WHERE DID ALL THE NEW RAISED RANCH HOMES GO AND WHY ARE THE ONES THAT DO STILL EXIST ALL KHAKI?

This is a very interesting question, especially for my Rhode Island friends…

The color mentioned – ‘khaki’, e.g., tan, beige, desert sand, khaki…THE LIGHT BROWNS!!! It is the color family that has dominated the RI home market for decades. Why? Rhode Island has made two things clear:

1.  fried calamari should be served tossed in an olive oil/balsamic vinegar with yellow banana peppers and some garlic, and;

2.  the raised ranch home is the ideal contractor spec home and should have an exterior vinyl color of “khaki”.

Why khaki? When building a spec home (a contractors model home speculated to sell) they want to be certain to stay with the neutral coloring as it has been proven to be the most appealing and calming. Even if the color of ” khaki” is not the first choice of the inquiring and potential home buyer – chances are they will not walk away or lose interest in purchasing the home vs. the houses with a loud finish/exterior color which is more costly to cover up or change if disliked. And, this is the same reason that “bone white” is most often the chosen paint for the interior walls and white for six panel interior doors. This is the leading package that has been sold in Rhode Island for 20 years this coming August! Why are we seeing less of this model/package all of a sudden? Why the change? Simple. Contractors have been choosing to opt out of building spec homes from ground up due to the economy and the slowing (to almost extinction) of the middle class. These very important segments will need to be thriving if we’re to see that “khaki” raised ranch boom again!

And in the last five years contractors began to shift gears away from the fully guttedflip trend (which is now becoming very scarce) to flips with cosmetic touches. These cosmetic touchups I warn you…be careful. The permitting process is a bit sketchy, as it does not always require attention to: electrical, plumbing and mechanical areas. However, many contractors find these projects to be very lucrative and profitable and there are A LOT out there for sale now. Just a word of warning – if you do notknow your contractor, you better investigate them well – I find this “cosmetic” homeflip as the #1 cover up complaint in Rhode Island!

Craig DiPetrillo – DiPetrillo Properties – Planning, Investments, Construction

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