Why Ramblers Are Ranches In Disguise

Your favorite home style is never just a “look” it’s a set of tradeoffs you live with every day. We’re Marcus and Jason Walgrave, and we’re breaking down America’s most popular architectural styles with a real estate lens, comparing what we actually see on the ground in Sioux Falls, South Dakota versus the Twin Cities in Minnesota. If you’re buying a house, selling, investing, or planning new construction, this helps you spot the details that affect value, function, and long-term upkeep. 

We run through Colonial Revival symmetry, mid-century modern lines, and why Craftsman homes keep winning hearts across generations. We also get into the ranch style home (and why many Midwesterners call it a “rambler”), including how builders blend styles to create modern ranch and ranch-Craftsman hybrids that fit today’s lots and buyer preferences. Then we shift into Prairie style and its Frank Lloyd Wright influence, plus Tudor and Cape Cod homes that show up differently depending on neighborhood age and local demand. 

You’ll also hear a fast, practical legal minute on encroachments and how an encroachment and easement agreement can prevent a future cloud on title when a survey reveals a shed or porch crossing a property line. And if you’ve ever admired a slate roof, our insurance perspective explains why “different than normal” materials can limit carrier options and push you toward boutique insurers. We close with Victorian homes, where breathtaking millwork meets real questions about maintenance, layout, and cost. If this was helpful, subscribe, share it with a friend who’s house hunting, and leave us a review.

You can always find U. S. Home Talk and connect with the hosts and the community at their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/U.S.HomeTalk/ or at our website, USHomeTalk.com

Transcript

Welcome And How To Reach Us

Marcus Walgrave 0:14

Good afternoon and welcome back. This is US Home Talk. We are your go-to real estate podcast. Whether you are buying, selling, investing, or simply wanting to learn more about real estate, we got your back. We are your host, Marcus Walgrave with the South Dakota Home Team, powered by Hague Realtors, Jason Walgrave with Remax, Advantage Plus, and the Walgrave Real Estate Group, and our amazing producer and insurance guru, Evan Little. Anything and everything real estate. Don't forget to send us your real estate questions to our real estate hotline at 612-234-7585. Good afternoon. How are we doing today?

Jason Walgrave 0:53

Good to be here. It's a beautiful day.

Marcus Walgrave 0:56

It is a beautiful day. I'll tell you what. If you guys are new to the show, U.S. Home Talk, we just try to cover uh the current events of what's going on in the real estate industry, whether that has to do with housing, um, when we have our our other uh uh co-host, Mike Overson, uh, the finance world, like I said before, um Evan Little in the insurance world. You know, we try to cover anything and everything real estate. Um, you guys can find our information online on our website. It's an awesome website, super user-friendly, ushometalk.com. Uh, or like I said, you guys can give us a call on our hotline. It's open 247. That number 612-234-7585.

Why Architectural Style Still Matters

Marcus Walgrave 1:41

Today we are gonna have uh a pretty, you know, fun episode. I'm nothing too serious or groundbreaking here. Um, we're gonna be talking about some of the America's most popular architectural styles for homes. And um, Jason, when we kind of go over these, I'm curious. I mean, obviously, I service the Sioux Falls, South Dakota uh market. Um, Sioux Falls is a growing city. You know, we're under 250,000, our Metro, um, you know, maybe up to 350,000. Uh, but you're up in the Twin Cities area, up in the in Minnesota, the Twin Cities um quite a bit bigger, right? You know, probably 10 times larger in terms of like my area and and comparing the Sioux Empire to the Twin Cities in Metro. Um and so obviously a bigger city, you're gonna have uh more opportunity to s to come across more home styles. You know, I'm gonna kind of go over my list and and I know for certain that there aren't many. Uh uh just talking about uh sitting inventory. You know, there aren't many of the of some of these uh architectural options. Um and so it'll be kind of interesting to see you know what what you guys are seeing up there in the Twin Cities area. So um I'm gonna jump right into it if you if that's good with you.

Jason Walgrave 2:58

Let's do it.

Marcus Walgrave 2:59

Let's do it. All right. Uh

Colonial Revival And Mid-Century Modern

Marcus Walgrave 3:01

the first one is the colonial revival style houses. Um, you know, this one is kind of defined as symmetrical front elevation features, windows and shutters on both sides of a centered front door. Um the roof often includes a boxed eve and overhead windows called fan lights. Um revival style houses up in the Twin Cities?

Jason Walgrave 3:29

We do. Yeah, we do. And and I think um, you know, there's some I think there's like a like a simpler version of that that that is um has less, doesn't have shutters, and is you know, just kind of a um a simpler version of the colonial. Uh but there there's a lot of both for sure.

