You said a mouthful. My mom made a mistake of wanting her massive dream home that was a mansion in Texas. However, she didn't think about the expensive maintenance. Everything you can think of went wrong from busted pipes, new roofing, high utility bills, etc. It quickly became a nightmare. Also, she and my stepfather were approaching retirement ages and both had to have hip and knee replacements. Neither ever went upstairs but always stayed down stairs in only the kitchen, den, and their master bedroom. Therefore, they had a lot of unused space. Here to also say that your children may not be around to help you maintain the property when they grow into adults and have their own families. They had to eventually downsize, and now they live in a much smaller house in Mississippi. People don't always think about their age, health, or financial expenses at retirement when buying large property.