my vote

Hi Kathy,
My husband bought our house a year before we got married so I didn't have anything to say about it, except that yes, I liked it when he asked. We hadn't talked marriage at that point. If I could afford anything I wanted, unless I could find the perfect house to fit our needs, I would want to build to fit them. I enjoy designing, decorating, making plans and picking out things to fit our personalities and needs. Bob bought a large 2 story house with a walkout basement that is completely finished. From the outside, you need to walk up several steps on the porch to get to the first floor. So it's not a 2-story WITH a basement. It's just a tall 2 storys. The downstairs used to have a 3rd bedroom, which we made into my craft, exercise, storage, & whatever room. Now we just have 2 bedrooms on the first floor, one full bath downstairs and 2 full baths upstairs. My mother has bad knees and back and has some difficulty climbing steps when she visits, and my knees bother me sometimes too, at 56. I can handle it now, but I sorta expect to be like mom because of the pains I already have. I asked Bob what we would do if we could no longer climb stairs - there are about 20 to the downstairs also. A carpenter said we could put in an electric chair to go up the side of the stairway in the house - so I guess Bob isn't worried about it. I would certainly make sure there was a way to have a bedroom and full bath on first floor. I love my 2-story house because it seems so airy, roomy, with lots of freedom and privacy, but, if I were building at this age, I would build to fit our specific needs along with one guest bedroom with full bath. At this age I would choose what I would hope to be our final home - everything on first floor. I'd hate to buy something I really loved and then have to give it up for health reasons after I became attached to it. I've lived in 2nd and 3rd floor apartments, a 2-story duplex, a mobile home, a 1 story house and three 2-story houses. If a 1-story house has enough rooms you can still have privacy and rooms designed/decorated for your specific needs. I would be sure my laundry was on the first floor also. My mother has a large ranch home with a finished basement where her laundry room with deep freeze are. She has a hard time getting there. We put an extra T-V and comfortable furniture down there so she can watch T-V while waiting for the laundry and won't have to be making several trips up and down. She has a 13 room house, but only uses the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, laundry room, and her 1st floor family room is her favorite room where she is most of the day. She has arthritis and is 78 years old today. Not really that old, but it depends on health and what we can do. I've seen several couples and singles who have had to give up their homes because of health and they really didn't want to, because of course, they were attached. Starting over at my age, I would have to vote - 1 story. Took me a long time to get there didn't it. Sorry, just wanted to give some reasons why.
Good luck in your decision :-)
Linda B