Marcus Walgrave 3:50

Yeah. Yep. We do we there's a couple um subdivisions that that we see this type of home. Uh we definitely don't have a significant inventory of it. Uh I know anybody who sees it, they're all everybody just loves the look of that home. Um, but it seems to be falling more into maybe our more established higher-end subdivisions. That's kind of where you're gonna be able to find um that house here in the Sioux Falls, South Dakota market. Uh, the next one on the list is the mid-century modern style houses. Um uh now now this this is a fun one, right? You know, that this this mid-century modern style. Um, when you talk about that one, we're talking about low pitch roofs, um doors that are not centered, usually off to the side, and uh a lot of exterior features that you know clad on wood and stone. Um there are again there's a couple subdivisions that you know you saw some of our local builders, you know, put that product out there. Um, but even like in the new construction, you know, I don't really see too many of these. You know, not it it's not really this mid-century modern style. You know, we again another another uh architectural style that we don't have a lot of in in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Jason Walgrave 5:13

Yeah, we we've got I think it's definitely neighborhood specific. You know, you'll you'll get some neighborhoods where you know maybe it's just one builder or or two or three builders, and they they kind of agree to you know ahead of time of of a you know a certain style that they're gonna shoot for. Um I think you know, I think I like these homes too. I know I think that they look nice and and um there's different varieties of front elevations and and so um um but we've got we've got a fair amount of those as well.

Marcus Walgrave 5:44

Yeah, definitely cool. It's a definitely a cool look, right? Um and I think yeah if you have a a builder and and they're able to say, hey, you know, this type of house should fit on a specific type of lot. You know, you you kind of kind of have to play off the land too. You know, that there's certain houses that you put in certain places. And and so I think if you if you match the house with the right kind of lot, it doesn't really matter where you're at, you're gonna come out with a super cool home. Yes.

Craftsman Character And Ranch Ramblers

Marcus Walgrave 6:16

Next one is the craftsman style houses. Uh we definitely see lots of these. You know, we we have a we have a significant uh inventory of these of pre-existing and new construction. Um when we talk about a craftsman style house, you know, ropes are low pitched typically, um, you know, decorative beams and false braces, porches are large and supported by massive columns. Um, you know, I kind of think of the some of the bills that you guys do up there in the Twin Cities area. You know, definitely you see that in new construction. You see it, you know, today you saw it 20 years ago, you saw it 50 years ago. Um the Craftsman style house is definitely a fan favorite.

Jason Walgrave 6:56

Yeah, I I really like Craftsman style too. I I think you can get really creative with you know some of the gables and you know and and you know the trim pieces, and and I think you can I think they have a lot of um they got a lot of character to them, so I'm a big fan of the style.

Marcus Walgrave 7:13

No, I can here's then the next one. The next one is a ranch style house. Um you guys don't call them ranches up there, right? You call them ramblers. We call them ramblers. So I wonder I wonder where that comes from, like with the the the rambler. Uh is it just uh uh Minnesota market or is that you know Minnesota Scounson? Is it can we blame Wisconsin for for the Rambler?

Jason Walgrave 7:35

Possibly, possibly. But but if you look at you know nationwide ranch is more common for uh you know one story, you know, maybe it has a basement or maybe it doesn't, but um I think that that the ranch um that word is is used more often. I don't that's a great question. Evan, we'll we'll send our we'll send our researcher Evan to figure out where the where the word rambler came from.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

I'm I'm looking it up right now because I'm curious about this too.

Marcus Walgrave 8:02

Well, like you said, Jason, I mean the the ranch style, you're talking about a a one-story structure, um attached garage, um it accentuates the length of the home, um and asymmetrical front entry. Um and and you know, we we we saw us uh we see we have a lot of ranch style homes uh in terms of like the one level. Um, but you know, I don't know, I don't know if I necessarily would would qualify them as like an architectural. It's more of like that that one-level living basement kind of a style. So number five, prairies. Oops, sorry.

Jason Walgrave 8:36

Oh, some of the builders up here have done a good j job of of taking the ranch uh style and almost blending some craftsmen into it, you know, and and which uh I mean one of my favorite home styles is a side low garage or ranch. And you know, and and then you you know you mix in some craftsman style. You know, maybe you've got some um you've got some false you know, windows on the roof, you know, and some gabled windows which are you know just decorative. But I I've seen some really cool front elevation and and styles that that combined kind of the ranch and the craftsman style.

