1. Why do you choose to live in a house rather than an apartment?
2. Why do you choose to own that house, rather than rent it?
To the first question, a house often provides a much higher quality of life than an apartment. You might get a backyard garden, or a workbench, a guest room, an office, a full kitchen, etc... and, you can drill all the holes you want, paint it your favorite color, and so on.
To the second question, buying a house rather than renting it generally increases your options by about a hundredfold -- many, many more houses are available for sale than for rent. And while property tax can be painful, it's generally substantially cheaper than what you'd pay in rent on the equivalent property. So you get to save a lot more of your income, or at least apply it to paying down your mortgage.