1. It is cute and cozy
2. Right outside the back door is our pool
3. Good neighbors
4. Paid for

Paid for, in the woods, walk-in glass block shower, verandah that runs the length of the house.

1. It's paid for
2. Its smack dab between where DH works and where I work so neither of us has too far of a drive - about 30 mintues.
3. It's new enough so that we don't need to do a bunch of upkeep.
4. My basement is finished - it wasn't when we moved here.

Redid the kitchen 6 years ago and love, love, love it.
Redid the bathroom and walk-.
in closet and love, love, love them.
Mortgage free
Lovely view.

Bounded on 3 sides by vegetation that won't ever be cut down, so it is private.
One side is bordered by the Sequatchie River.
Rural setting but two miles from a small town if we need anything.
Really like the layout of the house. I designed it.
Bonus: 100% paid for.

Pooh Bear

It is country living
It is paid for
Good neighbors
Large enough for company

do like the arrangement of the kitchen (we did it). close to shopping..(urban and busy street) but trees and critters. almost paid for...

1. A laundry chute from the 2nd floor to the basement.

2. Convenient location. Within walking distance are: grocery store, 2 auto repair shops, name brand drug store, hardware store, florist, chinese take-out, fitness center, 80 acre village park, barber, village hall, post office, library, and my insurance agency.

3. Its paid for.

4. Have sewer, water, gas, and electricity - no messing with septic tanks.

1 It's 175 years old
2 It has three fireplaces
3 It's on 1/2 woody acre with two koi ponds
4 It's been paid off for years.

low rent

warm floors

not too far from work for either of us

My soft place to land

Perfect size for me-small but still plenty of room for guests
One floor-no steps
Paid for
Green space, wonderful club house, fun neighbor

Even though I sold my house two years ago and moved to an apartment, every day I marvel at how much better this apartment is than my house. It has

1. huge windows with lots of light
2. two very large, full bathrooms with a walk-in shower
3. washer and dryer in the master bath is included
4. convenient location close to my friends, restaurants, transportation, churches, etc.

1. Just the right size for 2 people.
2. Convenient to everything.(New York City is one hour away by train).
3. Mortgage is all paid off.
4. Nice back yard for gardening and my dog likes it.

This post was edited by jannie on Thu, Jan 16, 14 at 9:43

1. It's a single-family house in Southern California! Considering the current costs of these homes in the area, I never, ever thought I'd get to live in one at my age, especially for free.

2. It has a large kitchen with lots of cabinets, counter space and we renovated a large closet into a pantry. A pantry was high on my list, and of all the homes we looked at, none of them had a pantry so this is great for me.

3. It's a very quiet neighborhood but located near everything I need.

4. It has pretty plantation shutters on all the windows

1. It is paid off.

2. Great location - secluded in the woods (nearest neighbors are more than 1/2 mile away), but within 10-15 minutes from shopping, doctors, etc.

3. It is large, so I can have a nice quilt studio, away from the living space (the large size is a minus at cleaning time)

4. Lots of windows and doors, so it is bright and cheery

1. It is the best house we have ever lived in...
2. It has plenty of light
3. Our bedroom is on one side of the house & the other 2 on the far side of the house
4. I love my closet!!

I live in a condo now and love it. No stairs,very bright facing south and west, walking distance to Dr. and eye Dr. library, downtown, indoor parking ,great neighbors ,park across the street, what more can anyone want.

1. Location, wooded 3/4 acre next to thousands of acres of open space, close to town

2. Open concept/great room/3 fireplaces

3. great kitchen/great decks

4. Paid for

1 It is paid for as of 2 weeks ago.
2 The 3/4 acre lot is level
3 A room we added on in the back of the house with its north, south and west windows allowes great viewing of the birds and my flower beds.
4 Even though fronting on a busy road there is a several acre lot behind where the surrounding neighbors often meet up while doing yard chores and stop to visit awhile.

I should have listed ,instead of the three fireplaces, more importantly the kids are nearby and I am super close to doctor, dentist, grocery stores, movies, hospitals and other stores.

