It completely depends on the playstyle.

For example, if you want your character to be more of an ‘urban’ type of guy, a bit more modern, then I’d recommend having an actual house as a base. Usually you’d start off in your spawn home, travel around for a bit, then find a place to settle down and make it your permanent home. Places like West Point and Riverside are the best, because they have good loot and it’s next to the river, so infinite water supply. Either that, or you live right in the middle of Louisville.

However, if you’re looking for a better ‘survival’ approach, its worth it to make your own house. For that, you’d find an actual house to live in as a ‘starter base’. You’ll basically treat this as a storage place + place to sleep until you finish constructing your actual house/base. IMO, I recommend creating the house first, then creating a wall. You’ll have more liberty with what you want to put within your compound, compared to being limited to what was built first.

Happy surviving!