Congrats!
I love being a home owner~ though I guess the bank owns most of it! Oh well~ there is that nifty tax write off of all that interest on the mortgage every year. Rent would cost me about what I pay in mortgage~ but none of that is tax deductible~ none of it builds equity for me.

But the very best part of owning your own home~
No one can tell me what I can and can not do in my own home or on my property. I can be as loud as I like, and I can go out in the yard~ dig it up and put in a garden pretty much anywhere I want too.....and living in the country now~ I can put goats, chickens, rats, pigs wherever I want.........even 15 feet from the annoying neighbors front door and since it's MY property~ I CAN do that! (we pretty much agreed that if her dogs stay OFF my property from now on then I won't consider my piece of property right in front of her door to be the premier pig pen on my property.....)

Congrats!
You'll love the freedom~ even while your mowing the lawns!
~not so much while trying to dry out the basement after a flood.......but even that work is more satisfying saving something that belongs to you!