Thanks for the replies on this, all good suggestions. It's a bit
complicated, but I do presently own a house in Ohio which I've lived in for
15 years; my wife is living in our apartment in Sherman Oaks, I am in the
process of moving to join her. I agree this can be a real mess, that's why
I wanted some input. Still given the cost of housing in the LA area, I also
want to be sure I examine all possible approaches. I can tell you that many
people DO buy houses out there & bulldoze them; many neighborhoods seem to
be having their original samll 60-80 year old working class family houses
replaced one by one, I must say often with huge barns which are IMHO hideous
monstrosities. I guess an architect was involved in these, but many are
nothing to brag about from a style perspective; just BIG, ostentatious
mishmashes of periods & styles. Oh well, who ever said taste follows $$$$?
;-) Another approach is to add to a smaller home, as has been alluded to a
bear to live with, though I appreciate it's not the same level of risk as a
new build. Many of these are single floor ranches with a 2nd floor
dormitory tacked on for the kiddies; simply adding additional sleeping boxes
is not our need since we have no children. I understand about "bones", many
times I'm sure it makes sense, but I have seen houses with advanced termite
trouble & other extensive damage on the market for prices one would think
don't even pass the straight face test. Yeah, you can fix and add onto
anything, but at some point the amount of the original house left to get a
spacious home with an esthetically pleasing modern layout out of it has to
be pretty small.

Thanks again for the input.

Dan