America has just crossed a monumental milestone, celebrating its 250th birthday. And, as the fireworks fade, there’s no better way to carry on the celebrations than by taking a stroll down memory lane to where it all began—and, more specifically, where those who founded our nation were living when they did so.

To truly understand how America became the nation it is today, it is important to first grasp the foundations that were laid more than a century before the Declaration of Independence was first signed.

The very first homes that were built in the country were done so by those who first traveled to the U.S. from Europe in the 1600s and 1700s, settling down while the country was under British rule.

These settlers brought with them architectural styles from England and across Europe, and began to build dwellings that were influenced by these trends—structures that would later become known as the classic Colonial homes that remain one of the country’s most popular property styles to this day.

​However, in the centuries since then, Colonial-style architecture has evolved into a massive umbrella of designs, influenced by the many cultures that traveled to the Americas in search of a new life.​

This melting pot of nationalities created a diverse set of homes all built from a similar foundation. Over the centuries, this gave rise to the British Colonial, Dutch Colonial, French Colonial, Spanish Colonial, Southern Colonial, Colonial Revival, Saltbox, Cape Cod, and others.

​Here, Realtor.com® offers a brief look into the enthralling history of the American home that started it all.

What are the most distinctive elements of a Colonial home?

Because there are so many different styles of Colonial homes, it can be difficult to pinpoint exactly what makes a home “Colonial,” as each unique design takes its own spin on the Colonial silhouette.  

​However, some common characteristics that can be found in all Colonial-style homes include: a symmetrical, rectangular construction; two stories; and a wood, stone, or brick facade with a central door.

Other common elements include porches, columns, steeply pitched gable roofs to shed snow, chimneys, shutters, and dormer or multipaned sash windows.

​Inside, Colonial homes typically have a formal entryway with a big central staircase, long hallways, a closed-off floor plan, and painted muted or neutral colors. Bedrooms are frequently dedicated to the second level, while the living room and kitchen sit on the main floor.

​Here is a quick look at what makes some of the most popular Colonial homes one of a kind:

• ​Saltbox: One of the oldest types of Colonial homes, saltboxes feature a steeply pitched, asymmetrical roof and a clapboard siding, all built around a central chimney.

• ​Cape Cod: Originating on the Massachusetts seaside peninsula, Cape Cods are one- to 1.5-story coastal cottage homes that are typically much boxier than other Colonial houses.

• ​British Colonial: Equipped with higher ceilings, larger windows, an expansive veranda, and a raised foundation, British Colonial houses are luxurious and high-class.

• ​Dutch Colonial: Dutch Colonials can be spotted by their gambrel “Dutch roof” that slopes and has long eaves, making the home look barnlike in addition to its double chimneys.

• ​French Colonial: With wraparound porches on both levels, high ceilings, tall and skinny windows,  French-style doors, and square and symmetrical construction with hipped roofs, the French Colonial is the emblem of elegance.

• ​Spanish Colonial: The Spanish Colonial has a much more rustic appearance compared to its contemporaries. This style features white stucco walls, wooden beams, and red clay roof tiles.

• ​German Colonial: Built with heavy stone or timber for thick walls, steeply pitched roofs, small windows, and a central chimney, German Colonials were built for endurance and warmth.

• ​Georgian Colonial: Known for its perfect symmetry, the Georgian Colonial includes two chimneys on both sides of the roof and a front door decorated with pilasters.

• ​Southern Colonial: Also called “Greek Revival,” Southern Colonials are located on the back of a long driveway with colonnades set in front of a porch welcoming guests into the house.

• ​Colonial Revival: Evolving from the first Colonial homes, this style has a larger layout and windows, decorated with Victorian-era moldings and porticos.

When was the first Colonial home designed?

Colonial homes were first designed by European settlers arriving in the Americas in the early 1600s. The earliest documented example of a Colonial-style home, and America’s oldest home, is the Fairbanks House, located at 511 East Street in Dedham, MA.

