Developers and builders showcasing homes in the upcoming Central Coast Parade of Homes are featuring designs and amenities they think will appeal to growing segments of home buyers.

Many are upscale single-family houses, some of them custom and semicustom designs ranging as high as ,2.3 million. But the homes run the gamut, including units in multifamily developments selling as low as the ,300,000s.

Some are as small as 1,500 square feet, but they range as large as 4,798 square feet.

What they all have in common is they carefully target specific markets and represent the best of what the builders have to offer in craftsmanship, design and fixtures.

A random sample of Parade of Homes participants showed the markets being targeted include &#8220mature buyersC and &#8220older families.C

One developer is focusing on housing within walking and biking distance of commercial areas in San Luis Obispo as well as the demand for single-story homes in Lompoc.

Still others have factored in the &#8220outdoor lifestyleC prompted by the Central Coast/s mild climate and the propensity area residents have for entertaining.

Among those offering higher-end homes are Greg Nester Construction & Development Inc., with headquarters in Arroyo Grande, and Bermant Development Co., with headquarters in Santa Barbara.

Nester is featuring a 4,480-square-foot fully custom home in Santa Margarita with a price tag of ,1.49 million.

Among Bermant/s homes are a 4,798-square-foot home in its Monte Serrano development east of Arroyo Grande, where the prices range from ,750,000 to ,2.3 million, and a 4,208-square-foot home in Orcutt Estates, where prices range from ,1.1 million to ,1.5 million.

Livia Signorelli, sales manager and marketing director for Nester, said the mission-style Santa Margarita home on 3 acres is &#8220extremely customized … way over the top, with full bells and whistles.C

Aimed at the high-end buyer who wants a home with personal touches, it also showcases Nester/s style with such amenities as a water fountain, a fire pit, a hot tub, an outside kitchen and bathrooms with natural marble and oil-rubbed bronze hardware.

It also offers security, Internet wiring and surround sound in all the rooms as well as a central vacuum system.

Bermant/s Monte Serrano model is designed to appeal to the high-end buyer looking for a semicustom home and is part of a 130-acre open-space development, said John Campanella, president of BDC Homes.

Monte Serrano is one of the developments targeting &#8220mature buyers who want to live in the Central Coast wine country,C said Campanella.

All the Monte Serrano residents will own a share of a small vineyard near Lopez Drive, and nearby Talley Vineyard will make wine from the grapes, then bottle it for residents under the Monte Serrano label.

Another draw for &#8220mature buyersC is what Campanella called &#8220double master bedrooms.C

Large bedrooms with adjoined bathrooms will appeal to owners who end up with &#8220mature kids with families who come back or aging parents who move in with their children,C he said.

Bermant/s Orcutt Estates, while also appealing to higher-end buyers, is aimed more at &#8220older families.C

&#8220It/s really great for maturing families … with children of different ages,C Campanella said. &#8220It has separate bedroom areas 7 some by the master bedroom and some on the other side.

&#8220It has separate entertainment areas, because the tastes of teens vs. the small kids vs. the friends you have over are different,C he said.

The homes also have garages 27 feet deep to accommodate trucks and boats 7 &#8220when you get older, you/ve got the toys,C Campanella said 7 as well as home offices, walk-in pantries, kitchen offices for bill-paying or hobbies and large covered patios.

But not everyone can afford such luxurious homes, so developers are offering a look at lower-priced alternatives.

&#8220When you enter into a market where homes are ,1.5 million, it brings down the amount of people in the price range,C Signorelli said. &#8220In a lower-priced market, you have a broader range of buyers.C

So Nester is also showcasing a model in his Villagio development, the latest addition to the Blacklake community. At 3,699 square feet, the home is priced at ,954,000 7 still high by some standards but packed with amenities.

Signorelli said that while many people who visit Villagio are looking for smaller homes 7 around 1,800 square feet 7 at a lower price 7 around ,600,000 7 many will pay much more to upgrade the new homes they end up buying.

The Villagio models, however, offer many of those upgrades as standard appointments.

&#8220We feel like they/re very competitively priced,C she said, with granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances, 8-foot solid-core doors, skylights, garden tubs, walk-in closets, ceramic tile floors and open floor plans.

The project has drawn a more youthful crowd 7 people with children and early retirees 7 than the buyers at the original Blacklake development, and a lot of them have come from Grover Beach, Santa Maria, Buellton and Santa Ynez as opposed to Southern California.

She noted the area will appeal to those who want nearby shopping, as it will have a &#8220classy, Mediterranean-styleC community center with a neighborhood market and a deli with outdoor seating.

The ability to walk to shopping, cafes and parks also is expected to draw buyers to Centex Homes/ multifamily development at 3592 Broad in San Luis Obispo, said Andrea Bradford, director of marketing with the company/s Santa Barbara-based Central Coast division.

&#8220People in the neighborhood can actually walk to commercial areas on each side,C Bradford said. &#8220I think there is a huge desire for close-in living. If you can bike to downtown, who wouldn/t love that?C

At 2,233 square feet, the two-story condominiums sell in the mid-,500,000s, which Bradford called &#8220pretty affordable by SLO standards,C but the attached units are designed so they don/t appear as such.

&#8220From the outside, it looks like one large house,C Bradford said. &#8220When you pull up, you don/t see a row of porches and doors.C

She noted the units are designed with the &#8220SLO lifestyleC in mind, with open floor plans ideal for entertaining.

&#8220There/s a very open kitchen that/s open to the dining room that/s open to the living room that/s open to the outdoors,C she said.

Open floor plans conducive to entertaining are also incorporated into the Gardens at Briar Creek, the Centex Homes project in Lompoc, where the demand is high for single-story homes and prices are also in the ,500,000s.

Bedrooms are completely separated from the living areas, and large yards are well-suited to &#8220big barbecues and Easter egg hunts,C Bradford said.

The model home is 2,167 square feet, which Bradford said is &#8220big enough to live in, where you don/t feel cramped but you don/t spend your whole life vacuuming.C

The model has a large family room, formal living and dining rooms and a front den, &#8220which some people choose to use as a hobby room,C she said.

While these are only a few of the developers and designs included in the Parade of Homes, the trends of living near shopping, entertaining indoors and out and luxurious homes aimed at mature buyers seem to be common threads running through these showcase homes.

Mike Hodgson can be reached at 739-2221 or mhodgson@santamariatimes.com.

April 15, 2007