The housing market up here is so cheap! (but shhhh don't tell anyone!) When we rented, we had a medium size apartment (2 bedroom, living, kitch, bathroom) for $500 a month. Then, in 1999, we were looking for ahouse to buy, and there were tons of houses for less than $100,000 (usually 60-70000) Now we are thinking about maybe upgrading or doing an extensive re-do on our kitchen. (And in NH, we don't even pay income or sales tax)