-all one level
-laundry room on main floor (not basement)
-the colours of the walls
-centrally located in the city in a nice quiet neighbourhood

Quiet neighborhood
It is all mine
2 car garage
I can walk to the hospital, doctor's office and dentist

Back of the house is mostly windows and, therefore, sunny.
Kitchen opens fully into the family room so that I can see the kidlets when they visit for supervision and chat as I cook.
Safe community and great schools, though the kids are grown now.
Large enough to accommodate the kids and their families for overnight visits.

This is hard because I love my home so much..

1. My large living room and bedroom.
2. Love living in the country.
3. Love my gardens, veggie and flower.
4. Love my grandchildren have a huge yard to play in when they visit.

1. The Atrium
2. No stairs all one level
3. It is unique for the neighborhood, Mid century modern
4. The beautiful trees that surround it on our lot which is a nice big lot. (In Texas!)

We also luckily have some really nice people living in the neighborhood.

1. Log home on wooded lot
2. I built my own kitchen cabinets
3. enormous master suite.
4. close to most all of my family
5. cozy wood stove...!

(I am crazy jealous of all of you who are mortgage-free...but also, so happy for you)

1. My wonderful neighbors, almost all of whom I know--so lucky.

2. My street-facing kitchen so I'm not so bored when I'm working at the sink.

3. The big trees in front, which is not a given for my city.

4. To be honest, the kitchen we had remodeled last year. Lucky me.

1. Love my extra big lot and huge old trees.
2. The washer and dryer are in a separate utility room.
3. Old wood floors that are easy on our legs and backs.
4. It is all ours.

Mine all mine -- no mortgage

Walkable to library, grocery, gas station (repairs -- I leave car and walk home), bus I never ride, pharmacy, coffee shop, dry cleaner, hardware store and woodsy trails.

Screened porch

Detached garage -- how do people live without a garage?

Location, location, location, and 'new' (2001).

I love our southern-oriented one-floor home on a quiet, private lot among larger, more expensive (some historic) properties -- in an affluent small city with excellent services along Lake Michigan -- secluded, but with easy access to shopping, medical services, airport, etc.

I love our *tight*, new-construction house -- small, but with big rooms and lots of windows and french doors -- with, as the Brit RE ads say, "All mod cons". (All modern conveniences. LOL)

It's paid for
Location
Can be in New York city in 30 mins by car
and Jersey Shore in an hour.
Large rooms

Four things are:

love that dad got us a generator no more worries or problems when power went out before we had it.

Finally quiet, love it lot

Going outside, watching the birds and nature, dad's garden once it starts blooming, love watching what will come up and his ros garden.

Feel safe from outsiders

I love how bright and sunny the house is.

We have some beautiful and unusual landscape plants. People stop to look.

Lots of birds and butterflies and bees make the yard and gardens seem alive.

I love the colors, inside and out.

It is paid for.

Newly remodeled kitchen.

It is in a gated community with golf course, restaurant, pool and community center with many activities.

It is in Florida!

Mercy Maude! So many of you have homes that are paid for!!!

1. It is on 5 acre's of wooded property in the country but still close to our small town of 20 K and 1 hour from San Antonio if we need a Big City fix...

2.Close ...(3-4 miles) to shopping and health care and hospitals

3. chose this area as our retirement after lots og research so it wasn't by chance... best decision we made...

4.We built it and paid cash for it...

This post was edited by ruthieg__tx on Fri, Jan 17, 14 at 14:06

1. Paid for!! (and a 1 story rancher so easy to live in)

2. Newly refinished original hardwood floors (no more carpet to kill me with allergies)

3. Location (1-2 miles from town, sits on a little over 5 wooded acres)

4. The scenery and wildlife are fab.

Location, location, location, location........

It is old

It is private

My animals live here.

rosemaryt -- The 'mortgage-free' posts may be a result of the ages of the KT posters. It's usually good to be mortgage-free before you head into retirement.

