RMH in basement

Granted I'm not here much, but I must have missed that the forums changed and I had to create a brand new account. Anyway.....

Looking for feedback......

I am over the moon that I'll be closing in a few weeks on an amazing (better than I could have imagined!) property. I've been in temporary locations for the past 10 years or so, and feeling very out of sorts, but I'm finally going to move into my "I'm going to die here" property!

Location is the northeast US. Elevation is 1500ft. Average low of 21F in January (coldest month), but given the last few winters, I'd say there are a couple weeks each winter where temps can get into the single digits or below 0F.

I bought the property for the land. The house is ugly as sin (though VERY well cared for). It's an 80's modular ranch house, and in case size matters, about 1200sf (per the real estate listing; closer to 1500sf per the original building permit, which I'm more apt to believe). It currently has a wood fireplace (of 80's modular house quality).

Heating is electric baseboard (yuck!). I don't yet know about the insulation or what winter heating bills will be like. I'm planning to install mini-split units for cooling, and they could also help with heating, but I've also been obsessed with the idea of building a RMH and am thinking this is my opportunity.

I'm thinking of putting it in the basement, partly because that seems like a more reasonable way to heat the whole house (no walls in the way of heat getting to the furthest rooms), partly because reinforcing the basement floor (if needed) would be less complicated than reinforcing the main level floor, and partly because I think a RMH in the living room (where the fireplace is) could overwhelm the space. The basement is also more damp than I'd like it to be, and it seems the wood heat could help dry things out. (But would I run the RMH in the spring [maybe] or summer when dampness is at its peak?)

I have not lived anywhere that required tending of a heating system, so I don't know whether I'd come to despise having to babysit a traditional wood stove, but I suspect I might. However, I don't mind a little work, and a RMH seems to need less babysitting. I do like waking up to a little warmth, but a timer on the electric heating thermostat or minisplits could probably suffice.

Here is what I'm wondering:

-I'd love to hear your thoughts, especially if you have personal experience with this. I've seen some chatter in the forums about this, but nothing in a centralized location.
-Will I come to hate running up and down the basement stairs to deal with the heat? What will I do when I am too old to climb stairs? (Chair lift?) There is a bulkhead door, so there is access to the outside for bringing in wood.
-I definitely want to do this to code. How best to find someone who can build this for me? (I ran across this site: https://www.rumford.com/mason.html.) Obviously I want someone with masonry heater/RMH experience specifically rather than simply standard fireplaces.
-What am I not considering?

Thanks!

Around 60% of masonry heater heat is emitted through radiation, remaining being convection. If the heater touches a masonry wall, part of energy would leave as conduction and it would eventually be emitted as radiation.

So in theory at least half of the energy output will stay in the basement. Depending on the floor/staircase design, the remaining convection heat may penetrate to the upper level. It may work in light construction systems that have very low thermal mass and allow the energy to pass through.