Would you rather build your dream house or travel?
 

We just bought 3 acres in a beautiful part of North Carolina and planning on building our house. We were so excited about it but now have second thoughts. If we go on with construction that means we won't travel for at least two years. My husband and I love to travel,visit new places, meeting people, making friends here and there, returning to some places and being recognized. I don't know how we can cope with not visiting Alaska, Death Valley, Paris, Greece, Seychelles for a few years.
Were you ever in a similar situation? Did you have to make such difficult choices? What would you do?

Both - it's not an either/or situation.
There are a number of house-swap orgs that you can join and w/a new
house if not too far from an airport you just might be in an enviable position.

As much as I like to travel, my home is more important. We bought a fixer upper farm many years ago, and put all our time and money into it for several years - the only traveling we did was day trips. I don't regret it one bit. Now, when we travel we always have a beautiful, comfortable home waiting for us at the end of our journey.

I would rather travel. My husband would rather build the dream house. Can you build a smaller home or maybe buy an existing one in the area that you like?
We talked about getting a second home or a vacation home in the mountains. (The beach is over our heads). I am afraid to do this because then I think it will strap us down. My husband will be like lets go to the mountain house instead of vacationing this year....ahhhh!!!!!! There is a really big world out there and I am determined to see it!!!

Why two years? It shouldn't take that long to build a house. :-)

I guess it depends on what your personal priorities are and nobody else can really decide that for you. Would you & your husband rather have this new house or travel? It does seem like you could still get away for weekends even during building. Maybe it's a good opportunity to explore some destinations closer to home.

Wow, this is tough.I invested in real estate at the age of 20. 30 years and three houses later, I own a very nice house which is paid for and when I sell it, I can retire to any place I want. That's not to say you have to build the biggest, most expensive place. Look to resale when you do anything. For instance, a pool might seem great to you, but it doesn't make your house worth more! A large kitchen and an extra bathroom does. Consider some sort of deal with your builder- can you barter in any way? Can you do the painting and wallpapering, tile? Can you buy remnant carpeting for some rooms? I've redone 3 houses and know how to do a LOT of the small stuff. Learn to refinish furniture. Look for art at yard sales. While granite countertops are beautiful, there are off brands of corian that are much more affordable. Plus, there are lots of people who do countertops, tile floors, etc on the side. Our kitchen was done by a fireman who works in his off time and it is gorgeous. I say, go ahead and start the house and take weekend trips. Use a credit card such as Southwest for your needs and earn free points for tickets.Priority Club is another good one. Look for deals on travel auctions such as Generous Adventure or Luxury Link. Travel off season. Look for hotel/air packages. You love Paris? Visit Quebec! Much cheaper, very French feel. Don't worry, you'll have a lovely home and won't feel cheated! Good luck to both of you!

Travel - I am currently building a house (not my dream house) & we signed the contract 8/04. It certainly can take two years to build a house.

Hi Pat!

We've been in the same situation (more than once) and i think you can have the best of both worlds. Although it sounds like this may be a second home / vacation place for you?? Our quandry has been for everyday life. In our relocations, building has been as cost effective than buying used, and we will likely build again. However, we're conscious of not building at the expense of 'living' - which to us, also includes traveling.

In a word (or 3!) - location location location!
We have neighbors with bigger/better, but who are 'house-poor', living in lovely digs with little or no furnishings, or they rarely leave the neighborhood. We aimed for the most square footage / living space for the buck (location, location, location!) but we don't opt for the top of the line upgrades, such as lighting, landscaping etc. Similar to our vacations; we'd rather have MORE nights on the road (or at the shore) in LESS expensive lodging. So, we have the best of both worlds, with a lot of careful planning.

(BTW, i finally replied to your ?? in my trip report:) Are you ready for your big trip?)

This is a no brainer for us. Travel for sure. We are both senior citizens, and will be selling our home within the next two years and going into a Senior Living apartment and doing even more traveling than we have already done. Can't wait!!!!

We have had the same dilemma. A couple of years ago we bought ocean view property on our island and plan to build our dream home there. However, we also love to travel.

