That is the question.
Actually, my main question is what does everyone think of the following? DW really wants to custom build a house in the immediate area where we live now. She wants the tailoring that comes with working personally with an architect. Also, it's impossible (or extremely expensive) to find the style that we both love and we would be buying a nicer lot than we currently have. Finally, I already owned the current place when we got married and she moved in, so there is some aspect of "it's mine, not ours".
She is thinking the new home would be 75-80% the size of the current one and probably 30-40% cheaper in utilities. I generally agree with that. In terms of cost, I estimate the new house would be 15-30% more expensive (due to nicer lot, custom build, nicer materials). Our current house PITI is about 7% of gross income.
Thoughts on the financial aspect? It's hard for my tightwad tendencies -- there is certainly nothing we need that the current house doesn't have. And it seems weird to spend substantially more on a smaller house. But I know I tend to be mechanical about decisions (especially concerning that the DW moved into "my" place), so I'd especially love to hear from spouses who have been in similar situations.
What about thoughts on building custom? We both have more background in the home building industry than your average couple and I think are well-equipped to deal with the visualization (me) and minutia (her) required. A previous thread on here seemed to be pretty negative about building custom but I'm not sure what the primary factors in that were.
Actually, my main question is what does everyone think of the following? DW really wants to custom build a house in the immediate area where we live now. She wants the tailoring that comes with working personally with an architect. Also, it's impossible (or extremely expensive) to find the style that we both love and we would be buying a nicer lot than we currently have. Finally, I already owned the current place when we got married and she moved in, so there is some aspect of "it's mine, not ours".
She is thinking the new home would be 75-80% the size of the current one and probably 30-40% cheaper in utilities. I generally agree with that. In terms of cost, I estimate the new house would be 15-30% more expensive (due to nicer lot, custom build, nicer materials). Our current house PITI is about 7% of gross income.
Thoughts on the financial aspect? It's hard for my tightwad tendencies -- there is certainly nothing we need that the current house doesn't have. And it seems weird to spend substantially more on a smaller house. But I know I tend to be mechanical about decisions (especially concerning that the DW moved into "my" place), so I'd especially love to hear from spouses who have been in similar situations.
What about thoughts on building custom? We both have more background in the home building industry than your average couple and I think are well-equipped to deal with the visualization (me) and minutia (her) required. A previous thread on here seemed to be pretty negative about building custom but I'm not sure what the primary factors in that were.