March ' 17 Mortgage Update

Principle paid down: $717.07
Interest: $265.91
Loan Balance: $84,635.89

The pay-off date is now September 2030.

We plan to continuing to pay an extra $313 a month to get used to paying a larger mortgage before we move, and to pay it off quicker since this is our only debt. If we keep it up, our pay-off date is August 2025.

In order to move, we are hoping to have at least $150,000 of equity to use as our down payment to allow us to afford our high cost of living area which is close to both our jobs and we both don't want to commute anymore than we already do.

If we sold our place today, we'd walk away with $150,3641.11... (assuming our place is worth $250K and we pay 6% closing costs). 

Which means we actually have the equity we wanted to move... which is kind of a big deal, considering this is 3 years ahead of schedule...

However, properties have also jumped up in price significantly.

It looks like a rough estimate says we can afford something in the $325,000 range and keep a similar payment to what we have now, but the range for a 2 bedroom in our area now is around $325,000- $350,000 instead of the $280k - $315k that it was... with nicer places at $375k - $400k... which on our current plan will still take around 3 years to come up with if we don't get a significant promotion.  :(

The long history summary... 

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 me $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 me an extra $90.10... but then I had to pay an Electrician $95.00 to fix an outlet... I 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.. and we saved $5,191.81 by NOT renting a place (see Housing Comps 2013)!! Additionally we ITEMIZED our taxes in 2013, saving $702.45 on a federal taxes and $503.74 on our State Taxes. (Again, this is difference we saved by itemizing our taxes, instead of taking the standard deduction -- which we could only do because we owned our condo).

• In 2014 we did a few home repairs totaling $976.00... but even with those factored in, we still saved $3,119.04 living here instead of renting an apartment (See Housing Costs 2014 ) For 2014 we spent $14,172.96 to live in our condo, instead of $17,292 to live in an apartment. We also saved an additional $377 by itemizing and writing off our property taxes and interests.

• In 2015 we started to aggressively pay down our mortgage again. We also spent $359.26 to fix a few things around the house. Even with the additional mortgage payments, we still saved $1,045.74 by staying in our condo instead of renting (See Housing Costs 2015, which shows an apartment would have been $20,856 a year!)

• In 2016 we itemized our taxes again and got to write off our interest and property tax. It was these two expenditures that put us over the threshold to make itemizing the way to go, saving us $950.00 more than if we had claimed the standard deduction. Despite playing extra on our mortgage and $581 in minor repairs and a new front door lock, we still saved $1,986.55 over renting (see our 2016 housing update for the break down).

All of that "math" leaves us $3,274.84 in the green before we even talk about equity!