AuntAnnie

I live in a smallish house by today's standards, but have travelled extensively, own a charming cabin and was an at-home Mom for many years to make great memories with my daughters. Its all about choices. I am very happy with the ones I made.

suze

My dream house is to have a paid-for condo so I can travel.

SAnParis

The last couple of posters are correct, it is about decisions. My wife is currently a work out of the house, P/T, stay at home Mom. While my peers are building larger homes in more distant neighborhoods - we are currently building a home that is (although larger) cheaper in price than our current residence. It is important to us, to have our kids raised a certain way. Travel, & the experiences that come w/it, are an important part of their education process to us.

karens

Without a doubt, for me, I choose travel!

Part of the problem is that, the more I travel, the more wonderful places I get to see. I could never pick ONE perfect place.

lindam

If you were to post this on the European forum, you would most likely get a different response. Many of the people who regularly post there would choose travel over a dream home or expensive car, etc. Traveling to Europe once a year or more is expensive. Unless you are very rich, it would be impossible to do both. But,to a person who really loves to travel (outside the U.S.), it is no sacrifice!!

tcreath

LOL lindam....I am a regular poster on the Europe board and I think I would choose travel! Europe travel is expensive, and we travel there about twice a year, with trips around the US as well, but it's so worth it to us.

We are actually running into this dilemma a little bit right now. My DH and I are in our 20's, so we still have plenty of time to travel, but we are planning on moving into a new house early next year. We both decided early on that we wouldn't get a house at the top end of our price range because traveling is so important to us and we don't want to give it up.

I honestly don't see why a person couldn't have both. I would scale back on my "dream house" a little so that I could still afford to travel. I wouldn't be happy in my dream house if I couldn't enjoy anything else in life, although I certainly wouldn't be happy traveling and living in a shack either.

Tracy

inthechips2

Travel wins, hands down. Two years without travel? I can barely go two months. Of course, for each their own, but the post from SAnParis says it all for me. "Stuff" happens. I can work on my house later when I am no longer willing or able to travel - if that time ever comes

Pat2003

I truly appreciate all your opinions. You gave me a lot to think about. I just want to add that to us not traveling would mean no long trips to Europe, Africa or Alaska. We travel all over the world and after reading so many opinions here I think that we are willing to give ourselves a break from long distance traveling as long as we know we will return to our beloved places in Europe, Africa and also to Alaska. We still would be able to take weekend and short trips once a while in the lower 48 states. Besides, we are hikers so we would do day hikes while in the Adirondacks and also hikes while in North Carolina. Both places have many hiking trails and in North Carolina we could hike almost all year long. We will be in both places during construction but once we finish our new house we will sell this one so we could be mortgage and loan free.
A house swapping is an interesting options but it is not our style because we like to return to a nice, organized and clean house.
I understand it is a big world out there and we saw a big part of it but there is so much more to see.
And yes, we calculated it would take us two years to design our house, build, decorate, landscape without getting mortgage and in the end of two years have a house all paid for it. We built one house in 1997 and sure it was was a lots of headaches, frustrations, delays, changes, compromises but it was also such a big accomplishment in the end. It was almost outr dream house and now we are ready to go on and proceed with building the last one.

So many things to consider. How big or small should we buid for just two of us? We will be in a beautiful area so we will have company often.
You gave me a great ideas about doing some work such as cleaning or painting. This would be our primary and only one residence after two years. Thank you again for sharing your personal opinions.

HonestAbe

House first, travel second. Easy. All about prioritization, acknowledging that both are important pieces of your life.

JJ5

House, especially in the current USA housing markets.

Family, especially elderly parents, will always be first priority for me, housing second, travel and associated fun third.

If you plan as wisely as you can in both the long term and the short term- you will have MORE travel and MORE fun overall in the bigger picture of your entire life.

I love Suzzie Orman's philosophy:
People First
YOUR money
YOUR things
in that order.

House is within your money equity- if you live a long and full life you will need this absolutely.

Travel is things.

