Questions about building a house

[gsr-nsx]

Appreciate your insight on the following issues:

Which neighborhood?

Neighborhood 1 is a 50 home community, 2+ acre wooded lots, with reasonable HOA fees. Privacy is the advantage of this neighborhood.

Neighborhood 2 is less than 10 homes, 2+ acre lots, with much higher HOA fees (5x). The lots are elevated and offer an expansive view of neighboring treetops.

The neighborhoods are relatively close to each other.

Which house?

House 1- Smaller home but with a finished basement. Counting the basement, the total living sqft equals that of house 2.

House 2- Larger home but with unfinished basement. The total living sqft equals that of House 1. In the future, additional living sqft may be added by finishing the basement.

The two houses are similar floorplans with the only difference being larger rooms.

TIA

[coolnsx]

Appreciate your insight on the following issues:

Which neighborhood?

Neighborhood 1 is a 50 home community, 2+ acre wooded lots, with reasonable HOA fees. Privacy is the advantage of this neighborhood.

Neighborhood 2 is less than 10 homes, 2+ acre lots, with much higher HOA fees (5x). The lots are elevated and offer an expansive view of neighboring treetops.

The neighborhoods are relatively close to each other.

Which house?

House 1- Smaller home but with a finished basement. Counting the basement, the total living sqft equals that of house 2.

House 2- Larger home but with unfinished basement. The total living sqft equals that of House 1. In the future, additional living sqft may be added by finishing the basement.

The two houses are similar floorplans with the only difference being larger rooms.

TIA

I would always prefer to own the smallest/cheapest house in the neighborhood; You can only go up from there! Especially in the current economic times.

[TC]

Neighborhood 1 is a 50 home community, 2+ acre wooded lots, with reasonable HOA fees. Privacy is the advantage of this neighborhood.

Do you have kids or plan to have kids? My wife and I owned a house on a 5-acre lot complete with a pond, woods, and a 180-yard par-3 golf hole. It was great but we never really knew or saw our neighbors. We moved for company/career 2 times before having kids, and our current house is in a residential setting where the lots are about 1/2 acre. We know our neighbors well, my young daughters (5 and 7) have lots of friends, etc. I loved my house on the acreage but with kids, house in the neighborhood is better. JMO.

[docjohn]

TC brings up a good point.We also live in a developement where lots are 2 acre plus and privacy is assured.That said there is not the neighborhood feel I grew up with on Staten Island.Our community gets around this by having organized block parties/socials.Almost every home has children,so although rural/suburban large lots do promote isolationism, if the developement has alot of kids the parents just need to be more proactive.The positive on large lots is that after spending all this money on a nice home I don't feel like I'm on display around the house,and looking out the windows I see woods not neighbors.

[gsr-nsx]

Thanks for all your comments. With child #2 on the way, these are all good points to consider.

[HTN]

I would go with the the property with the least Hoa. This will hender your sale in the future. I also think that 10 homes is a bit too small for comfort. Everyone knows everyone.