​Constructed circa 1637 by Puritan settler Jonathan Fairbanks for his family, the Fairbanks House is the oldest surviving timber-frame home in North America. Before becoming a National Historic Landmark and museum, the home was occupied by eight generations, or 269 years, of the Fairbanks family before being sold to the family’s association in 1904.

​Traditional Colonial homes stopped being built around the time of the American Revolution (1763-1783) as British architecture was replaced with more modern, uniquely American designs. 

However, around 1880, the Colonial Revival emerged to celebrate the country’s centennial. This sparked a construction boom of colonial homes across the U.S.

Where are the best places to find colonial homes?

​Because the style originally evolved alongside the early settlements of the 13 colonies, the oldest authentic colonial homes are concentrated heavily in the Northeastern U.S., in states such as Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Virginia.

​However, when the Colonial Revival hit in the late 1800s, the style spread nationwide. Today, Colonial homes can be found in almost every state, and it remains an especially popular style in Southern states like Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Georgia.

How have colonial homes changed over the years?

​One of the most obvious changes to Colonial homes over the years is their switch from being built with timber, clay, and other readily available materials at the time to sturdier materials like stone and brick.  

​Another significant evolution is the style advancing from closed-off, strict room division to a more open-concept layout that can blend rooms together, especially the kitchen and dining room.

​In a traditional Colonial home, kitchens were small, unattractive, and placed far away from other rooms to avoid heat and odor from finding their way into the rest of the house. However, larger, more modern kitchens are increasingly popular.

​Window sizes have also increased to include more natural lighting, and the addition of garages to the symmetrical build has become more common.

Why do people buy Colonial homes?

A Colonial-style home is a riveting acquisition for buyers looking for timeless elegance and historic roots. From its gorgeous pillars and symmetrical beauty, these homes don’t sit on the market for long.

​The simple, classic, and spacious rooms make decorating easy and entertaining a guarantee. The closed-off rooms offer a sense of privacy that can’t be replicated with an open-concept layout, and the ability to easily expand for larger families makes this design a must-have.

​However, Colonial homes do come with their faults. The upkeep and preservation materials for a true, historic Colonial home can be incredibly costly.

​Additionally, boxy rooms, small kitchens, and low ceilings can make the house feel cramped and most Colonial homes have quite a few stairs, which can cause mobility issues. Older Colonial homes often suffer from temperature imbalances due to the lack of insulation and aged foundation.

Ultimately, whether historic or newly built, the Colonial home remains an iconic piece of Americana—offering an everlasting elegance perfect for the right buyer.

Get real estate news in your inbox

Sign up now

America’s 250th anniversary is rapidly approaching, and over those years the Spring Grove Mill House in Hockessin, DE, has nearly seen it all.

With unbelievable ties to major U.S. events spanning from the Revolutionary War to the first moon walk, the property has a unique place in American history. Were it not for the sleuthing skills of a former police investigator who happens to be the current owner, this home’s fascinating story might have remained buried.

“When my wife Florence and I purchased the Spring Grove Mill House in 2017, we had no idea of the home’s historic significance,” says David E. Deputy, a former captain with the Delaware State Police and a retired brigadier general with the Delaware Air National Guard.

The couple had hoped to retire in an old home constructed before electricity, indoor plumbing, cars, and phones. Though in need of serious renovation, this beautiful six bedroom, 4.5 bath, 4,000-square-foot home set on just over seven acres fit the bill.

However, it wasn’t until a year after their purchase when he was gifted a historical map from 1868 that included his new home—from which he learned the dwelling was actually constructed in the early 1800s and was formerly a mill—that Deputy’s curiosity was sparked and he found himself on a historical path of discovery.

“The investigative skills I practiced as a trooper proved to be valuable in conducting research into the history of Spring Grove,” says Deputy. “However, this time it was like solving a 250-year-old cold case.”

By digging through county deeds, tax records, old maps, archives, newspaper clippings, ancestry sites, talking to former residents, and even studying cannonballs found in the area, Deputy was able to uncover a fascinating line of American history that ran right through his Spring Grove home.