Now this does not mean bigger and better is your dream house either.

As others said, you have to combine wisely. As right now I'm a support for ill parents and have to be here- I should get all my ducks in a row with housing too etc. so I can go when the going is good.

Each part of building/learning in life has its own rewards, just as travel does. The knowledge and growth I developed building two houses, and owning/developing 3 others was and continues to be for all around me, truly beyond price.

Not saying that all processes of building or developing property are fun, but like everything else it can be if you learn to speak its "language".

SAnParis

My long term plans aren't all that different. We typically spend a lot of time at the beach in the off season & can rent places then quite cheaply. The cost of having a home at the beach is, of course, not inexpensive. We also spend a lot of time in the Mts. (in NC, BTW) so from a practical standpoint, it makes sense to us to eventually purchase a home in that area, but still rent at the beach as we do now. This should allow us to continue to travel w/our children until the time of retirement comes. Travel still comes first, I would love to stay in my current neighborhood in Charlotte, but refuse to pay $400k to $500k for a 1500-1800 sq. ft. home. (Our current condo is 1500 sq. ft.) So we're reloing to Matthews to a home of similar size for significantly less.

SAnParis

Although travel is 'fun' for me, I also view it as very educational. It also enhances the lives of my wife, children & I to the point of making us better people (in my opinion). To JJ's point - real estate (particularly now) is a great investment. However, you expanded well outside of the original question which was 'dream-house' versus travel. No one said, 'don't buy a house' & family is an entirely different topic. I would be entirely happy w/a 'dream kitchen', BTW. lol

SAnParis

Pat - what part of the Mts. are you building in (if you don't mind disclosing that) ?

Pat2003

Thank you HonestAbe, JJ5 and SAnParis
for your personal views.

SAnParis, between Asheville and Brevard.
Ellen_griswold, we are still going to Arches and Canyonlands but need to adjust our dates and will be there only one week instead of 10 days.

TahitiTams

Hi..
I just built my dream home on a golf course in San Diego and it has put a little dent in our travels worldwide but for the next couple of years we are doing short fun packed trips to Sedona, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Kauai but I am always looking for the best bang for the buck travel deals..the 5 star hotel for super cheap.. I love when I find those deals!
Build your home.. you will need a place to come home to and trust me, you will always find a way to travel!
Best to you..

RedRock

§Travel§ ---- Home is where you hang your hat. Time to hit the road!

Pat2003

TahitiTams, thank you so much. Your post helps
RedRock, thank you for your opinion as well but, as the above poster stated, we too love to come home after each trip and until now we traveled often all over the world. We visited many places we loved, we returned to some of them but there are always new and more amazing spots to see and experience. A few of those places were so breathtaking that we dreamed of having our own place there. Yet, the home is this one specific place where we have our house, where we receive mail, where our friends come to visit, where we return to our cat, where we pay tax, where we can stay as long as we want before traveling to a next destination. We need more than just a place to hang our hats. It seems we should start building our new house this September or October.

mrsd2fan

I would definetly rahter travel. A house is a house, same old, same old. I;ove exploring new places. Wish my hubby would hurry up and hit the lotto so we can travel more! lol

Annabel

We have our home....a "dream" home, I don't really know what that is.

Travel wins hands down. My DH and I just had this conversation - very funny. When ever we travel to a beautiful place, we always say lets live here. When we return home, however we know our home is where we belong. A home is a home no matter where it is or what it is. It requires work. Travel is an escape from all that everyday living...Travel wins. So does driving nice cars, dining out, wearing nice clothes and just enjoying life. We will always have a home but youth and good health are not guaranteed and don't last forever.

Pat2003

Thanks Annabel, our youth and beauty are already gone!! Health is fine and we still have a sense of humor. We deal with my husband's cancer but are optimistic and life goes on. Love to travel but for two years we are going to slow down by taking only short trips. Money is OK so that's not an issue. We don't think that life is too short because of cancer or age. Hey, you never know how much time you have regardless of your age or your health status.