[sschuler1]

We opted to buy more house and less lot, so we will eventually end up with the "lanai kiss" as you so succinctly put it. Right now, the lot behind us is empty, but there will eventually be another home there. We decided that we are only at home late in the evening, and we can always shut our curtains if we feel the need for more privacy. Our lots are also slightly offset, so it should be only minimal issues. One side of our lanai is a wall of our bedroom, so we are only open on two sides of our lanai. We feel that it is going to be a non-issue.

We opted for a four bedroom designer for a few reasons. We have a complete guest suite behind a pocket door, including a queen size bedroom, full bath and den with tv and couch. I also have a seperate room for all my music equipment and crafts, that I can access even when guests are in the house. We turned our dining room into an office because we have never entertained formally and didn't plan on starting now. Our breakfast nook is large enough to hold our table and chairs, even when I put both leaves in the table! I also like the fact that we don't have to walk through our utility room to get into the house from the garage. We put a lot of thought into how we would be using our house, and made sure that we were buying a house that all the space was going to be utilized. Only you can know what is going to work for you....so happy hunting!

My best advice: once you settle on the model that you want, find out all the options that are available on that model before you buy. You don't want to find out that an option was available that you wanted, and you just didn't know about it before you bought. Particularly on the items that can't be changed afterward, like 4' expansion on the garage, 2' forward extension on the house, 2' extension on the lanai, etc....