>I'm considering building a house too. I get the feeling it would be financially better to start smaller, and then incrementally add to the house as we accrue t

>I'm considering building a house too. I get the feeling it would be financially better to start smaller, and then incrementally add to the house as we accrue the necessary capital to do it. I don't know anything about your personal financial situation, so this advice may be completely off-base. But perhaps buy a house that's unrenovated but structurally sound and then hire a contractor to renovate it to your specifications? At least if my experience a few years ago was any indication, you'll learn a tremendous amount about permits, appliances, electrical upgrades, fixtures, moulding, doors and windows, insulation, decks, landscaping, and how to manage a complex undertaking that's likely (depending on the size of the house and the geographic area) to run into the six figures and last at least half a year. Then, a few years later, you can hire an architect and do everything right the second time around. :) Also if you live in the SF bay area (and I know your profile says you're in Massachusetts), be warned that all the good land is already built on or unavailable for building or vacant and extremely expensive -- as in millions of dollars for just a lot in Portola Valley, Los Altos Hills, or Woodside. There was a discounted property for sale two blocks down from me a few years ago for only $800,000 (!). But there was an active landslide on the property and the town expressed some doubt about whether the owner actually had the legal authority under the deed to subdivide in the first place... So if you have a liquidity event, you can buy that 800 ft^2 shack in a great location in Palo Alto for $2M, tear it down, and spend another two years and $2M building a nice modern 3,500 ft^2 house (1,000 of that may have to be underground because, well, it's Palo Alto). Otherwise, well, New Hampshire is a nice place to live! :)