“For as stressful as it was financially and physically and just emotionally, it was worth it,” said Kirsten Roehler of her solo homebuying experience in Bailey, Colorado.

“Closing was very emotional,” said Savannah Melendez of Anchorage, Alaska. “I remember at one point looking over and seeing tears in my mom's eyes, and that I had to bite my cheeks to not cry with her.”

“It’s like we’re back in our dorm in college,” said Kirsten Harrison, a resident of a senior housing community in Minnesota.

Melissa Mesku happened upon the perfect rent-stabilized apartment on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. How did she beat the odds?

“It would be definitely a bucket list of mine to get to visit all of them in my lifetime,” said Annilee Waterman, a residential designer in Dallas.

“I invite people to stay there with me when I’m there,” said Aileen Smith about her second home in Tramore, Ireland. “I never get tired of having guests. It’s fun every single time.”

“I’m just attached to it because it’s taken care of me and I’m taking care of it,” said Violet O’Brien on why she’s choosing to age in place in her Houston home.

“I’m not getting any younger. If I’m going to have a dome, I need to get on with it,” said Paula Stone of Fredericksburg, Texas.

With the goal of living mortgage-free, “I really knew that I would go anywhere and I would live in anything,” Kate Mill says.

When Caitlin LaClair and her family moved to Texas and then Massachusetts, they were hit with sticker shock.