Fantasy Housing

Now, there's a ton of stuff I would like to see Blizzard add to WoW. Better mana conserv and regen for MM, for one, but there is one thing I really really want to see.
Player and Guild Housing
I've been in games where this was available, and I thought it was great. It's an extra gold-sink for players, and it gives you some options and it's fun.

How about if you're exalted with a faction, you can purchase living space in their home base/city? I'd be grinding up to exalted with Sporeggan so fast it'd make your head spin. A lovely cottage in the middle of nowhere, close to fishing? Garetia would love it, it'd be the perfect vacation home. It wouldn't exactly be convenient, but most vacation homes aren't.

You could have bosses drop trophy heads that could be placed on the wall, weapon and armor racks to show off that now outdated tier stuff you spent so much time trying to get, and for the hunters (please?) a place for all your pets to live, with a stable-master to take care of them. And one for non-combat pets as well.

Professions could have a random recipe drop that allows them to make crafting zones in their homes, and maybe there could be a rare drop that allows you to cultivate an herb garden in home (for the herbalists). It'd be easy to put a timer on it so you can only gather it once a week or something. When you gather an herb, maybe you have a 1 in 1000 chance of getting a seed, and your herb garden can hold 5 seeds.

Oh, and another hearthstone for house-owners, that takes you back there.

There are a few caveats to this...
1. No player stealing. I'm on a carebear RP server for a reason. I don't want to come home and discover that all my hard work has been swiped by someone else.

2. No decay.

3. I'd like to be able to show my house off, but only to those I invite. Maybe a house key? I don't want random people wandering around it.

Obviously costs should scale. A small apartment in Dalaran should cost more than my cottage out in Zangarmarsh because, let's face it, Dalaran is where everyone is.

So what do you guys think? Where would your characters live, and how? Would their place be decorated in early bloodbath, in metal, or not at all?