Deputy’s thorough research led to the publication of his new book, “The Spring Grove Mill House: The Home With the Most Ties to American History.” However, he is quick to emphasize the word “ties” in the subtitle since not all of the history linked to Spring Grove happened on site.

Nonetheless, as we stand on the cusp of the United States semiquincentennial celebration on July 4, the journey of this home is a perfect reflection on how many major events have transpired over this nation’s first 250 years.

The scene of a tide-turning Revolutionary War event

On Sept. 8, 1777, General George Washington and 11,000 members of the Continental Army were pursuing British forces that were headed north to seize Philadelphia following the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge in Delaware. At the same time, General George Weedon advanced his brigade to a hillside east of Mill Creek, DE, where a clash broke out that included British and American sharpshooters exchanging shots.

Known as “General George Weedon’s foray at Spring Grove,” the incident may have helped turn the tide of the Revolutionary War by serving as a distraction that allowed George Washington to pinpoint the exact location of British forces. He was then able to make strategic adjustments with his troops before the pivotal Battle of Brandywine that occurred three days later.

And that foray happened right on the property where the Spring Grove Mill House now sits.

“One day I found a Revolutionary War map online,” says Deputy. “There was a yellow flash on the map that covered the exact location of the Spring Grove Mill House—our current home—that showed combat happened here in 1777.”

Deputy’s discovery led him to even more about the interaction Weedon had with the redcoats on his property. What he learned was that without the distraction of Weedon’s foray, the British probably would have captured Philadelphia without resistance.

“Such an outcome would have caused embarrassment and caused hesitancy for the French to fully support Washington, which was a major factor in winning the war,” explains Deputy.

In 2023, the State of Delaware put a historical marker to commemorate the foray on the property of the Spring Grove Mill House, which Deputy helped to facilitate.

But this thread to the American Revolution was only the first of many historical connections for this property.

Cotton ties the mill to the War of 1812 and wool to the Civil War

Though the home had been advertised as having been built in 1880, through his research Deputy discovered it was actually constructed much earlier.

The first house was built on the Spring Grove site in the early 1700s in conjunction with a sawmill. In 1787 the milling operation expanded into two operational mills by adding a gristmill.  

“Our home, the Spring Grove Mill House, was built in 1813 while the War of 1812 was raging,” Deputy tells Realtor.com®. “The war caused the price of cotton to skyrocket because the British Navy blockaded U.S. ports and at that time the U.S. would ship raw cotton to Europe to be manufactured into cloth and sold back into the U.S.”   

As such, there were not enough cotton mill factories to keep up with the demand. To take advantage of this, banks were willing to fund the development of cotton mill factories knowing they would be profitable. That generous funding is what led to the construction of the Spring Grove Mill House, which became the centerpiece of a small village surrounded by the new cotton mill factory, five small stone homes for mill workers, and a barn.

Then a few years before the Civil War, the owner at that time converted the mill to a woolen factory. “This led to a contract with the Union Army to manufacture Kersey wool for blankets and outwear,” says Deputy.

The Civil War connections also extended beyond uniforms and supplies for the Army.

The driveway of the Spring Grove Mill House was once a road that followed along Mill Creek, which also formed a narrow passage in between the Spring Grove Mill House and the cotton mill factory. Deputy discovered that this was once a pathway for the Underground Railroad all the way through the mid-1800s.  

“The next mill less than a mile upstream from Spring Grove was a confirmed safe house,” adds Deputy.

Gambling led to a connection with JFK’s assassination

In 1891, there was a suspicious fire at the mill and after 140 years of milling operations, it was never used for those purposes again. However, the home’s history didn’t stop when the milling abated. It simply entered a new phase.

Most notably, the home was purchased by Donald Ross and Wilhelmina Du Pont after the stock market crash in 1929, along with 2,000 more adjoining acres. Thus began what’s known as the Du Pont Ross era of Spring Grove, which lasted for over five decades.

During that time, the Du Pont Ross clan managed to get the state of Delaware to change its constitution to allow gambling. That led to them building Delaware Park, a thoroughbred racetrack that welcomed 20,000 visitors daily throughout the 1900s.

