Priorities

I know it's expensive to maintain a house and not everyone's got the bread. But some of the roofs in my neighborhood, why it's a miracle residents haven't been swept away. A re-roof is expensive, 10 grand or so; still, how many of these miserly souls--sitting on hundreds of thousands in equity--are paying up the wazoo for tv?! Plenty. I know television's cheap entertainment, but there's cheaper, at the public library for starters.
Yeah I can anticipate the feedback now: Dear Mr. Real Estate house culture Tom Silva wanna-be, why don't you take your righteous ass and.... spare me.

There's plenty undone at my house, but I'm working on it, and I don't look the other way while my roof petrifies, chimney dislocates, or porch subsides. Sure there's projects I can't afford quite yet, but I ain't blowing dough on video poker, a Mercedes lease deal, or white trufffles at Bastide.

A house doesn't hold its condition--its condition is either improving or worsening. But this isn't purely economic, it's cultural as well. The house for many is temporal, mere utility, and not entirely different than a melting popsicle. My slacker next door neighbor cares little, even about asset protection or resale value, he's in his house till death do he part. If he leaves his decedents a soggy, tilted, dry-rot mess, lucky they'll be to have it, he probably figures.

I say, if you don't want the burden of maintenance, get an apartment.