Marcus Walgrave 9:15

Yeah, I agree, right? And and that, like you said, the side load that that makes it look the front elevation just looks super sharp. Looks like a huge home too. You know, and you're just like, holy bugs, that thing is massive. And it's like, well, you know, definitely a big home, obviously, but um and and kind of even like when you talk about blending styles, right? Uh that modern ranch, that was that was kind of a style that was holy buckets, was that hot starting what 2015, 2016? And kind of again, like you said, you know, blending two concepts. You got the ranch, uh, but then you're bringing in some modern, or to your point, you know, ranch craftsman style. So definitely some cool, cool properties out there.

Prairie Lines And Wright Inspiration

Marcus Walgrave 9:54

Number five on the list is a prairie style house. Um the roof is low pitched, sometimes uh uh uh hipped shaped like a pyramid with overhanging and enclosed eaves. Front entry porch typically has a massive uh supports and exterior detailing, heavily emphasized and horizontal lines. Um kind of the example that they they they they give if you look out, go online and you search a prairie style architectural homes. I mean, they're those are cool houses, right?

Jason Walgrave 10:26

Yeah. When I think of that, I think of Frank Lloyd Wright design and Frank Lloyd Wright inspired designs. Um I I've sold a home that was a Frank Lloyd, I think it was his his apprentice that actually designed the one that I sold. But um those are pretty cool, you know, and they're different. And and so um I I like that style as well. I think it's really neat.

Marcus Walgrave 10:49

Yep, it's a cool one. And and uh um uh I think when you hear like the prairie style, I mean it to me it almost feels like a house that you'd might be see out on the uh on an acreage, yeah, you know, or an old farmhouse. Yeah, and and you know, some some pretty cool porches and and features like that, and and so. Um today we are talking about the America's top architectural styles for homes. Um and before we get any further into it, we are gonna go ahead and jump into our legal minute of the day.

Legal Minute On Property Encroachments

Jeff O'Brien 11:24

This is Jeff O'Brien, attorney with Hush Blackwell with a U.S. Home Talk Legal Med. An encroachment is when another person puts up a structure that intrudes on or over your land. This issue might come up if, for example, one of your neighbors were to build a shed that is partially on your property or expands his house so that a porch ends up on your property. You might decide that your neighbor's encroachment doesn't bother you and do nothing about it. This option has the advantage of preserving goodwill between you and your neighbor. However, if you ever want to sell your property, you will need to disclose the encroachment to any potential buyers so that they can consider the issue as part of their purchasing decision. In addition, any survey will reveal the encroachment, which will create a cloud on title. A good way to remedy the encroachment in this scenario is for both parties to enter into an encroachment and easement agreement. The party onto whose property the structure encroaches agrees to allow the encroachment to remain and grants an easement to their neighbor to maintain the structure. And in exchange, the neighbor relinquishes any claim of ownership to your property, which cuts off adverse possession or prescriptive easement claims. This is Jeff O'Brien, attorney with Hosh Blackwell with a U.S. Home Talk legal minute.

Tudor Charm And Cape Cod Simplicity

Marcus Walgrave 12:21

That was a good legal minute. Jeff O'Brien, yes, that's a great legal minute. Uh much appreciated. You know, if you guys are looking to uh find out any of our other amazing um partners that we have of our show, check out our website, ushometalk.com. Um you're gonna be able to get their contact information. You can also get myself, Jason, uh, our mortgage uh guru Mike Overson and our insurance guru Evan Little as well. Anything and everything real estate, you're gonna be able to find that. And even our past shows too. So if you're not finding today's show interesting, um go ahead and hop in our our our archive. We've been doing this for you know uh quite some time and and we got some really cool past shows. So um we're confident that you'll be able to find a topic that you're that you're interested in, and hopefully you'll learn something from it. Um today we're talking about top architectural styles of U.S. homes. Number five was Prairie Style Houses. Jason, you you name drop Frank Lloyd Wright. It's kind of the founder of it, right? Uh, and and just a quick interesting story. I don't know if you've ever been uh in to Wisconsin, but there's a place called House on the Rock. And and the the the person who who built this house on the rock was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright. Now, this house doesn't it it's a category of its own. Um if you know, you know. Uh but uh you know if you want to uh check it out, uh Google it sometime. House on the Rock. Jason, I I know if you guys ever get out to Wisconsin Dells for a little vacay, um, it's about 45 minutes away from there. Worth the trip. Worth the trip. You'll find it cool, the kids will find it cool. Um my family went there a couple weeks back, and and it was a neat, it was a neat little place to visit. So uh but number six on our list is a tutor style house. Uh I like this, right? And and and uh I definitely seem like that is a it had started to take off in the Twin Cities area um a number of years. I got to say what maybe five plus years ago. Some of that new construction was starting to do it, and we're starting to see some of this more in Sioux Falls. Um and and it's got a really cool, really, really cool look. Um 16th century England is kind of where it comes from. Uh signature elements is a decorative half timbering vertical and horizontal beams uh embedded in stucco on the exterior. Uh front view typically includes a steeply pitched roof. I think that that's like the the giveaway, right? You know, one that that that that um is so steep that it almost has like a church, church type of uh steepness to it. So uh windows are tall and narrow, uh cool house. I like these. These are neat. I do too. Number seven is the Cape Cod style house. Um we we see these uh definitely in in our market, but uh when I see like that Cape Cod style in in our Sioux Falls market, um it it it's it was definitely it seems to be like our inventory, it was really built in like 1950s and 60s, and and and that's where almost all of them are, you know, in terms of like the the the when they were built. Um and they're and they're small. You know, we're like you know two one on the main, uh maybe another bedroom in the basement. These are small houses, and and those were the inventory that we have. Um but but super it seems like a minimalist, uh efficient, uh um attractive little home. Lots of brick. You should typically see them with you know significant red brick. So um number eight, the Spanish revival style houses.

