansion or mystery house in San Jose, California which if you're not familiar with it highly, highly recommend you read into it. It's a tale of ghosts doors that lead to nowhere and a whole lot of money. So it's a really interesting story. We even have a blog about it in our California section of agent essentials. So if you want to read more in depth and you're in California, you just have to go to agent essentials, find your market and click on Northern California. And yeah, you can learn more about it, but you won't be disappointed.

JON: Yeah. That one is really weird. I'll include a link to that blog in our show notes, but I've actually been there and there are doors that open to nothing on the second story of the house and windows that are, you know, smaller than your hand. It's, it's a weird place, very weird place. So if an agent is tasked with trying to sell a house, like the Winchester mystery house that is just really kooky and its architectural design, how should they, how, how should they position it?

JEFF: Yeah. So you mean in cases like the Winchester mystery house or the converted missile silos that we hear about are the good ships of towels. I personally really like unique homes much in the same way I like jazz, but like anything it's not for everyone. So you know, best thing to do is really just get a grasp of your client's tastes and if they are architecturally curious or that something they value, then I think positioning in architectural unique home man lost my train of thought. So for the right, for the right client though a great architecturally unique home can kind of be the ultimate expression of individuality and tastes definitely. So that's probably how I position

JON: If you know your client, you will know whether or not they want to live in a converted missile silo. Exactly, exactly. Cool. Okay. Well thanks Jeff.

JEFF: Yeah, man. Anytime.

JON: After the break, we discuss the history of American architecture, including why you can find so many craftsman-style homes in any given city.

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JON: Just like American cuisine and most Americans’ cultural identities, American architecture is a hodgepodge of different styles. Being a relatively young country and a quite large and diverse country, America is a melting pot where any and all ideas are given the time to flourish somewhere. It’s what makes it a great place to live and work, but it also makes it difficult to nail down what is a uniquely American style of home.

JON: As Jeff mentioned, some styles like Mediterranean homes are seen as inherently more luxury, and part of that might be the difficulty with which those styles are constructed. Anyone who’s worked with a stucco house knows the difficulties of stucco, and the fact that synthetic and traditional stucco are vastly different from one another.

JON: In the early 20th century, buying a house through a mail order catalog wasn’t an uncommon practice. Sears Modern Homes took off, selling more than 70,000 homes between 1908 and 1940. At the beginning, this catalog featured 44 house styles for sale in prices ranging from $360 to $2,890. Precut lumber lowered the cost of framing and building these homes, and the term “kit houses” grew in popularity thanks to the ease with which someone could follow the instructions and build their own house. Sears homes were primarily sold on the East Coast and in the Midwest, but some houses can still be found as far away as Florida, California, Alaska, and Canada.

JON: In the 32 years that Sears sold these kit homes, they eventually offered over 370 different home designs. Aside from the price and availability, the big selling point of these houses was that they offered the latest technology, which at the time was central heating, indoor plumbing, and electricity. I encourage you to look some of these homes up; they are not the tiny house you might be picturing. One home still standing in Benson, North Carolina was built using the ten-room Colonial style kit, which would have cost a whopping $6,488.

JON: The fact that Sears offered so many styles should come as no surprise. Americans like having lots of choices, and that’s always been true. A Colonial might be a dream home for one person while appearing far too dated or lavish to others. A lot of the American style of homes is about referencing the styles popular in other places. Want your home to look like it was transported from Italy? How about London? Maybe France?

JON: Two styles that are more popular than most of the others across America are craftsman and ranch style homes. Google either one and you’ll immediately know the look. Craftsman homes greet you with a covered front porch, overhanging roof eaves, and tapered columns. They have a fireplace and a practical floor plan with few hallways and small rooms. According to Fixr.com, the craftsman’s clean, simple lines are an offshoot of British Arts and Crafts architecture, which proudly stood as the handmade antithesis of the stuffiness of the Victorian style.

JON: A furniture maker named Gustav Stickley in New York turned his furniture style into home designs. Oddly enough, two architect brothers, Charles and Henry Greene, started designing in the same style in Pasadena California, inspired by English reactionary and Oriental wood architecture. Gustav Stickley sold his designs in a magazine he called The Craftsman, and the style exploded across the US thanks to books and design magazines sold to the American public that featured logical layouts and pleasing, simple lines.

JON: Ranch homes are typically one story and have wide open layouts with an attached garage, sliding glass doors opening onto a patio, and vaulted ceilings. These houses took off in the post-war years, when the middle class was booming and the GI Bill helped many veterans afford a brand new house, typically in the western states. By the 1950s, the California ranch house accounted for 9 out of every 10 new houses built. Variations emerged, like the Colonial Ranch that was popular through the Midwest and Northeast and which added elements of American Colonial features to the classic ranch house.

JON: Cliff May is an architect especially known for elevating the ranch to a modern marvel, and many of his homes still fetch a high price today, some 30 years after his death. It’s hard to talk about American architecture though without mentioning Frank Lloyd Wright, inarguably the most famous designer of American buildings. There aren’t many architects that become a household name, but Wright is definitely one of them. Over a period of 70 years, he designed over 1,000 structures. His philosophy of organic architecture consisted of designing in harmony with humanity and the environment,

JON: His buildings consisted of offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels, museums, as well as houses. Fallingwater, a house he designed in Pennsylvania, has been called the “best all-time work of American architecture” by the American Institute of Architects. Wright’s enduring legacy and popularity are undoubtedly due to his breadth of work, and the simplicity of his designs.

JON: But we can’t all have houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and many modern homes are based on tried and true plans created by a home builder. Those plans themselves are a mix of styles, sometimes called neo-eclectic architecture, which is prominent in the McMansions of suburbs across the nation.

JON: The styles of architecture that really seem to take off in America are simple. We generally don’t like stuffy, overcomplicated designs and instead prefer clean lines, functional spaces, and open floor plans. In many places, letting nature in is what elevates a house to the next level, as is the case with Fallingwater, which is built around a picturesque waterfall.

JON: No matter the style of house you’re buying or selling, knowing a bit about the type of house your client is after will help your search, and knowing the history of the areas you work in will give you a leg up on the competition.

JON: That’s it for this episode, thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the talk, subscribe to us and leave a review on your podcast player of choice. Shop Talk is a production of The CE Shop.