You need a lot of money to do it, because the cost of maintaining a home has to be subsidized, and obviously, this cost, even for families without a mortgage, is really significant. Once you update a home and make it habitable, it's worth say $50-75k. Heat at $5k a year, electric at $1.5k, water, sewage and trash at $3k, property taxes another $3k. Another $1k in home insurance. You need $14k a year to simply maintain a home, and this doesn't cover maintenance!