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The only thing that's really changed in the past few years is the insanity of pricing and bidding wars. And that depends on your market. Based on your requirements you must be somewhere that's not as hot as my area... here that would be a very rare, well over $1MM property, not a first time purchase for most folks.
The biggest thing after the location of the lot and the size of the building that's hard to change about a house is the grade of the lot. My house is at a low point on the street, my driveway and backyard are both pretty steep, I've had to put a lot of money and work into improving drainage and my house is 40 years old. I don't know how the basement wasn't just constantly wet before I got the house and had the basement flood twice. My in-laws bought this house in '89. I think neighbors may have added patios and additions that sent more water my way.
Second thing I'd think about is take the long view on energy. When I bought my first place almost 20 years ago I would've been all in on gas, price was plummeting, and it was the most efficient way to make heat by far. Now I'd try to get away from it. If I were building my dream house from scratch right now I'd design it around Asian style mini-split heat pumps instead of central air and a furnace, efficiency is insane for both heating and cooling, and it's future-proof.
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