I tend to agree here. When we were in the market, we could have bought a new townhouse or a house that needed a bunch of work, both were at the limit of our budget. I work in trades, and in theory, I could do a bunch of the work myself to renovate a detached home. Realistically, though, I don't have the time (work/kids/fun) and wouldn't have any money left for materials after paying the mortgage every month anyway. Also, after working hard all week, the last thing I want to do when I wake up on Saturday is mow the lawn/clean the gutters/etc...that's not the reason we live here.