My neighbor finished paying off her house in 2024. She bought it in 1994 for $78,000. Thirty years of payments at $593 a month. She's 74 now. Social Security pays her $1,910 a month. That's $22,920 a year. The place two doors down sold for $615,000 last spring, so the county reassessed hers to match. Her tax bill this year: $8,100. That's $675 a month. She paid $593 a month to buy the house. She pays $675 a month to keep it. Thirty years of payments ended and the bill went up. The deed says she owns it. The county bills her like she's renting.