Tommy Joe wrote in rec.food.cooking:

> On Jul 5, 6:29*pm, "cshenk" > wrote:
>
> > The glory of owning is you can do what you want. *The pain is no one
> > fixes it for you no matter what it is. *You build equity but you
> > can be hit with a 2-5000$ bill suddenly.
>
>
>
> Good luck with Aunti Mabel. Yes, what you say above was just
> stressed by me in another post. No matter which way you turn there's
> something to pay. Everything has its positives and negatives, and
> when things are going ok I'm laughing at the world, content in the
> knowledge that I made the right decision, that I had it right all
> along - till something goes wrong and I begin to wonder about it. But
> with me renting vs owning was never an option anyway as I really can't
> even begin to imagine having the cash to own or even rent a house.
> It's not a contest or argument. I can see the positives either way.
> The only way I would own a house is if someone gave it to me. But
> even if I hit the lottery tomorrow I would choose an apartment over a
> house. Top floor, not too high, with the windows always open, a fan
> blowing air out or in. I think of people who live in really huge
> homes, like mansions, and there's something scary about it - like the
> place is so huge with so many rooms that you don't know who's in there
> with you. You buy a big home, you need a big fence. Then something
> to guard the fence. Then something to guard the things guarding the
> fence. That is my fear of ownership - lack of responsibility and
> openly admitted laziness of which I am oddly proud.

Yup. One makes choices. I chose to move me and my family about the
world for 26 years in the Navy. That meant apartment dwelling until we
hit a sweet deal on this house. It was the right time for us and
unlike many fools, we took a straight fixed mortgage at what the banker
was saying was foolish but over time, we were dead on right. We paid
more in the first years but it did not go *up* and we could bank the
excess once we had it.

Now, I could not touch an apartment for 800$ a month which is my total
mortgage and taxes/insurance payment. Instead, I have a 4 BR 1.5 bath
with fully fenced backyard and a fireplace. House will be paid off in
about 6 years so it will drop to about 350$ tax/insurance well before I
hit retirement age.



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