Unless you’re close to the coast, a south-facing family room is a negative (it can get too hot and you will end up running higher cooling bills).

[quote]Having a south facing roof line (eaves run east/west) means you could upgrade to solar in the future. Solar panels work best if on a southern exposure. Unfortunately, our roof line runs North/south – so we’d have to settle for west facing panels.[/quote]

If solar panels are planned, another important factor is the slope of the roof. The optimal slope for the panels at this latitude is around 15 degrees off horizontal. With a 30 degree roof, it’s still doable … with a 45 degree roof, you either lose efficiency by mounting them flush, or mount them at an angle to the roof, which is more complicated, more expensive, and does not look as nice.