I got lucky on the fact that I'm old now so I was able to buy a house in 2014 with a low interest rate. I also live in a low cost of living area, my mortgage, which includes property taxes and house insurance is $1k/mo. The majority is that goes to taxes and insurance, interest is about $60/mo. I have 5 more years on the 15 yr mortgage. I've gotten lucky that we've not had to have any major repairs in the past ten years, but I was looking for houses that were who built with good roofing and hvac systems since those are the two killers. The house has a lot of dated aesthetics from every decade from the sixties onwards, but that stuff is easy and cheap, plus you're probably going to do that kind of stuff anyway.