At this point in our lives, H and I are working to simplify not create more work of remodels ng our place and expanding.
We are all different but I’m quite happy we don’t have more square footage to contend with.
If you are interested in resale, my recommendation is just say No to a jumbo house that is garage-less. It will really limit your buyer group down the road.
definitely interested in resale. The price would have to be low enough to make up for the lack of garage (and potential albatross of a huge building). I’m now on a trip (NY for a weekend board meeting, then consulting in Israel, then meeting with a client, a major prospective client, a London firm that wants to partner with us, and dinner with some friends. Then, either a couple of more meetings and home or to Miami to meet another prospective client.
I think the financial issues can probably be solved. In particular, special permits that would need abutters’ approval will be available as we know several folks on the street and one of them already met with all of the relevant parties to secure their consent. It is really nice to have a wonderful wife. The real question may become whether it is worth doing all of the work to end up with a house that, albeit absolutely beautiful, is not our dream house.
^ never say never, but that would be a tough sell. Otoh, the people who support . . . oh, never mind, that’s too political :))
I don’t think the cap will drop as low as $2400.
The House republicans have already given up on eliminating the property tax portion of SALT deductions, and dropping the 401k amount so low would do a lot of damage to the financial industry, so they will be lobbying hard. And the building/RE lobby is putting on the full court press to preserve the mortgage interest deduction. It will be interesting to see, when all is said and done, if any of the sacred cows get eliminated.
OTOH, I’ve never understood why the 401k max is $18,000/$24,000 when the IRA max is $5,500/$6,500.
^^ Maybe you should be asking why the IRA max is $5500/6500 when the 401k max is $18,000/$24,000.
I think that’s what NRE meant.
I don’t see Fidelities and Schwabs etc. doing enthusiastic dance. They will be lobbying hard against anything that makes folks spend more and put less in those savings accounts.
Mr. B said that one of his buddies is considering retiring soon and is looking for a new car. The guy said they wanted to buy something “nice” because it will likely be their last car… that is kind of depressing to think about your leftover life measured in cars. 
No a car person so that type of thought isn’t one I have nor would it be something that would make me sad or depressed. Now thinking about how many more dogs I will be able to have in my remaining life (both absolutely and in terms of being able to handle a large dog) is another story.
I’m wondering how many more cars I will be able to afford. If I keep my current car 10 years, I will be 62. Once I’m retired I don’t know if my budget will allow much in the way of new cars. So I’m realizing only one or two new cars for me.
As for pets, that is really sobering. Both my cats are in their teen years, so I’m assuming there will be at least one or two more of them as well.
@saillakeerie - I was going to post about pets (kitties for me), but thought it would be even more depressing. I estimate that the remainer of my life is about 2 cat changes, after this bunch is gone.
I understand about cars. I did a major deal a few years ago — I’d worked very hard on it, flying back and forth from Boston to São Paulo and Paris — and my wife suggested that I reward myself. I was replacing my 14 year old Acura and was looking at a Tesla Model S but decided against it as we have no garage in our current house and got a souped up BMW 335 instead. I get great pleasure driving it. The acceleration and handling give me a great feeling.
I’m hoping that this car might be the last that I purchase and that we will rely on driverless cars going forward. If so, I probably care a lot less about acceleration and handling and will just care about leg room and seat comfort. In an ideal world, Uber and Lyft will be supplying the cars rather than me owning one.
We have no cats or dogs because ShawWife is allergic. Both of our kids want to get dogs. We do such extensive traveling that having a dog would be a burden so although I love dogs, I’m glad we don’t have one.
Like house repairs and maintenance, car replacement needs to be included in pre-retirement planning. We drive our cars until they die (15-18 years), but our financial planner was not comfortable with that and included a replacement every ten years in our retirement plan. Whether or not we adhere to that is irrelevant. The important thing is to include the necessary, potentially big-ticket items in your planning, and a reliable car is something you know you will need.
How committed are you to the town you’ve been looking in?
Here’s a nice-looking contemporary house in Falmouth on Cape Cod, with an attached 1700 sq ft building being touted as an airplane hanger, but could easily be re-purposed into a studio (or you could take up flying!). It seems fairly contemporary on the inside, and from the pictures it looks like it is in great shape. Master suite on the first floor (first link has more pictures, second link has floor plans), and the weather won’t be as bad either.
And it has a three-car garage!
That area is not too walkable, but there’s a ton of nearby stores and recreational things to do.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/42-Airpark-Dr-East-Falmouth-MA-02536/59247041_zpid/
https://www.redfin.com/MA/Falmouth/42-Airpark-Dr-02536/home/101852702
Wow! Cape Cod RE is dirt cheap. B-)
@notrichenough, the reason ShawWife wants to stay on the East Coast most of the time is the community she has built up in our suburb/exurb and dowtown in Boston/Cambridge. People showed up with dinners for two to three weeks after her first knee replacement and continue to show up 6 weeks out. They will be out in force for surgery number two. Several people told me “I didn’t know she was having surgery but give me the date of number two and I’ll bring over dinner.” In the first pass, most were in the sub/exurb. But many who said that to me were from the city. This is because ShawWife is a) and wonderful, charming and interesting person; and b) one of the most generous people around (especially one-on-one).
In California, we have a different but much smaller group. It wouldn’t have been the same out there. So, I doubt starting up in a new place in the East Coast will make sense, but as you point out, the price could be a lot lower elsewhere than where we live.
@shawbridge, that’s what I figured, but when I saw the large connected outbuilding I thought of you.
I really need to stop viewing house porn. B-)
NRE - owners of houses with shaggy carpets and rotted siding have a good excuse: but we are just looking for ideas! 
@notrichenough, at our current house, we built a studio from scratch. Probably easiest to do that.
We visited the house today with our developer/real estate agent friend and our contractor. $200K-$300K for what we would do to the house. Significant amount in addition to convert the downstairs of the studio building to an office and a rental apartment. We’d say something like $20K-$40K per year depending upon how you do the calculation fo rmovingthe office and could probably charge $2000 per month. But, there would be significant costr to the renovations, as the studio building has plumbing but no bathrooms (it is built on slab concrete).
I think we decided that it was too much work for us, It would be worth it if we’d be in love with the end result. We think we would like it (already a lovely gracious hosueo) but not love it.