As evidenced by my other threads, I'm at the site almost every day, as I only live two miles away and pass it going to/from shopping etc. It's a spec town home being built in the builder's development, and they have a great policy of letting you visit as often as you wish, as long as you suit up in a hard hat. Now I also have to pick up a key since it's done enough to be locked down when workers aren't there. I've taken full advantage of this policy and have videotape and photos of everything behind the walls and even of the shared wall with the next door unit, as well as detailed photos from every stage of the build. I've also caught a couple of incorrect things early, like an incorrectly placed hose bib, so they were able to be corrected before it became a lot of time and trouble later. Because I don't own the home yet, I can't really tell the workers what to do. I say "hello" and chat with them about their work if they bring it up themselves, but mostly I try to stay out of their way. Still, it's handy to be there sometimes, like when the electrician was putting in the hot tub box, as he had a question that it was easiest to ask us (we paid for that added work, so I felt comfortable talking to him about the specs). Even though I have some minor bones of contention with the builder at the moment, overall the policy of letting me have unlimited access to the construction site has given me a lot more confidence. I marvel at people who don't get a good look before the final walk-through, as that's much too rushed and stressful of a time to get a good look at everything. I plan to go through by myself a few days before that so I can test and scrutinize things at my leisure. That way, I'll know exactly where to focus on that final day.

Stumpyouch, thanks for the compliment. I did learn how to get the pictures up from a lady on the Building a New House forum. The porch boards are heart pine. They come with instructions to be painted on all four sides which they were with BM All Purpose Industrial Paint with two coats and then right before we move in we'll give them a final coat.

We are around your age range (I'm a little younger, DH a little older). We recently bought a house on 1 acre (3000 SF) about 9 miles from closest shopping. In our case, we have pets and needed to be in an area without pet restrictions so this worked the best. Some of the things we thought about: 1. How do we want to use our space? We still have teenagers at home so needed more space than those without would need. But even looking ahead, DH and I each want our own office (for our computer use) and so something below about 2500 SF wouldn't work for us. Can you do everything you want with the smaller space? 2. Which house is easier for upkeep? We sold a 4500 SF 2 story house. Now we have a 3000 SF on one story. That is a lot less upkeep. Not having stairs is so, so, so nice. You don't mention on the houses you are looking at if they have stairs or not. 3. How far away is a hospital. I absolutely wanted to have a hospital within 30 minutes. While I hope to not need it that urgently you never know. 4. How far away are other amenities? I hate that I am 20 minutes away from a grocery store I don't like and 25 minutes away from the one I do like. So we have to drive more than I would like. Overall, I'm OK with it. 5. I decided not to worry about what would happen in really old age if DH and I couldn't drive. At our age that is probably 20 years ago (sure it could happen sooner but I'm just basing on what I've seen with other relatives). At that point, I probably want to be closer in with better non-car transportation options or at least close to a taxi. However, that time isn't now and probably won't be for many years. So we decided not to buy based upon that. We can always sell and move later on 6. Based upon 5 - resale value is important.

OP - I really think you need to sit down and rethink your position. You have a lot of ideas swirling around, but they're not well defined or mutually consistent. First, you need to define much more concretely what kind of house you really want - you say simple, unpretentious, but then mention 10 foot ceilings in the basement, multiple living/family rooms and perhaps even a cupola. You don't need separate rooms for every function, which is what your wish list kind of comes across as: you might want to consider re-doing your "needs" and "wants" not in terms of rooms required but in terms of the functions you want your house as a whole to perform. Rooms that can do double duty would save you square footage and money. Second, as I mentioned previously, you need to get a handle on housing costs where you live. That may mean going to open houses, surfing Zillow, talking to local agents or having a sit down with a contractor or architect. Third, I think you should put aside the idea of paying for the house in cash. While I'm all in favor of getting rid of that mortgage asap for many of the reasons outlined by Mrs Pete (you cannot put a dollar value on the feeling of security you get if you grew up in a less than secure housing environment, but finally pay off your own home), nonetheless it makes a lot of sense to have a low-interest mortgage and put your cash into higher-return investments, especially if you're more or less "starting out." Fourth, you need to think about your personal financials, particularly once you have a better idea of what your housing costs are likely to be. When I bought my first house, I took out a mortgage that was about half of what the bank approved, because I knew I could pay that amount without having to chip into my contingency fund (at the time, 3 months salary) and while still contributing to my retirement fund and my regular investment fund. So, I bought a smaller, simpler place than my bank would have allowed, simply because it suited my long term financial goals better. I'm much older now, have built up a decent portfolio, as has my better half, so we did pay cash outright for our last house - but again, we built a house that was less than we could afford, but allowed us to leave savings and retirement funds intact (we did have to sell one investment property as well as our old home to make it happen, but that was no great sacrifice!) People talk a lot about dream houses, but sometimes a dream house isn't all marble floors and a backyard swimming pool or 5000 sq feet of space. Sometimes it's living comfortably and affordably in a good area, and enjoying a retirement that allows you to enjoy life, restaurants, travel, and friends. The dream life is more important to me than the dream house.