Homebuyers are really responding. Exterior colors tend more toward natural and earth tones, not hot pinks. Part of the reason for the return of cozy, familiar elements is renewed emphasis on the family, as evidenced at McMillin's Scripps Ranch Villages. The project opened in 1994 and sold more than 500 units last year, a huge hunk of a 6,000-home San Diego market. The emphasis is on practical amenities, not a golf course.
Buyers are primarily families.
They are adding a shopping center now, and they went to the community and sought input as to what kinds of stores they wanted. They are using old-sounding project names like Heatherstone and Cobblestone, and there is variety. It's not a sea of red tile. Country is the theme. Along with coziness, builders are marketing choice - the buyer's ability to customize even a modest new tract home.