California: This is my favorite style and my preferred place to live. Lots of unabashed Spanish styling. Heavy Spanish tiled roofs and heavy wooden doors in that Canyon grey color. It's such a California classic look and it never goes away. California developers also still love the low-slung ranch look with recessed entries. Architectural details are combined in such a way that these homes are always surprising and never boring. Creamy stucco abounds and today the tan shake roof is more popular than the dark. Lots of clingy twining vines. A hint of an Old California Mission style is everywhere even if only in the heavy rustic wood of your front door. California style is fabulous.

Southeast: Brick homes are the standard here. Do you like homes with a permanent anchored feeling, colors of neutral taupe that, well, look staid is the word that comes to mind. Dark roofs seem preferred. These homes lighten up with the use of filmy clouds of flowering trees and shrubs in masses. These home styles give the appearance of possessing financial security and responsibility and if you like to appear that way, you may like the homes of the Southeast. North Carolina floor plans had names like Dogwood and Cardinal.

Northeast: Lots of wood and brick siding and sometimes in combination, dark shingled roofs, colonial and English manor touches or Federal styling. Sometimes Northeast homes border on looking boring but elegant at their best. Floor plans can have English names.

New England: New England homes change in appearance from their Northeast neighbors and become a misty grey as if trying to blend with the sea. Grey wood siding with crisp white collars of molding. Shake or shingle dark roofs. Dark pine trees surrounding the landscape and to brighten up they use classic colors of cardinal red and forest green in painted shutters. This is a refreshing look--so different from anywhere else in the country.