South County Girl: Mortgage Update: December 2013

Principle paid down: $322.52
Interest: $347.44
Additional Principle: $0.00
New Balance: $110,857.14

The pay off date is June 2033. If I continue to pay the minimum on my loan, I will still need to pay $45,443.47 in interest (plus the $23,980.71 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 $9,142.86 in equity...

Leaving us $3,043.32 in the hole after 4 yrs & 3 months.

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. For 2013 we have spent $11,785.19 to live in our condo, instead of $16,977.00 to live in the apartment.

Mortgage (including additional principle payments:) $9,032.43
HOA: $3,198
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)

With December here we can close out the year and officially report that we have saved $5,191.81 by not renting this year...

Which means we BREAK EVEN ON OUR CONDO and start 2014 with a profit!!!!!!!

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

Asking $222,000.00 (Days on Market 90)
Sold in last 3 months: N/A

Two-Bedrooms Listed for Sale in our Complex: