(MONEY Magazine) – Let's kiss off the '80s: No more trying on houses, showing off the fit, then shedding them to acquire next year's model. Nobody's knocking the dollars such trade-ins and trade-ups generated, but since today's softer markets make fast, profitable turnarounds unlikely, how utterly relieving to choose a place where we can stay put for a while and still feel smart. What do the houses we want now look like? The answer: In many ways, pretty much as they have for years, but updated with the sophisticated comforts of the present. They have corbels and classical columns, dormers and gables, tiled roofs and whitewashed stucco walls. You know -- real houses with familiar architectural details, no matter the size. ''We're rebounding from the ideology of modernism,'' says Robert Olson, a senior associate at the Institute for Alternative Futures, a strategic planning and consulting group in Alexandria, Va. ''Now there's a shift back to decoration.'' Sociology and personal style also dictate home design trends. So when couples like Gene and Martha Dyer (page 12) make the move to a casual, low- maintenance townhouse in a Georgia retirement village, they spend a hefty $12,000 extra to add a sunroom because, says Martha, ''we like to sit there and watch the weather changing through the glass walls and roof.'' In the '90s, forecasts William Devereaux, the Washington, D.C. manager of the Berkus Group Architects, ''the push will be to create affordable luxury.'' The need to trade off space vs. location and design vs. dollars will spark ingenious compromises. James and Sharon Mount, for example, built and maintain their snazzy Florida weekend retreat (page 15) by sharing the costs with another family. No doubt, in the '90s, houses will require new discipline and practicality for buyers, sellers and owners. But the American dream still thrives. All you need is a wish list.

The First-Time Owner As soon as I saw my 1988 W-2 form,'' says New Orleans psychiatrist Christine Smith, ''I called my mother, a real estate agent, and told her: 'Find me a house.' It was a matter of taxes.'' A month later, Smith, 37, bought into the charm of this light-filled, two-bedroom Victorian in the desirable Uptown district -- and she says she'll never rent again. A busy bus depot across the street helped make the price an affordable $78,500, and an FHA mortgage kept Smith's up-front outlay to merely $4,000.

Moving Up Smartly Back in '83, while living in the St. Louis suburb of St. Charles, attorney Fred Drakesmith, 42, and his wife Mary, 36, a part-time cancer researcher, snagged a 2.1-acre lot near their house. The development then was just mud and promise. Armed with camera, note pad and a vision, the Drakesmiths next spent three years scouting homes for design ideas to build their dream house. Two years and roughly $280,000 later, the family moved into their five-bedroom, 3,900-square-foot house, with wide-open, two-story living space, library, porch and deck. Pool and patio will follow.

The Home That Fits Martha Dyer and husband Gene, 55 and 56, weren't interested in roaming too far from friends and family in Fayetteville, Ga. when Gene retired last July. Still, the Dyers wanted out of their 11-room 1890s farmhouse. Solution? The Golden Oaks retirement community in Union City, 10 miles away. For $123,000, they got an easygoing two-bedroom townhouse, big enough to embrace visiting family. The den became a home office for Gene, a former bank vice president. Martha, a freelance graphic artist, still works part time and says she doesn't miss the old homestead at all.

The Getaway House Designed for high-style, low-maintenance, invite-the-friends good times, this two-bedroom $70,000 Destin, Fla. retreat on the Panhandle shore was dreamed up by Atlanta architect James Mount, 52, and his interior designer wife Sharon, 45, to be as light and breezy as an early summer day. The Mounts share the three-level, 1,500-square-foot beach house with Sharon's sister and husband.