Most Popular House Plans of 2021 – House Plan With Two Owner’s Suites!

This was a test. Plans 42385 and 42385W (Cedar Farm) are identical except for the elevation rendering color scheme. And this test revealed something very interesting among both home building professionals and home buyers – the white elevation of this super-popular design sells three times better than the gray elevation!

Yes, exterior design and color selections can have a significant impact on house plan popularity. But an attractive exterior needs an equally impressive floor plan layout to become a top-selling plan. Homes like the Cedar Farm with two master suites are hard to find among resales, another reason for their popularity among new construction. For the increasing number of multigenerational households, with two different adult generations plus children at home, floor plans with two owner’s suites can be ideal. While some dual-suite home plans provide additional accommodations such as private entries, private garages and an additional private entertaining space for grandma and grandpa’s get-togethers, the Cedar Farm focuses on livability and affordability, with its 42-foot width and simple, cost-effective footprint. Upstairs, the kids bedrooms have large closets and big windows.  Additionally, there’s a large bonus room opportunity over the garage helping ensure never outgrowing this home. 

One of our most popular house plans in 2021, the Cedar Farm was itself a test, wherein we were looking at whether a front-entry or side-entry garage would be more popular.  Usually garage alterations are provided through our plan customization service, but we wanted to learn what we might expect if we offered the plan both ways.  The original design, #42229 Cedar Glen II, has the same floor plan except for having its garage enter from the front.  Not surprisingly, the front-entry garage 42229 has outsold its side-load garage sibling, because oftentimes homes which are just 42-feet wide are being built on narrower home sites which can’t accommodate side-entry garages.  Still, the front entry garage Cedar Glen II held only a marginal sales lead over the Cedar Farm.

Yet another test when we chose to create a 3-car garage version, plan #42369, known as the Cedar Glen II 3-car. Garage modifications are our most common plan customization, and three-car garages are very popular when building lots and buyers’ budgets allow. Again, the floor plan is identical to the original plan 42229 except for the third garage stall, so what we were testing is the overall appeal of that 3-car garage. Somewhat surprising to us, over the last two years the 2-car and 3-car front entry garage versions have nearly identical sales!