I have this same question for ourselves. We haven't secured a lender yet, still in design phase (a few circumstances has made this phase (design) last a lot longer than anticipated..) Anyway, I'd love to stay in our house until at least halfway or 2-3 months before build is done, but I'm not sure if we'll be able to. I'm not familiar with some of the creative financing options I've heard about. Plus would have to know the numbers of what is required cash wise to start and an idea of construction loan payments... Beyond about 20-25K we have set aside, all our other money for the build is in our current house as equity.. Which should net us right about 100K that will go towards the new build.. Our land is paid for, so I don't know if we can borrow against that for the new house and then pay that off once we sell or if that's just not how it works at all...? The houses here are flying off the market, and if we sold and rented, we'd be paying about 1,000 more per month for a rental than we would staying put paying our current mortgage.. Surely the bank could see that would be a really stupid financial move...? Possibly they don't care, but I'm not shelling out 1K MORE per month for a rental... We'd have to shack up with my parents if the banks didn't offer any other options.. Those who rented, were your rental rates not astronomically higher than your current mortgage payment? This areas rental is far more expensive than what you would pay on a nice starter home new build or middle class type housing.. Sorry no answers, but similar questions!

Julian, If you want to build an app, one that I think most folks would find useful is to provide comparison framework(s) for common financial decisions, such as the break-even point for a particular choice, payoff interval, etc. The framework app should ask all the right questions to get the necessary data, and then provide a financial comparison of 2-3 options. For example, when someone is renting, but considering a home purchase, most want to know how the costs compare and how/if/when they might "get ahead" by choosing either alternative. All markets differ for the monthly cost of rent/buy, interest rates are a major factor, initial cash cost is different, expected length of time in the home is important, etc. It would be useful to have a framework where they could either work forward from the known values (current rent, down payment money in the bank, etc.), or even work backward from one value to find another (at what price would a home purchase be financially feasible, based on my current rent cost?). There are many interest rate calculators and other individual apps that calculate pieces of the financial comparison(s), but very few that provide a larger framework for making financial decisions. Most people don't know how to put all the factors together and make an informed decision, so they just make a "seat of the pants" financial decision. Bruce

OP - I really think you need to sit down and rethink your position. You have a lot of ideas swirling around, but they're not well defined or mutually consistent. First, you need to define much more concretely what kind of house you really want - you say simple, unpretentious, but then mention 10 foot ceilings in the basement, multiple living/family rooms and perhaps even a cupola. You don't need separate rooms for every function, which is what your wish list kind of comes across as: you might want to consider re-doing your "needs" and "wants" not in terms of rooms required but in terms of the functions you want your house as a whole to perform. Rooms that can do double duty would save you square footage and money. Second, as I mentioned previously, you need to get a handle on housing costs where you live. That may mean going to open houses, surfing Zillow, talking to local agents or having a sit down with a contractor or architect. Third, I think you should put aside the idea of paying for the house in cash. While I'm all in favor of getting rid of that mortgage asap for many of the reasons outlined by Mrs Pete (you cannot put a dollar value on the feeling of security you get if you grew up in a less than secure housing environment, but finally pay off your own home), nonetheless it makes a lot of sense to have a low-interest mortgage and put your cash into higher-return investments, especially if you're more or less "starting out." Fourth, you need to think about your personal financials, particularly once you have a better idea of what your housing costs are likely to be. When I bought my first house, I took out a mortgage that was about half of what the bank approved, because I knew I could pay that amount without having to chip into my contingency fund (at the time, 3 months salary) and while still contributing to my retirement fund and my regular investment fund. So, I bought a smaller, simpler place than my bank would have allowed, simply because it suited my long term financial goals better. I'm much older now, have built up a decent portfolio, as has my better half, so we did pay cash outright for our last house - but again, we built a house that was less than we could afford, but allowed us to leave savings and retirement funds intact (we did have to sell one investment property as well as our old home to make it happen, but that was no great sacrifice!) People talk a lot about dream houses, but sometimes a dream house isn't all marble floors and a backyard swimming pool or 5000 sq feet of space. Sometimes it's living comfortably and affordably in a good area, and enjoying a retirement that allows you to enjoy life, restaurants, travel, and friends. The dream life is more important to me than the dream house.

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