[Christien]

I'm with the "keep looking" crowd. My wife and I are really clear about big decisions - we both have veto power. Doesn't mean it's the dead-end of any discussion on the issue, but it's a pretty strong veto. So in a case like this, if I wanted it and she didn't, veto. Done. It's too big a decision and impact on your life to have to convince someone. Same thing would go for the dollhouse in cookie-cutter suburbia. If she wanted that and I didn't, veto. Done. That was how we shopped for our house, when we were still renting. We spent a long time looking - months, because we both kept veto'ing, and we both understood that we had to both be completely happy with our decision. And in the end, we're both really happy with the decision.

Jake's idea is a good one. We did something similar. We both drew up a list of what we wanted in the house, maybe 5 or 10 things, then ranked them from the most to the least important. We compared lists and circled what we had in common - those became "must-have"s. The rest became "would be nice"s. Luckily, our top 2 priorities were the same, just in opposite order (mine #1 was inside space, #2 was outside space, hers were the same, reversed) so we knew we needed a fairly large house with a fair size back and front yard. In the end, because that was more important than location, that ended up determining our location (due to budget). The only thing neither of us considered was garage size (this was pre-Porsche days). We thought the 1.5 car garage was plenty. Wrong.

edit: I think trying to convince someone of a house they don't really want, then winning that argument, is a recipe for major resentment a few years down the road. She'll always hold it over your head, and it will be the source of countless fights - not just fights over not liking where she's living, but deeper resentment issues.