They also raised and trained horses on their land through Brandywine Stables, with one of their horses, Greek Money, winning the Preakness Stakes by a scant nose in 1962.

One of their trainers, Joe Clancy, who lived on the Spring Grove property, had also served in the Marines with JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in Japan in 1958. Incensed that Oswald would assassinate the president he loved, Clancy apparently left Delaware with a friend to head to Dallas with plans to take out Oswald himself.

“They got arrested in Tennessee buying guns and ended up in jail while Oswald was murdered,” says Deputy, but they and their families still tell the story today. However, it sounds like they literally dodged a bullet.

“At one point after discovering all this old history, I thought to myself, is this house going to be connected in some way with the Kennedy assassination and the Apollo moon landing,” says Deputy. Turns out, it was.

Wilhelmina du Pont Ross sold the Spring Grove Mill House property to the Winton Blount family in 1977.  

Winton was the CEO of his father’s construction company, Blount International. They specialized in high tech government projects and built launchpad 39A for the Apollo program.  

Apollo 11 launched from that launchpad in 1969—the space flight that put Neil Armstrong on the moon.

Continuing the story while saving the history

Now that the story continues with his family, Deputy says he feels a certain responsibility to preserve it for future generations.

With the painstaking renovations that he and his wife have undertaken (to the tune of $70,000), the home is now physically restored to its past glory. But perhaps just as exciting for Deputy is the history that he uncovered.

“An intentional byproduct of writing this book is to motivate and teach readers how to uncover the history of a home,” says Deputy.

Get real estate news in your inbox

Sign up now

A Southern California Native American tribe is adding a crown jewel to its hospitality lineup.

The Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation is in contract to acquire the 238-room Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in downtown Riverside, the Press-Enterprise reported. Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal for the 150-year-old property is expected to close by the end of this month.

The sale folds the Mission Inn into the tribe’s San Manuel Investment Authority holdings. The move is part of the tribe’s push beyond gaming into hotels and destination resorts, with leadership signaling it sees the property as a cultural and economic anchor for the community.

The seller’s ownership traces back to the early 1990s, when businessman Duane Roberts acquired the closed property for $15.6 million after a turbulent stretch of failed ownership groups and a bankruptcy. Roberts, who died in November, helped revive the hotel and, in turn, downtown Riverside, transforming the Mission Revival-style complex into a regional draw.

Hotel sales in Riverside have been sparse in recent years, according to CoStar. In the first five months of last year, the Inland Empire hotel market saw 11 transactions with an average price of $3.6 million, or $77,000 per room. By that math, the Mission Inn could have a floor price of $18.3 million. Roberts bought the hotel in 1992 for $15.6 million; the property had an assessed value last year of more than $31.1 million. 

The San Manuel tribe has a track record of long-term investment plays. 

It started in the early 2000s with the acquisition of the Three Fires Residence Inn hotel in downtown Sacramento and the Four Fires Residence Inn by Marriott in Washington, D.C. 

In 2021, the San Manuel Nation bought the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas for $650 million, expanding the tribe’s gaming and casino offerings outside of California. The tribe also owns the 400-room Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort & Club in Dana Point, the Bear Springs Hotel in Highland, the long-defunct Arrowhead Springs Hotel in San Bernardino’s Waterman Canyon, the Yaamava’ Resort & Casino in Highland and the Draftsman hotel in Charlottesville, Virginia. — Chris Malone Méndez

Read more

San Manuel Band of Mission Indians buys stake in Dana Point resort

Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation acquires acreage near Yosemite via state program

Residential

San Francisco

California Yurok tribe receives state’s largest-ever land transfer

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines childcare as affordable if it costs 7% or less of a family’s income. Yet, in every single state, the typical family far exceeds that threshold, qualifying them as “cost-burdened” by this essential service.

The timing couldn’t be worse as 1 in 3 homeowners and 1 in 2 renters are currently considered cost-burdened by housing—putting the two biggest and most essential costs of a family budget into direct competition.