We finally decided to travel for a couple more years and then focus on building so we can eventually travel again. Even if it takes us longer than a couple of years we can always make building choices later in life, but I prefer to travel while I'm young and healthy.

After dealing with contractors for my home, I said never again. Just one very biased opinion.

Definitely buy/build my dream home. I like my house now, but there are alot of things missing that I want and that my bf wants. I'm still young, so I can hold off on traveling for a few years and not feel slighted. Especially if I was building a beautiful home I could entertain comfortably in.

We bought our dream lot in 7-02. We demo'd the old house in 5-04. We will be lucky to move in this summer. Dream house? If only I had unlimited money for the zinc bar and the slate slab floors and the fireplaces in the dining room and....and...and...And if only the neighbors let us build it really tall, instead of 14.5 feet height cap, and they let us make the driveway the way we wanted....It's been a lot of brain damage. It might have been more fun to go to China or wherever. But when I'm living there at the beach next summer, ask me again.

If you're building it yourself or overseeing construction closely, then I guess that would be the top priority. If it's a "turnkey" job - i.e. where you give the plans to a contractor then come back when they've finished, well then it shouldn't take two years nor should it stop you from traveling, consistent with your finances and time.

OTOH many millions of us have leveraged our "dream houses" into cash machines (just kidding) that fund travel down the road.

Budget willing, use the construction phase to justify travel anyway. Is there someplace where you can travel for home furnishings or art or carpets or...?

Sometimes we don't connect travel with necessities of life when they could be connected. Case in point, and this certainly doesn't apply to everyone, if you need a new car and have your eyes on a Volvo or Saab or BMW (even the cheap ones, which are priced comparably to many Japanese or US cars) did you know that the manufacturers will sell you one from the factory for 7% or so under the US sticker, then pay for the insurance while you drive it around Europe for - what? - a week? Four days? A month? - then collect it for shipping to your home - all in the cost of the car? Or how about if (Volvo) threw in two round trip air tickets to Sweden as part of the deal? Well, they do. Free trip, free car rental in Europe, net savings on the wheels of a grand or two. Better than a kick in the head.

Point being, use the house building to justify trips to the home decorating stores in San Francisco, or London or Mexico. Get creative with your plans.

We did it. We worked very hard for a couple years finishing our house. You'll be so busy working on the house that a couple of years will fly by. Now our house is paid for and finished, we continue to do things to it and the yard, but now we can also travel MORE than we did before and still enjoy our lovely home. Good luck with your decision!

It's definately a personal choice. My parents built three of their homes by themselves. That meant that we did not travel and every night after school/work and every weekend was spent working on the house. We did not do anything except work on the house.

It seemed like a sacrifice but my parents have no debt and travel a lot now. My sisters and I learned a lot about construction and my husband and I have plans to build our own little dream home in a couple of years.

It just depends on what you want and how much time you're willing to spend on this project.

Good luck!

Two years of no travel I think isn't too much sacrifice for a dream home you'll have the rest of your lives...
There will come a time when you are much older that the house will mean more to you and travel will be less appealing.
This is an investment. If you're lucky enough to be affluent enough to build this home and travel again in such a short time, I'd be very grateful for such a good life situation.

Be sure to pay for the building materials with your frequent flyer credit card. We did some remodeling last year and got five free plane tickets out of it ( partly because we did it during a double miles special).

Just keep in mind, for those of you waiting to travel...it is not uncommon for that time to never arrive...ill parents or spouses, or even problems w/your own health can make future plans unattainable. (Voice of experience speaking here regarding my parents). Many things can happen that even further delay those plans for retirement & leisure. Do it now while you are able. What is the old saying - "...tomorrow never comes...".

A lot depends on what you mean by dream house. I think most people would read that to mean big, luxurious, loaded with amenities, and well-located (all of which are usually synonymous with expensive, thus the either/or scenario you proposed: dream house or travel).

After several houses, my wife & I ended up minimizing the size and expense of our home (we did max out the location), in order to free up funds to do other things besides pay a mortgage: travel for instance :-)