I've looked at a few mid to high end houses lately and am surprised that there is no outside basement egress in these homes. I know that basements are not common in the Southwest, but on the East Coast they are pretty standard, and even our first two starter homes have a door exiting outside from the basement. In our current home, we added a Scapewell window and well in addition to the door to the outside- it added so much light that the basement almost became a daylight window. It seems that it would not have been much additional cost when these homes were build to provide for egress, but I am sure the retrofitting costs are much higher. Just wondering if anyone else feels really uncomfortable in a basement without egress.