No basement as in on a poured slab, dirt floor crawl space, or poured floor crawlspace?

The last one isn't so bad. My parents purposely built their house (2600 square feet plus another 400 above the garage) without a basement. It has a poured crawl space floor. At the short end it is ~36" to the joists and at the tall end it is about 46" to the joists. They did it so they didn't haul stuff down there that they knew they'd never take out (like most basements). He has a couple mechanic's creepers and cart down there for the few times he might need to do stuff. The "access hole" is also 4'x4'.

A basement is worth about 15,000 for a typical 7' ceiling and about 25,000 for an 8' ceiling. I would never touch a poured slab house. A dirt floor or pea stone crawlspace isn't bad as long as they put plastic down but they almost never did. Plus, if you live in Radonville crawlspaces tend to accumulate more and if your house has forced air it sometimes gets in.