[Twodogs]

I'm lucky enough to be able to do my own carpentry work. I bought my shak (literally an old fishing shak) for 57K, tore down everything but one room (to ease permitting), then me and the Missus built a new house by ourselves. Took us every bit of two years while we lived in a basement that the rain would come in, but now it appraises for over 250k. We didn't borrow any dough for lumber either, just paid as we built. Even if I did have a big mortgage though, I'd tough it out and hope for the value to come back in a few years.