_Mortgage Financing._--One of the most desirable types of financing is through a financially sound building and loan association whereby the interest and the amortization of the mortgage are taken care of through monthly payments. Such building and loan mortgages are available in most localities throughout the country. A series of monthly payments can be made which will take care of the interest payments and the mortgage itself so that within a period of from ten to twelve years, in most cases, the mortgage is amortized and the owner has the advantages of a home that is free of encumbrance. For example, if the mortgage amounts to $3,000, subscription to fifteen shares of a building and loan association at $1 a share per month would make it possible to clear off the mortgage in about eleven years. This would call for the payment to the association of $15 per month and interest. Through the compounding of interest, the mortgage can be lifted at less expense than any other procedure. Another satisfactory plan is to place the mortgage with a bank or financing company or insurance company that will not call the mortgage so long as the payments are met, and at the same time start saving through a building and loan association so as to complete the payments over a series of years. There is a far greater sense of security in having no mortgage or in setting up a definite and practical procedure for eliminating it than in always having a mortgage encumbrance with its interest payments and the possibility of having it called at an inopportune moment. A home that is free from mortgage can be carried at small cost, especially where the owner is willing to make most of the repairs and attend to the upkeep himself. The demand for outlay of cash for mortgage interest may be financially embarrassing, especially where income is not guaranteed or may be jeopardized through a drastic reduction at critical periods or as the result of emergency expenses in the family, such as are entailed by serious illness. _Taxes._--One of the factors that is frequently overlooked in the purchase of a residence in the country is the cost of meeting taxes. Since taxes must be met if the property is to be held, it is highly important that the location be one in which tax rates are not excessive. On the other hand, an exceedingly low tax rate may indicate lack of progressiveness in the community and lack of facilities which from many angles would lessen the value of the tract as a place of residence. In most localities, the tax rate is based principally upon the costs of building and maintaining highways and schools. Good facilities in both of these respects are highly desirable, and yet excessive expenditures in either direction may so advance the tax rate as to make them expensive luxuries.