“Families with young kids are facing this double whammy,” explains Yulia Panfil, director of the Future of Land and Housing Program at New America, a think tank. “If they don’t pay for child care, then they can’t work, and if they can’t work, then they can’t pay rent. So it’s this vicious cycle.”

And it’s a dire assessment of the reality families face today. As a shortage of 4.03 million homes collides with a shortage of 4.2 million childcare slots, advocates argue these crises are now inextricably intertwined.

The cost of expensive childcare and housing

The clearest connection between housing and childcare costs is found in the demographic most at risk of losing their homes.

Minors face the highest risk of eviction in the U.S., according to research from the Eviction Lab. They account for roughly 40% of all individuals threatened with displacement annually. Furthermore, households with children represent over half (52%) of all eviction filings.

“Nearly 3 million kids are on the receiving end of an eviction notice each year, which is just shocking,” says Panfil. “For so many families, their two largest household budget items are rent and childcare. And in cities like DC, where I live, the cost of childcare actually is higher than the cost of rent for many, and that’s per child.” 

That data is a stark illustration of the impossible trade-off the most cost-burdened families face: Pay for childcare so you can work, but then fall short on rent; or pay the rent, but lose your ability to work because you can’t afford the childcare.

Where families are the most cost-burdened by childcare

Data from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) shows that a median-income family in every state exceeds the 7% childcare affordability threshold by 2 to 6 percentage points. For minimum-wage workers, the burden is even more severe—ranging from 29 to 108 percentage points. 

Elise Gould, a senior economist at the EPI, began noticing a troubling shift in the data a decade ago.

“All of a sudden, childcare became more expensive than housing in a number of counties across the country,” she says. “It really surprised us.”

Today, her research shows that infant care costs more than in-state college tuition in 29 states and the District of Columbia.

Joel Berner, senior economist at Realtor.com®, says that these pressures are hitting the housing market, too.

“We’re seeing it in the struggle of first-time homebuyers,” he says. “This group is of the age that they are sensitive to both mortgage rates (most don’t already own a home) and childcare costs, and they’re getting squeezed in the West and in coastal markets.”

When analyzing how much of a median family’s income is consumed by the combination of a typical mortgage and infant care—it’s those regions in the Western and coastal markets that stand out. Hawaii, California, and Massachusetts are affected the most.

“Saving for a down payment is the best thing a first-time buyer can do in this environment, but when other costs like childcare are too high as well, there’s not much left after the bills are paid,” he adds.

The math is even brutal for those who’ve been able to break into the market.

In Hawaii, which ranks as the sixth most expensive state for infant care, childcare alone consumes 20% of a median family’s income, then adding a typical mortgage payment brings that total to 75% of their earnings.

Meanwhile, California ranks fourth for infant costs, then adding the typical mortgage on top of childcare consumes more than 71% of the typical family’s income.

The same is true in Massachusetts, which ranks as the second most expensive place for childcare. But the math is so restrictive in the Bay State that only 8% of families in the state can afford infant care without being cost-burdened.

And while these figures represent typical families on the median income, the squeeze is far more acute for minimum-wage workers.

In New Hampshire and Wisconsin, childcare costs alone would consume 115% and 112% of a worker’s total earnings, respectively. 

In a cruel twist, Gould notes that childcare workers are often the most acutely burdened by the crisis they help manage. 

“Childcare workers are the ones that are doing this valuable work to take care of our children, and they themselves are paid such low wages, and they’re undervalued for that work, that they can’t afford childcare themselves,” she says. 

On average, childcare workers would have to spend between 30% and 74% of their income on childcare alone—before even considering the cost of housing.

The same pressures driving up housing are driving up childcare costs

The fact that childcare costs have risen in near lockstep with home prices is no coincidence. For many childcare providers, their largest fixed cost is rent—and as commercial and residential property values have surged, those overhead costs are passed directly to families.

That shift has hit residential providers—often the most affordable and flexible options for families—particularly hard.

