Gigamatt, Homeowner?
Well, not yet. But, I did decide to help my parents out on their upcoming mortgage. Dad wants to definitely buy a house in Florida, and I figure that I can eat out a couple meals less and pay $100/month (more than a quarter, but shy of a third of their mortgage). This gives me: a) a vacation home and b) a long term investment, as the prices of real estate in Florida continue to soar. And, as my dad said "It'll all be yours when we're gone."
So, I started looking in the places they might want to live: Edgewater, Port Orange, and New Smyrna Beach. Not a whole lot of choices that I can see in our price range that meet my criteria of looking good and having a large amount of square footage, and my dad's criteria of being made of concrete. Yes, concrete. Blocks, presumably. Stops termites and hurricanes from destroying your house, among other things.
Another benefit of having a house down there is that my mom will be closer to at least one of her siblings, my uncle, Tom. Tom's over 60, married, retired military, and pretty much the same sort of down-to-earth person that both my parents are. Even though he's the oldest, he's the closest in mindset to my mom. I cannot stress how good it will be for her to be close to him. Finally, my family will start to be geographically close again.