@BunsenBurner yep…that is a raised ranch in these parts!
Yikes. 
https://www.houseplans.pro/plans/plan/6631
And this is a split level in these parts!
I dislike homes with garages below bedrooms. When the garage door opens, the bedrooms above it seem to shake with the loud noise. Not good when one member of the family has to go to work at 6AM.
@greenwitch, my parents live on a steep hill in that kind of house, but there are three floors. You pull into the garage and walk up a flight of stairs to the first floor. Then you can go out the front door to go to the front yard/driveway. There is another flight of stairs to the second floor. I like the design, but it’s kind of dated. It has a “conversation pit.” That was the rage for a couple of years in the early '70s.
My parents were able to buy the lot for peanuts in 1972, because nobody could figure out how build on that hill!
BB, Wrong people have money these days.
162 - that is a classic tri-level home. Tri-levels are very popular here.
The sunken family room on the same level as the garage is usually open to the open kitchen.
You’ve almost described my home (minus the conversation pit).
I live on a reasonably steep hill. The back of my property is mostly level or slightly above my first floor. The low part of the property has a driveway with a garage/basement. Stairs from the basement lead to the first floor. You can walk out any of the doors on the first floor and be mostly level with the rest of the property (+/- a few landscaping steps here and there).
There is an upper level with two bedrooms, which from the lower driveway looks like the 3rd floor and from the upper driveway or anywhere else in the yard looks like the 2nd floor.
The house was built in 1922 in a neighborhood with few houses and large lots. It was a modest home for the neighborhood.
When they poured the foundation, they were clearly confused as to how to deal with the hillside against the house. When we moved in, there was a deck along three sides of the house with a rock retaining wall next to the deck. We took out the deck - it was rotten- and found a sub grade patio around those three sides of the house. The patio surface was the old-time cobble stones (ship ballast)- those rectangular stones that look hand carved. Our architect referred to it as a “bathtub patio”. One could not have climbed up to a door without a ladder- it’s that deep.
We had our contractor dig out the cobble and pile it in the backyard. Then we built a foundation wall for the wrap around porch that replaced the deck. Then we had the retaining wall off the porch torn down (it was failing anyway) and a new one built with the cobblestone and an occasional large boulder.
Sadly no conversation pit. Wasn’t a thing back in the 20s apparently!
Back in the 90’s we built a lot of “split level” or “multi-level” houses, which I think is what @BunsenBurner calls “tri-level”. It was a very popular plan, and I’ll explain how it’s different than a “split entry”.
A split entry is basically a two story house with the front entry smack dab in the middle of the two levels, so you walk up a half flight of stairs to get to the door and then, upon entering, make a decision to go down a half flight to the lower level, or up a half flight to the upper level. A tough house to sell. IMO, just let it be what it is, a two story, and keep the front door on the ground level.
What distinguishes the split-, multi-, or tri-level (take your pick as to the name), is that the floors of the houses are vertically staggered by half a level. The right side might have a garage at ground level (typically with a family room behind the garage that walked out directly to the back yard) and bedrooms above the garage. The left side would then have two levels, a basement (but only half a floor below grade) and the living room and kitchen, which are a half flight of stairs above grade.
The plan works well because 1) wrt groceries, it’s only a half flight of stairs from the garage to the kitchen and 2) when you’re on the kitchen/living room level, it’s only a half flight up to the bedrooms or a half flight down to the family room and garage. The house was very popular with young families.
@thumper1 - sorry, no photo. Here’s one: https://activerain.com/blogsview/465972/bel-pre-woods-bi-level-in-rockville—updated—pristine
This looks like a split-level to me - with floors that are half a floor apart on the left side vs. the right: https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Commack-NY/pmf,pf_pt/59588182_zpid/44707_rid/split-level-_att/globalrelevanceex_sort/40.895997,-73.206025,40.78392,-73.353138_rect/12_zm/
ETA - I grew up hearing that split levels were dangerous, that it was dangerous to have your garage beneath a bedroom in case of carbon monoxide poisoning if you idled your car while warming it up in the winter.
I guess CC could go on another 50 pages on tri-level, split level, or raised ranches.
