Saving 40 thousand somewhere would be a problem. You can't do that with a single-family house.
sort of. Costs arise, for example, from the plot of land – where and how large it is makes more difference than the basement. Also, whether a hobby room is built in and whether parents and children have separate floors is not cheap. The garage also doesn't cost little and can possibly be built later – a basement cannot be retrofitted.
You should ask yourselves why the basement is a priority!
Because we had very bad experiences with lack of storage space, the basement price is relativized considering the land prices, and it is significantly cheaper than the same amount of space elsewhere. The conversion to a living basement was my idea in order to be able to implement the separation of parents-children-work; she doesn't place much value on that.
But of course we will calculate other options. Maybe storage can be sensibly solved in other ways and thus she can let go of the basement. But the space-cost ratio is actually not bad (at least for the unfinished) basement.
Either way – we have a number of must-haves, a minimum size, a budget, space wishes, and then a number of want-to-haves.
Thanks for the food for thought!