re: Give me some life feedback

Sounds like you can afford it. Nobody can really answer this for you. I would consider 15 year mortgage if you decide to do it.

We were in similar position at age 45 and moved from 1900 sqft to 3000 sqft home. Our place become where our extended family did birthdays and holidays. We are a sports family and have room for basketball/football/baseball. Grandkids stay with us most weekends now. No regrets.

We build and sell new construction homes, but bought an existing home that met all our wishes. It sits on 2.5 wooded acres which was important to us. Paid about half what the home would cost new. Slowly remodeled parts of it to make it better.

quote:

---

Anyone ever make this decision and regret it? Wish you would've stayed in the smaller, more inexpensive house?

---

Me. Not so much pining for a more inexpensive house, but definitely a smaller house.

Lived in a 3000 SF house when we bought acreage and designed our "forever" house. Sold the 3000 SF house and lived in a 1500 SF house for a year while we built. Now live in that 5500 SF "forever" home.

I'd sell it in a heartbeat to go back to something smaller. I've always said that, if I had lived in that 1500 SF home before designing our current home, it would have been a lot smaller (probably somewhere between the 1500 SF and 3000 SF houses, maybe in the 2500 SF range). But, to my husband, this really is a forever home, so there's no point in me thinking of anything different.

I know you're not talking about building a 5500 SF house, but you are talking about a big jump in size from your current home. So I suppose my recommendation would be to, maybe on vacation one week, rent a house similar in size to what you're planning to build and both of you spend the time really thinking about how you feel in and about that much space. I don't like my family being so spread out. I wish we had focused on solving our storage issues and kept the rooms smaller and more proximate to one another.

You've gotten some good feedback on the financial aspects of this. So just weighing in on the non-economic considerations since you asked for "life feedback".

Good luck either way!

Very solid feedback! Thanks

Particularly looking for folks older than me lol.

I am old enough to be your father.

35 yo. Married. 2 young kids.

Wife and I have been discussing building our "forever" home. Targeting end of next year or Q1 2026.

“Forever” is a long time to stay in one house.

We currently live in a 1,750 sf home that I bought as a "starter" house 10 years ago. It was built in 1983. I bought it for $169k and since living in here have probably put $25k in improvements into it. It's worth $240-250 tomorrow.

Sounds good.

Am I crazy for having second thoughts of building a brand new 3000sf home, that will probably cost us $600-700k?

You are rational and reasonable.

Should we instead just build a shop at the current house? Maybe add on? There are some clear flaws in the house we're in. Lack of storage. Smaller bedrooms, and a small bathrooms.

Reasonable ideas.

But idk: The thought of living mortage free, forever, and taking the ~$150k in cash that we probably would put down on the next one and continuing to invest it, honestly sounds kind of nice.

It does.

What do you guys think?

A house is a place to live. If you like where you live now, stay. Chasing more square feet or a “better” neighborhood or “keeping up with the Jones’s” is pointless.

Spending money we don’t have on stuff we don’t need is almost thematic in America.

quote:

---

Dual Income. We don’t make a crazy amount. Combined $258,000 W-2 plus some side ventures.
After taxes and retirement, we take home $13,296/mo.
Our current mortgage is $1400/mo. Intentional about budgeting. No debt besides house and future lot.
No inheritance.
Typically receive a solid bonus each year from work that we stash away.

---

Only on this f***king board is $258k a year not a big deal.