Quote Originally Posted by razz View Post
SQ, I so relate to your anxiety as my late DH really struggled for a few years as I insisted on buying our homes despite the fact that we never suffered a loss but a gain, sometimes substantial. I never fully understood his level of anxiety until we bought our first farm for a ridiculously low offer that was accepted. I was having a bath, heard the phone ring and he came into the bathroom and announced, 'Now you have really done it. They accepted that offer." Two years later, it was sold for triple that price and his anxiety was considerably reduced ever after.
I had to chuckle at that, razz! Sometimes our joys are our biggest responsibilities but it looks like you really made your responsibilities pay off!

There are reasons why people are lifelong renters. My son is one. Every time our plumbing gets clogged or we talk about the roof leaking, he chimes up: "See!! That's why I don't want to own a house!" He has a point. When he shells out his $875 for rent for the 1-bedroom apartment he's had in Burlington for 7 years, he knows that's it. No add-ons for repairs, or want-to-haves or need-to-haves. As long as there is food in his fridge and he's hung pictures on the wall and clothes in the closet, he's done.

But, OTOH, I have the freedom to carve up my lawn or let it be, of painting or adding-on, or passing it on. When my house is paid off, I will have a couple of hundred bucks in property taxes and that's it. There is freedom in that, too.

The key is resisting the "need-to-haves" that are really "want-to-haves" That's the hard part.