"What practical benefits does it give you?" It's your place and you can do whatever you want there: own a pet, change the colors of walls, install a decent kit

"What practical benefits does it give you?" It's your place and you can do whatever you want there: own a pet, change the colors of walls, install a decent kitchen.. anything. For example, I love cooking (and invest decent amount of money for equipment), do various DIY home improvement weekend projects, but I would be much less tempted to invest my time and money to someone's else place. Also, my girlfriend moved in recently and I didn't have to ask anyone's permissions for that. I see a lot of benefits with only few downsides, in the worse case scenario, I can always move somewhere else and rent my property -- currently mortgage monthly payment is less than the rent for a similar flat in this part of city where I live.