If you create (or rename) a folder at the root, OS X will ask for your password. This is because you do not own the root folder. Once the folder exists, you can copy (or add) as many files and folders to it without having to enter a password. In terms of permissions, the only difference, between such a folder and your home folder, is the home folder has an Access Control List (ACL). Entering the command ls -led ~ in a terminal window results in listing the home folder's permissions. On my computer running OS X 10.10.4, I get the following output.
Davids-iMac:/ davidanderson$ ls -lde ~drwxr-xr-x+ 20 davidanderson staff 680 Aug 6 21:51 /Users/davidanderson 0: group:everyone deny deleteThe ACL is group:everyone deny delete. I assume denying everyone delete permission prevents the deletion of your home folder.
One small point, normally your files are assigned to the group named staff. If you create a folder in the root folder, the group will be wheel instead of staff. You can correct this by typing the command chgrp staff /newfolder after creating the folder. Substitute your folder name for newfolder.
