Oops...my post would have made more sense if I had explained that we are still several years from retirement and would only use the house as a rental or vacation home until then.......I won't have to live in the house with the duckhunters in the spare bedroom!

Check out the regulations for using it as a vacation rental. Check with any local realtors to see if this is a pipe dream or if it could really bring in some income. Who would clean and manage it for you?

We own a small vacation rental condo on Maui that carries itself most years (Not this one!), and we are there a month in winter. We are licensed by the state and county and employ a full service agency to look after the condo and our guests.

Chisue, there would be no problem in renting out the house. We would only be renting it occasionally and using it once or twice a year. Then when we retire we would be moving into it full time. I am just wondering how to build a house with the features and details that we want, but also building it to withstand renting it out. Do you plan to move into your home in Maui when you retire? (Lucky you!) If so, did you put into some lower cost things that you will change out later? I am thinking about things like flooring and countertops. Not sure how easy those things would be to upgrade later, but I know I would not want anyone gutting ducks or cleaning fish on the granite countertops.

I guess if you are "several years" away from living in this place you could install more "budget friendly" type features like countertops, flooring, etc. Then when you are ready to retire figure on an "update" to the more personal and expensive things. If it were just a couple years I don't think it would be cost effective. For an example, we went with a laminate countertop instead of granite because the area was so big and I am not a huge granite lover, but the price difference was huge! $1500 for the laminate vs. $6000 for the granite!
Good Luck!

OK, I only wanted to issue a 'caution'. LOL

No, I could never live on Maui full time. Four to six weeks are fine for DH and me, but not longer. I'd get Rock Fever. Living on "island time" is more fun if you're not trying to accomplish anything.

The forum has had many posts about building 'standard' and planning to upgrade later. Young homeowners often take a builder's lowest grades to get into a home: Linoleum, laminate counters, cheap carpeting or rugs, plain faucets and light fixtures, pedestal sinks, non-built-in standard appliances, no mouldings, gravel driveway, no garage or deck. I don't know about cheap interior doors, but maybe?

I also wonder about renting to a bunch of guys. Our experience with the Maui rental has been all positive, but it's a little upscale; guests tend to take care, and someone checks for damages at checkout. (No college boys removing interior doors for use as 'surfboards'. LOL)

Thanks for the advice twotogo and Chisue. My husband thinks that I would not be able to stand having our house rented out even for a short time. He asked me how I would feel if someone's dog had an accident in the middle of the living room. It is a lot to think about, but if we built the house now, it would only make sense to try and get a little financial benefit from it. The area up there is just gorgeous but there are very few places to stay if you are visiting.

To tell the truth, I wouldn't even buy land that I was not going to live on very soon. I'd wait to build until you are ready to use the house.

Hmmm, how would it work to build now and do long-term rental until you're ready to use the house? Do the same 'standard' outfitting and wait to improve until you want to live in it.

I agree with you about not buying the land until we were ready to live there, but......(there is always a "but" LOL)

Years ago, we fell in love with the area where we bought our property. Land very rarely goes up for sale in that area. Since the land across the river from us is a nature preserve, we will never lose our view. The land was very inexpensive for what we got and we felt like we needed to just grab it and hold on to it until we could retire. We have family in the town where we purchased the land so we go up there once or twice a year to visit. Although our family always offers us a place to stay, we hate to put them out. (very small house). We have stayed in some pretty bad motels in the area, and would love to have our own house so we could sit on a deck overlooking the river and watch the bald eagles across the way. I do like your idea of perhaps renting the house out for a longer term, but of course that would prevent us from using it when we were there. There is no easy solution. I guess I just have to decide if I can put my heart into building a home, and then letting others stay in it. I have the feeling that our renters would not be nearly as careful as yours!

I hope the mods delete this NOW!!! What a scam!!!!