I'll add that something I like about our home is that it is a free standing, single family home in a real neighborhood in a well-run small city. We have excellent services, including police, fire, water, sewer, streets, and even a city forester. Our taxes pay for everything we need without gates and private security. We don't need HOA regulations -- or fees.

We want to decide what we think needs maintenance work -- and when -- and want to choose who does the work. Our vacation rental condo has provided us a mixed experience of an HOA of volunteers attempting to run a property.

I too am very surprised at the number of those who have no mortgages.

1. My home is in a very safe small town, about 1 mile from my office. I could walk to work and sometimes do.

2. My house borders the golf course, and we are golfers.

3. It's just the right size for DH and me.

4. I love our screened in back porch which overlooks the course. And we are safe from stray golf balls in there!

Nationwide, about 29% of Americans own their homes free and clear and yet here at KT, there are 26 people who report that their house is mortgage free.

Out of 53 replies, that gives 49% saying that their house is mortgage free. (There are 55 replies, but I removed my name and Chisue's name from the stats because my comment was, statistically speaking, extraneous and Chisue's comment was a duplicate.)

Chisue, I think you're right. The higher number must be due to an older demographic.

We are not mortage free, but we've had our house less than 10 years, and I just started teaching this year. Four things I really like about our house are:
1. We are not in an HOA.
2. There is no poorly designed/wasted space.
3. It is simple, but it does not lack personality.
4. It is all one level.

One floor,a 50's ranch
oceanview,in sunny s.calif
Close to everything,stores,dr's hospital etc
Good size yard with plenty of gardens
Comfy and cozy,and everyone likes the homey part.
kathi

Hmmm, got to think really hard because there isn't a whole lot I like about my house in the Winter. It's too cold, except in the middle bathroom and tiny middle of the house bedroom.

1. The glass shelves in the hallway.

2. The sunlight that comes into my tiny living room in the daytime. (which can also be annoying and cause glare on the tv or computer screen at certain times of the day)

3. That there is a fair distance between houses in my neighborhood. They aren't built right next to each other like in newer neighborhoods. Which is a big reason I decided again moving to the big city where I work.

4. The gnarly old crabapple tree out back.

1. 4 sided brick ranch.60's era.
2. one floor plus full basement.
3. nice big yard.
4.Cozy.
Mary

1. Front porch with brick pavers
2. Screened porch
3. Walk-in closets in both bedrooms
4. 1-1/2 car garage with a screen to keep the bugs out

I also like the big bedrooms and kitchen and the small but functional Florida room. I have an end unit so I have 8 windows and lots of sunlight.

1. I have a huge walk-in closet. Love it.
2. It is a very tight house so we are always warm..
3. It has a big window over my kitchen sink so I can look out when working in the kitchen.
4. We are far out in the country and have lots of privacy.

Re: being mortgage free. To be honest, I have been mortgage free three times. The first time was in our first small town home which we had paid off by saving every penny and before children( our interest rate was 18% - ouch). Then family came along and we needed a bigger home so basically what we got for our first mortgage free home when we sold it was our down payment for the second home. Then we paid off that but then we decided that our home was falling apart around us (literally and physically) so we borrowed against the value of our home for a gut-renovation. That mortgage we just paid off 2 weeks ago.

In hindsight, given the real estate values we should have kept the townhome and rented it out. But, who knew?

Our goal was to be mortgage free by the time we were 60 and we just made it.The latest Canadian stats I can find are from 2008 and it says that the average age of those with a mortgage is 45 and those now mortgage-free is 62. I suspect the 62 has risen a little bit. But it really is about personal choice on how we spend our money.

1. Love the three season room on the back.
2. Love the large yard and all my flower and vegetable gardens.
3. Love our newly remodeled kitchen.
4. Big comfortable family room
Oh, and exterior has all been updated, and is almost maintenance free.
And it is in a very nice town, with excellent schools, and only a short drive to work.

We live on the top floor of a tri-plex. Only 3 apartments in the bldg so one on each floor.

We love our apartment.

New windows, including casement windows on the front picture window.
Very bright
Wonderful neighbours in the building, eveyone is quiet.
The location of our home. Convenient to everything we want.