No basements in Texas? Where do you guys go for tornadoes?

Very cool, Ali, thanks!

If they are walk-out, have windows on at least 3 sides, and are finished. Otherwise no.
It's not just Texas that lacks basements - Jim's dad had a hell of a time getting his builder to to put a half basement in NC, and we didn't see any in CA either.

yeah...Mission viejo was apparently one big ant hill.

Depends. I'll ask a realtor what the 'rules' are, but on a listing there is usually a 'total' square footage and a 'finished' square footage.

I don't remember what our house was listed as...the main floor is about 1000 sqft, but the basement is 5/6 finished, adding about another 800 sqft of living space. The part that isn't ''finished" is the laundry/storage area that is underneath the steps and alongside a portion of them.


Florida didn't have basements either. Where do you people put all your STUFF???

I have to agree:) Ain't takin no camera around my house till it stops looking someone who needs a social worker lives there.

Lovely home.

I jinx posted some "rules" and I know she's a real-estate junkie, so i'm guessing they're pretty spot on. They're pretty much what i remember from when househunting -so two houses listed as the same size could be vastly different if one had a finished usuable basement.

I believe the rooms in a finished basement can be listed as long as they have a window and a closet. For example, a house with 3 bedrooms on the main floor and one in the basement that meets the criteria would be considered a 4 bedroom house. At least that is true in this state.

Doorways? Everyone knows they only hit trailer parks anyway, not real houses. :) Worst case scenario, I've heard that the advice is to lay down in the bathtub with a bed mattress on top, but I wouldn't really know. Flooding is really more our standard weather disaster.

The only houses in Australia that are underground in any way are those which are 'cut in' on a steep slope but I wouldn't call that a basement, or maybe the people who live in caves...but they're not really basements either.

The only people I can think of who have basement like structures in their houses are people with wine cellars, but even they are few and far between in these days of air conditioning.

There'd be more in Sydney I suspect, but I don't know of anyone in Qld with a basement. We like living above ground up here. :)

You have a very nice home - I enjoyed my stay.:)

Thanks Jester. :)

There are plenty of houses with wine cellars in Victoria.

I'd love to have one.

I'd just love to have a room full of wine.

They're not really people either ... ever been to Coober Pedy?
(FYI, this is an opal mining town in the middle of the desert where most people live in mines that have been modified into houses. Much cooler. But filled with people on the run from something else, its all a no-second-name cash-economy, watch-your-back scene.)

Lots of old houses in Adelaide have cellars, presumably for wine and other storage before air conditioning.