Most would be hard pressed to find an American not interested in real estate. From birth, we're conditioned to consider owning our own homes as the fulfillment of the American Dream. But consumers today are more likely than not to find themselves either priced out of the market or forced to settle for cookie-cutter conformity. Where housing is concerned, cheap and well crafted rarely exist together. Or do they?

Founding Editor in Chief of Dwell magazine and noted critic Karrie Jacobs believes that they do. The Perfect $100,000 House chronicles her coast-to-coast search for just that: a well-built, intelligently designed, reasonably priced, decent-size house with at least a little curb appeal. Throughout her journey, Jacobs meets architects and builders who are revolutionizing the way Americans think about homes, about construction techniques, and about community. From a Teletubbiesesque subdivision outside Taos, New Mexico, to nuevo-retro shotgun houses in Houston, the options available to prospective home buyers are as diverse as the terrain along Jacobs's fourteen-thousand-mile trek. And no matter where her search ends, she'll at long last be home.