Spanish And Mediterranean Reality Check

Marcus Walgrave 16:04

We don't have many of those and and and sioufalls. I mean, I can think of like maybe I mean less than 10 uh of this style home throughout Sioux Falls. I'm sure there are more. Um and and they typically fall in like that luxury category, you know, when when you have that. Uh do you have any like subdivisions that are specific? You talked about this earlier in the show where you know sometimes the developer will say, Hey, you guys got builders, you guys got two options to build here. One is gonna be the Spanish revival.

Jason Walgrave 16:34

I don't I can't think of any full developments that are that, um, but they're you know, they're kind of there's not many. There, those are kind of sprinkled out. Um I mean you definitely notice them, you know, because it feels like it's you know pulled right out of like Texas or you know, Arizona or something like that. Um they're pretty cool. Um I think um you know slate roofs are are pretty common in those, and and those are you know it's a it's a style, it's it's a style for sure. Uh but we do not have many of those up here either.

Slate Roof Insurance And Naming Ramblers

Marcus Walgrave 17:04

Evan, um quick insurance question for you if you're ready. I was wondering when you do have those slate style uh roof coverings, um, are you getting a better deal since it appears like they're not going to blow away?

SPEAKER_01 17:20

No. Kind of down the same. That's the short answer. Um, your your carrier options actually become limited. Anytime you have anything that's different than normal, right? A lot of insurance carriers get kind of freaked out by it and go, oh, that's unusual. So your your options go down. And the other thing to consider is that while a slate roof is some thunder going on, there is uh some extra ruggedness to uh any sort of tile roof, there's also the potential for higher costs from damages because the roof cost is higher. So you're trading off one thing for another. What we've seen with slate roofs is essentially that you often pay a premium because you have to move to a more boutique insurer, but your actual premium difference with that insurer versus if you had a you know architectural single-tile roof, it's not that big, but you're you're put into more boutique categories by the slate roofs. Now, that said, there's also the aspect of this that most homes that have slate roofs tend to be um, you know, mid or large size homes in that category of like custom or semi-custom builds. It's very unusual to see something like a you know a 1950s built rambler or ranch home uh with a slate tile roof.

Marcus Walgrave 18:44

So that'd be a weird mix.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

Right, exactly. When I got my house reroofed three years ago, I was not thinking about getting a slate tile roof on it. Um also on that note, I've done a little bit of research, and it's it is as simple as they started off being called ranch homes, and then people were like, Man, that house sure is rambling. It takes up all the space, it just rolls along. So it's a slang term that referred to the ranch style of homes that kind of took off, and it is a regional thing that it appears that much of the Midwest, apparently not uh not where Marcus is, but much of the Midwest calls them ramblers, as well as the Northwest stuff.

Marcus Walgrave 19:27

Well, I think South Dakota technically is in the the the uh the prairie, so I don't think we're quite in Midwest. No, so maybe that's why. No, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

I don't think South Dakota is I think the Midwest goes all the way down to Oklahoma.

Marcus Walgrave 19:44

So yeah, maybe I think the Great Plains is is its own separate its own separate uh region, possibly.

unknown 19:53

Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

I'm wondering new stuff today. That's that sounds like uh like uh better fact check that BS.

