[dtennent]

Renting for a while is good advice. How are you going to use your home?
1) If you are still working, do you need an office?
2) How many vehicles will you have? Most people that have 2 car + golf cart garage are pretty happy.
3) How much storage do you think you need? Use the attic space above the garage for only the most heat tolerant items. I would suggest the no mercy clean out approach in viewing what you really need to bring here.
4) Be honest and ask yourself how much do you plan to cook going forward. For us, we are cooks so the kitchen design is important.
5) Will you want your own pool or will the local pool work for you?
6) Do you have a hobby that will need a room? My wife is an ardent scrap booker/card maker so we have a dedicated room for her.

We are in our second home - this one we had built and then modified to meet our needs. If I had been more thorough in thinking about the questions above, I would have saved some money. However, we are happy in our present home.