“Running a childcare business is not something that one does for a huge profit, and so the smallest change can really have ripple effects,” explains Erica Meade, policy director of the New Practice Lab at New America. “If their rent is higher or their insurance is higher, it has to get passed on to families, or they eat it.”

As more of these providers have closed, that’s also created scarcity, which in turn drives up costs.

Today, more than half of the U.S. population (51%) lives in a childcare desert, defined by the Center for American Progress as a census tract with more than 50 children under age 5 and either no childcare providers or so few options that there are more than three times as many children as licensed childcare slots.

As if that wasn’t enough, childcare centers are facing an insurance crisis of their own in another mirror to the skyrocketing premiums that are hitting some housing markets hard.

Samantha Phillips, an early education insurance agent and advocate, says that she’s watched premiums swell from around $10,000 per year for the typical site in 2023 to more than $25,000 per year today. And in high-risk areas or sites that have had claims in the past, policies can cost as much as $45,000 to $75,000 a year per site. 

In every conversation for this article, one theme was clear: Families are in a moment of crisis because the industries they rely on are in crisis. To offer relief to one will require offering relief to all.

As Phillips put it: “I feel like I’ve spent the last three years literally screaming from the mountaintops that doomsday is coming and doomsday is here, and doomsday is getting worse.”

Get real estate news in your inbox

Sign up now

Southern California’s brokerage consolidation continues with Coldwell Banker Real Estate inking yet another franchise agreement that will give it more weight in Orange County and the Inland Empire.

Jessie Rodriguez and Aaron Juarez, formerly of Cal American Homes, are the latest franchise partners with Coldwell Banker, bringing roughly 25 agents into the company’s fold. The new entity has been renamed Coldwell Banker Icon.

This latest local move comes a week after Compass and Coldwell Banker parent Anywhere Real Estate closed on their $4.2 billion merger. The combined business of the nation’s two largest brokerages now counts about 340,000 agents — and growing.

The newest addition, Coldwell Banker Icon, plans to open a South Orange County office by the end of the month and another in Rancho Cucamonga, about 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, Rodriguez told The Real Deal. The Inland Empire office will be established through the acquisition of an existing company that, if finalized, will add another 60 agents to the roster. The details of both offices will be disclosed once those moves are finalized.

“I get to be independent still, but now I’ve got this 120-year-old brand behind me that’s recognizable,” Rodriguez said. “I thought, the sky’s the limit.”

Rodriguez launched Cal American Homes around 2009 with an office in Rancho Cucamonga at a time when the region was still reeling from the subprime mortgage meltdown. About three years ago, he decided to move the business to Real Brokerage’s digital platform. With the market becoming more rugged last year, being virtual wasn’t working for his agents. After exploring “traditional brands” for nearly a year, Rodriguez and Juarez decided to link with Coldwell Banker.

“I just loved it. It’s elegant. It’s luxurious, yet the common person knows the brand,” Rodriguez said, and the then-pending merger with Compass didn’t give him pause. “This is all at the same time we’re hearing about Compass is going to buy Anywhere and what does that mean? I don’t care what it means. I like Coldwell Banker. I like their leadership. I like their brand. I like their messaging.”  

The establishment of Coldwell Banker Icon is the latest deal to quickly add scale to Coldwell Banker’s Southern California ranks. But, it is small relative to the franchise agreement the Anywhere Real Estate brand struck in November with a Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties franchisee.

That deal late last year renamed the BHHSCP affiliate Coldwell Banker Envision and added over 1,300 agents and 14 offices in Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange counties.

In 2025, that affiliate business was ranked sixth in Los Angeles County with volume of $2.4 billion in on-market deals within Los Angeles County between July 1, 2024 and July 1, 2025, according to TRD Data.

The franchise agreement did not include BHHSCP’s company-owned business or three other franchisees in Sierra Madre, Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach and San Luis Obispo.

Read more

Coldwell Banker snaps up Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California affiliate

Compass-Anywhere merger dodges antitrust concerns for speedy closing

Ranking LA’s top resi brokerages of 2025