Marcus Walgrave 20:04

Everything we say is 100% uh factual on US Home Talk. There's only four regions of the United States. Well, going back to the show, we just got a couple more styles left that we're gonna cover here today. Number nine is the Mediterranean style house. Um again, you know, this is one where it kind of falls in the same category as our Spanish revival. Um, I mean, super cool looking homes. I absolutely love them. Love both those two styles. Um, you know, but we just don't really have a high demand in Sioux Falls. People aren't like, hey, we want to build a new house, and this is what we want, um, which is understandable. You know, like said we were joking about a little bit later uh previously, you know, the the South Sioux Falls, South Dakota in the Midwest, Great Plains, uh maybe doesn't really fit the uh the background. The backdrop isn't uh the right backdrop for this type of style house, but um I I love them. I think they're super cool. I do too.

Victorian Detail Versus Cost And Layout

Marcus Walgrave 21:04

We don't we don't have many up here either, but yeah, I think they're cool. And the last one we are gonna cover is this is number 10 on the list, is the Victorian style. Oh yeah, Midwest, okay. I like it. I guess we're a Midwesterner, so I'll take it. Number 10, Victorian style houses. Um I mean, one of my favorites.

Jason Walgrave 21:31

I I mine too, Marcus. There's there's uh a couple neighborhoods, um one in St. Paul and and one in in uh Minneapolis that that stick out to me. And uh Summit Avenue in St. Paul has a lot of really beautiful big Victorian houses. And they've got a tremendous amount of detail. Um they're really cool. A lot of times they're threes full stories plus a basement. Um I love I love the Victorian look. Uh and they don't uh almost all of those are older. They it's yeah I don't I can't think of a newer build of Victorian. Um I can't think of an example because they're just it's gotta they just don't build anything. Oh my goodness, the cost of to yeah to build that.

Marcus Walgrave 22:19

It's gotta be what it is. You know, you're you're 20, 30 percent higher, oh yeah, same, you know, square footage, just I mean you look at a at a Victorian style house and and uh I I think in terms of like resale, right, too. Um I I've shown some ones, like you said, they're they're built a while ago. You know, they're always pre-existing homes that that got some years on them, and and you look at them, you're like, that's gonna be tough. Yeah. That's gonna be tough to maintain. There's a lot of moving parts on that house. Um hard to beat the style. You know, just quick, quick little uh history on it. It was during the Queen Victoria's uh reign in Great Britain from 1837 to 1901, and then during that period, uh uh uh a number of major American uh uh innovations in construction technology brought it, started happening in like the 1860s in America. So that's kind of where you know they saw what was going over there in Great Britain, were like, love it, bringing over to America, um, started doing that, and and uh, but I mean, holy buckets, some incredible features, high ceilings, dramatic staircases, uh, an abundance of molding. I think that that's kind of right everywhere, interior, exterior, you know, and um it's pretty cool. But I think one was is like the choppy layout. I think that that's pretty fair to say too, right? You go into those houses and you're like okay, this is like the 12th rim, uh 12th room, and we're still in the main level. A lot of walls, yeah, a lot of walls.

Jason Walgrave 23:52

But you're right, the trip the mill work is incredible, the crown molding, the eight-foot interior doors, ten-foot ceilings. I mean, they're pretty awesome. So I I'm a big fan of the Victorian ones as well.

Marcus Walgrave 24:04

It'd be kind of cool to see somebody, a builder, say, you know what, we're gonna we're gonna modernize the Victorian style and and bring like the 2026, you know, the 2020s version, the 2030s version of the uh Victorian style, and and see if they could if they could bring it back to life. I just wonder if it's just a cost thing. I think it's just I think it's a cost. You know, you know, people are looking at building and then they say, Oh, it looks to this, and put another 500 grand on it. It's like holy buckets, okay. We'll pass. We'll pass.

Jason Walgrave 24:36

Well, and and and I I today's buyer is is less interested in square feet uh than they were ten years ago. You know, and and so it's it's not about uh how big a house can I buy or build. It's you know, the the floor plan is is more important than the size of the house. And so you know, I think a lot of those homes are very big and and so it would take a very uh specific buyer, you know, with a with a big um with a big budget. So yeah, big budget, yep. Yeah, big budget.

Final Takeaways And Sign-Off

Marcus Walgrave 25:05

Well, as our show comes to an end here today, uh we want to just take a second to thank you all for your support. Whether you're tuning in on Wednesdays to watching us or you're hopping on our website at ushometalk.com and watching any of our past shows, uh, we are very thankful for your support. So thank you, thank you, thank you. Um, this is Marcus Walgrave and Jason Walgrave. We hope you have yourself a blessed week.