Forgoing the American Dream

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My husband and I bought our house almost 10 years ago. At the time his brother and sister in law bought their home and so did his sister. They talked about how great it would be to decorate it the way you want..paint the rooms any color, etc. We listened to all of the hype for quite a while. We had lived in apartments and were pretty happy with this, but after listening to them talk about their new homes we decided to follow the American dream and get a house. Here we are almost 10 years later and we are not happy with our decision. We have spent quite a bit of money in repairs over the years along with paying a homeowner's association a hefty fee yearly. People ask us why we do not repair things ourselves..well the truth is that we are just not handy. Paying property taxes and interest on the home as never made a difference on our income taxes since the standard deductible is always higher. Some of the utilities like water and trash increase more and more every year. Since we both have allergies and my husband has asthma we cannot mow our lawn and we have to pay someone to come do it. We have to make sure they do it at least twice a month otherwise the homeowner's association will send us a nice reminder in the mail. Plus the area we live in is so crowded now and the traffic is horrible. We would prefer to live closer to the major highways and closer to places like the mall, retail stores and restaurants. So why not get a house closer then...people ask. Well houses like that costs more. The less expensive ones are further out. I also think we are just bored. When we lived in apartments, we could move at the end of our lease and find a new place. We really miss the freedom to do this. I know the downside is that the apartment rent will go up while a mortgage payment will remain pretty constant. However my fear is that one day we will have a major expense with something in the house...something will break down and we will have to shell out a lot of money or worse charge it to have it fixed. I know this is not the best time to sell and we may not make much off this house. Plus who knows how long it will take to sell. We had some neighbors across the street sell their home in 2 months though and I would be happy with that. Another house had to take their home off the market because it would not sell but I know why. I saw the pictures inside of the place and it was awful. They ahd every room painted with bright, bold colors and stripes. There was way too much furniture too, plus they were asking for too much. So we will attempt this and see what happens. Thoughts?