I so miss the basements of my midwest youth and early adulthood. They were the place for projects. I built so much. My west coast home since 2010 doesn't have a basement, and we've not much interior space for projects (esp when you're talking construction, tools, soldering and such). My spouse is stickler about the inside staying nice, too. The garage is the alternative, but it's so inferior. There's a car there, it's cold, etc. Oh for a basement...

Living in the Northeast, my basement flooded last winter and now my radon levels are through the roof. However, I can't mitigate them because of the French drain I have there! So basements aren't always that great, at least in my area.