I hear you! We now are the proud maintainers of two mortgages, and I was very worried about it prior to buying the second place. But it is seriously cheaper for us to pay a mortgage in Chicago than to keep on renting -- even with Chicago's wicked taxes -- and we actually have room enough to live for a change! Fortunately, our other place is in Wisconsin and very cheap as far as taxes go (and our son, who lives there, is paying us rent for it, so that helps, too). We might be able to pay off that mortgage fairly soon if we manage our investments properly.