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i hear wood heat is great if you don't care about air pollution...

ekg56,
Who's your builder? "Builders" normally don't use top end materials, the house you looked at, I did almost 10 years ago. So, I'll come back and build your house.
Where do builders cut costs? Windows, doors, cabinetry, carpeting, siding. They charge for "extras" that don't cost them anymore that standard work - i.e. I had electical outlets in my house (standard 2 port) where the bottom was "hot" and the upper worked on a light switch. This comes in handy when you set up Christmas tree and floor lamps and turn the lights on. Best of both worlds without double the "box count" for electricians. There are light switches that actually have a small night lite buildt into them - in the off position the switch was lite - an easy way to tell when your lights in the basement are on or off ( plus its a bonus to tell which switch is for the downstairs).

We're looking at possibly installing a Harmon pellet stove next year in our basement. I'm still researching them mind. I found the below website handy.

http://www.hometips.com/cs-protected/guides/pellet.html

Hello ekg56, I have just installed a fairly complex pellet boiler in my house which runs 8 zones of infloor and heats my domestic hot water. Let me know if you want more details.

One suggestion!!! I get big into new home products and must say look into Geo-Thermal! Very energy efficient.

The type of wood you burn has a lot to do with it. I've been burning a lot of hickory in my wood stove this winter and found my stove and chimney is the cleanest its ever been in the 20 years its been in use (compared to other varieties of wood I've burned). And if you don't damper it down too much hickory doesn't give off an excessive amount of smoke and that wood smoke actually smells good.