I saw an article last week in the NY Times about houses with sleeping porches (which seems to me a wonderful thing to have). The article had a brief description of one property that had one, though the owners had renovated it to use the space for something else. The article also had photos and listings    of various properties around the US which also featured sleeping porches. The range of prices was truly astounding! One Victorian 2 BR in Cortland, NY was $69,000; something similar in Texas was $140,000.

Cortland is very nice. I would like to think about trying t o live somewhere like that. But jobs in western NY are scarce.

I am about to take over the mortgage on a little rustic cabin on five acres in Royalston, MA. The monthly payment will be less than   a third of what I pay for rent in Boston. But it's in the middle of nowhere and prone to get snowed in.