By Living Room Realty, May 1, 2019
There’s a lot to love about the common ranch-style house. Most of the horizontal, ground-hugging ramblers built for middle-class families in the 1950s and 1960s boom years had hardwood floors, brick fireplaces, and layouts that were easy to expand into the big, grassy backyard.
Architecture snobs sneer at the “granny ranch” or deride one as “just another ranchburger.” And yet, the appeal of a ranch reigns. It’s adaptable. Add a family room off the kitchen. Create a separate apartment in the daylight basement. Or, strip away decades of adornments to create a sleek, midcentury moderns with glass w alls, says Marisa Swenson of Modern Homes Portland and Living Room Realty, who specializes in cool post WWII dwellings.
Alyssa Starelli, an agent with Living Room Realty who focuses on “period-perfect” midcentury homes, also applauds ranches’ solid construction and large inventory.
If a remodel-minded client wants a ceiling vaulted, walls removed, or the fireplace remade, if it’s not possible in one ranch house it certainly will be in another, says Starelli, who posts vintage house plans on Instagram.
Even without modifications, the ranch has elements buyers want today: Living rooms connected to dining spaces, bedrooms on the same floor and wide hallways, making it easier for people with mobility limitations to maneuver.
Click HERE to read the full article by Janet Eastman in the Oregonian and see some before and after photos of remodeled ranches.
