South County Girl: Mortgage Update October 2013

Principle paid down: $320.52
Interest: $349.44
Additional Principle: $0.00
New Balance: $111,501.18

The pay off date is June 2033. If I continue to pay the minimum on my loan, I will still need to pay $46,140.05 in interest (plus the $23,284.83 I've already paid). Before our refinance, we would have paid $116,404.23 in interest.

Getting the Keys...

It took me $7,057.08 to get the keys to my condo and then I spent another $17,672.29 to remodel and repair it... In short, I was -$24,729.37 in the hole on day one...

In 2009 I got the First Time Home buyer's Credit giving us $8,000.00. I also got to write off some of the property tax I paid in addition to taking the standard deduction. This gave us an extra $90.10... but then I had to pay an Electrician $95.00 to fix an outlet... We also got a refund from my botched tile job that gave us another $1,265.00.
In 2010 I saved $1,087.00 on my federal taxes and $461.00 on my State taxes from itemizing my homeowners expenses. (This is what I received ABOVE what I would have gotten back with just the standard deduction).
In 2011 I spent $12.97 at home depot and $72.29 on a kitchen door. When we subtract those costs from what we saved by living in our condo instead of renting, we came out ahead $494.04 (See Mortgage Update + Condo Costs December '11 for that break down.) We also received a small $70 refund check from over paid closing costs. We didn't Itemize our taxes in 2011.
In 2012 we finished our Kitchen/Laundry door which cost us $103.24.. We also replaced both our glass slider doors which cost us $2,957.00... and repaired our dryer for $81.42....It ended up being $3,383.47 cheaper to OWN our condo than to rent an apartment on a monthly basis, (See Housing Costs 2012 for the break down) so even after we subtract the windows and other minor repairs, we still came out ahead $241.81 by owning our condo instead of renting...
In 2013 we got $52.53 back from challenging my property taxes in 2012. I also refinanced our condo, costing us $447.00 up front for our home appraisal... but we got a check back at closing for $747.20 and a check from my old escrow account for $489.74... We also got to skip a mortgage payment too! In addition, they automatically lowered my property tax value, giving us a check for $86.77

All of that "math" leaves us $12,186.18 in the hole. If we assume our home is worth at least what we paid for it ($120k), we have $8,498.82 in equity...

Leaving us $3,687.36 in the hole after 4 yrs & 1 month.

For 2013, we will again assume our monthly mortgage payments are a wash since its cheaper to OWN our home then to RENT an apartment. Check out Housing Comps 2013 for how we figured that one out (and those rental figures do not yet include us getting a pet 6 months into the year and being subjected to a pet deposit and pet rent). For 2013 we have spent $9,698.21 to live in our condo, instead of $13,610 to live in the apartment.

Mortgage (including additional principle payments:) $7,488.45
HOA: $2,655
Small Home Repairs/Improvements:$0
Earthquake Insurance: $187
Homeowners Insurance: $297
Refinance Charges: (-$789.94) This is what we "gained" from refinancing after out of pocket fees.
Property tax Rebates (-$52.53) & (-$86.77)

The year isn't over yet, but so far we have saved $3,911.79 by not renting... and if that figure holds true, it looks like we might break even on our condo this year!

Current Housing Market:
One-Bedrooms Listed for Sale in our Complex:

Asking: $222,000.00 (Days on Market, 33)
Sold in last 3 months: N/A

Two-Bedrooms Listed for Sale in our Complex: