Wanting advice!!

[retrowire]

So I'll simplify the dilemma.

Find a cheap home to buy nearby that we'll put money into to make comfortable.

OR

Build our own home on family land, further away from my job but it will be made to our design. We won't be close to many conveniences either.

Wish I could make a poll!

[Lars39]

1. Unless you can take a whole lot of time off

to check on things at the building site, you will have a somewhat difficult time, especially if it's also far from where you are living now. We've built (hands-on and self contracted), and it was only do-able because my husband was self-employed at ghe time.
Right now we're in a fixer-upper that we worked on for 2 months before we moved in. It's 1.5 hours from where we used to live.

It dang near did us in, and that was before the move. And somehow we managed to get packed and straighten out the rental, too, but it took us all winter to recuperate.