Lake and Porter Counties

Accent Homes, Inc began in 1971 as F.O. Morin & Co., as an entity set up to handle real estate investments for Frank Morin, a real estate salesperson who specialized in new construction sales. In 1972, Mr. Morin asked his brothers, Rick and Dean to join him in a venture building new homes. The brothers started construction on their first home in the fall of 1972 on a lot on the edge of the Town Of DeMotte. The home was completed and promptly sold followed by another and another. The company was incorporated as Morin Bros. Inc and continued building homes around the DeMotte area until the first oil crisis in the mid 1970's stopped the flow of buyers from Lake and Porter counties from moving south. The company had taken a lot in trade on a new house. The lot was located in a little known subdivision called Lakes of the Four Seasons. A speculative house was built on the lot and quickly sold. A new market had been discovered. For the balance of the 1970's the company built 40 to 60 homes per year in this newly discovered area. In the early 1980's the Federal Reserve made radical policy changes which resulted in a devastating housing recession. The company struggled, as did all building companies, but survived. The situation created by the recession caused the brothers to split up the company and each work independently. The basic corporate structure was retained by Frank Morin and the name was changed to Accent Homes, Inc. The company struggled and survived until the market began to revive in the mid 80's. The company’s dedication to providing high quality and affordable homes propelled them to the position of being the largest volume single family homebuilder in Northwest Indiana by the early 1990's. The company has been building 80 to 90 homes per year for the past several years and that volume promises to grow to over 100 homes per year.