The tear downs in my village use the same builders and same ‘basic’ design if they want to stay in the $1M to $1,500,000 range. It is all flat land here. The house is a two story but with a raised foundation of the first floor so they can have a deep 9’ or 10’ basement. The entry to the front door is up seven steps and from the garage it is seven steps to the main level. On the back of the house you exit to an elevated deck.
It just doesn’t seem practical to get the groceries to the kitchen. Maybe they eat out and don’t care.
Split level in Seattle area vernacular:
Steps up to the front door
Entry has a landing with 6 steps up to main living level (bed, bath, kitchen, LR, DR) and 6 steps down to a daylight basement and garage.
Tri-level:
Level entry to living, dining, kitchen. Up a few steps to BR & baths. Down a flight to a daylight basement.
My parents built the house I live in - a colonial style. All bedrooms up, living etc on ground floor. Mom was a RE agent and loathed split levels. “A good use of space” were her kindest words.
Lots of homes here with steps to the front door. I don’t see it being a problem at all. I suppose someone who has trouble carrying groceries up 7 steps shouldn’t buy that type of house! 
I’m kind of chuckling at the steps too. Our current home is a traditional Tudor and has seven steps to get onto the front porch. And the garage is detached and in the alley.
Location, age, upgrades, schools and lot sizes matter more than just square footage of the house.
Many splits, including my house, have converted the original garage under the bedrooms into living space and then added on a new garage. One of my neighbors not only did this but added another level - put in a master bedroom suite on top of the living room level.
We have a quad split – front entry opens to LR, kitchen, DR and side entry to carport. Half flight of stairs on the other end of the foyer – upstairs to bedrooms and two baths, downstairs to fam room, office, bath and laundry. Fam room level is half underground, rest of the level is fully above level and has egress. There’s another half flight down to an enclosed basement w/no windows or egress. It’s about 2400 sq ft including partially finished basement.
We are in a 1960s starter neighborhood in the MD burbs of DC. One hour-plus commute to DC on Metro to downtown. Folks who move in have young kids. Prices are up 250% since we bought in 1998, but there’s a pretty hard limit on how much we could sink into renovations. Houses that are upgraded go for about $75k more than houses that aren’t. $75k in renovations in the DC area doesn’t get you much.
We bought with 10% down and a 10% HELOC. We were 37 and had kids in elementary school when we bought. No help from parents. I don’t know how the new residents are coming up with a down payment unless they sold a townhouse, a condo closer to DC, or had parental assistance.
I’m expecting that within the next ten years we’ll start seeing people coming in to buy and tear down. Our neighborhood has half-acre lots, which are hard to find. (More than half our property assessment equals the value of the lot.)
Friend just sold a huge house on just under eight acres, 6000 sq ft and had an offer within a day. Got their asking price. I was pleased for them, as it’s pretty far out. Real estate agent did a good job balancing desire to sell and hitting the sweet spot on price.
@sherpa your description of a split level matches mine…and is what our first house was like. It was really a good layout for a young family. Particularly nice was that our family room was HUGE…as we had no garage. I think the previous owners converted that whole level to a family room which also had a laundry room and 1/2 bath right off…and an exterior exit to the side yard and driveway.
We really liked that house! And we lived in that lower level which was also cooler in the summer.
And having a basement in addition was nice.
A raised ranch does not have a basement.
Anyway…back to houses selling. We hope our colonial with the 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, three car garage on two acres on a cul d sac with lake rights…will sell when the time comes. We really like our house.
Here in WA, split level and split entry are often used interchangeably. God forbid you call a tri-level a split. That would be kiss of death to the listing.
@kiddie wrote:
This really resonates with me. We did a major downsize to a 2 BR 2 BA condo. It is (mostly) perfect for us now. However, we know it will be a challenge if and when ds ever marries and has children. We are in a vacation/retirement area. Initially, I thought I might want to upsize at a later point in time, but I think we are more likely to buy a second condo that allows weekly rentals but block out holidays for our family’s use. Space when we need it - rental income when we don’t. I really don’t want to maintain/clean space that we only need a couple of times a year. However, that is only possible for us because of the type of area we live in.
But, I do like your mindset that our downsized home doesn’t have to be our “forever” home. I don’t think our downsize was an error at all. We love living small, but we could add more space and still be living small. Time will tell what is right for us.