It may be better to buy the square footage you need in a neighborhood of larger homes rather than buying into a neighborhood of smaller homes with plans to build up or out.
      At the very least, if you decide to shop for a home you want to expand, also shop for zoning laws that will allow it. The purchase money you save up front on a smaller home may not be worth the headache that could come later from building restrictions and market conditions that leave you with a home that doesn't fit.
      Shifting cash into major home improvements can have a triple payoff -- the work will likely increase the value of your home, boost your net worth and improve your quality of life, especially if you need room for an expanding family.
      But if you've got a case of palace envy and plan to tear down walls or pop off the roof to create an expansive estate, make sure you don't move into a community where zoning laws won't let your home become your castle.

     Sales isn't the only housing sector to benefit from the long run of low mortgage interest rates; so is remodeling.
      Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies pegs spending on renovations and repair at $130.4 billion last year. But the National Association of Home Builders says home owners paid roughly $182 billion in 2003 to improve their homes and keep them in good working order.
      "It was a banner year for the remodeling industry," says Springfield, Ill., remodeler Doug Sutton, who is chairman of NAHB's Remodelers Council. Noting that the sector posted higher year-end numbers in 2003 than in previous years, both the NAHB and the Joint Center also expect remodeling to remain strong this year.
      The most common projects remain kitchen and bathroom remodeling, closely followed by room additions, according to NAHB's research director, Gopal Ahluwalia.
      But Denver architect Doug Walter, a design-only remodeling specialist, says the five hottest trends in the business these days are daylighting, detached garages, his-and-her spaces, "visitability" and a movement toward higher quality materials:
Daylighting – Almost without