We got milked for $24,000 last year. How about you?

House: Still mad at me?TWENTY-FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS for a roof over our head โ€“ and that was only for our mortgage interest & taxes! Hahaโ€ฆtalk about a wake up call.

If you are a home โ€œownerโ€ Iโ€™m sure you know what Iโ€™m talkinโ€™ about, but Iโ€™ve said it before, and Iโ€™ll say it again โ€“ if youโ€™re looking to own a home one day be absolutely certain youโ€™re ready to pay for the associated costs.

There are a ton of benefits that go along with this โ€œAmerican Dream,โ€ (tax write-offs, stability, equity, etc) but youโ€™ve got to be aware of the financial drains as well. And as most of you know, had I been more aware 2 1/2 years ago I would have done things a lot differently โ€” Like either bought a smaller place or continued renting for a couple more years.

But it is what it is, and today I thought it would be interesting to see the breakdown of how our living situation has changed financially since renting. The numbers may be off a bit as I canโ€™t recall exactly what we paid while renting (I didnโ€™t start tracking this stuff until after we bought โ€“ when I realized I need to pay more attention!) but itโ€™s pretty close:

CATEGORY

Mortgage(s)/Rent
Extra Principal
Taxes
Condo Fees
Utilities (non cable)
Insurance
Maintenance
โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”
TOTAL:

Owning

$1,800
$200
$278
$130
$150
$75
$100?
โ€”โ€”โ€”
$2,733

Renting

$1,300
$0
$0
$0
$200
$50
$0
โ€”โ€”โ€”
$1,550

As you can see, we pay about $1,200 MORE a month right now . Thatโ€™s pretty substantial, even with the tax write-offs (we may see about $600 of it back if I had to guess). But even crazier here, 100% of all that interest & taxes are NOT going towards the principal loans we took out on the house! Meaning we still would have owed the original $360k had we not been chipping away at it by our own accord (we have 100% financing, which surprisingly we actually like!)

So if you do own, or youโ€™re thinking about owning, take all these things into consideration :) Just applying $100 or $200 extra a month towards your mortgages will drastically cut the amount of interest youโ€™ll eventually pay in the end & wonโ€™t drive you *as* crazy. But I must warn you, itโ€™s not that easy. Iโ€™ve been praising it for over a year now and I still struggle every time I sit down to do it! Hahaโ€ฆnext time weโ€™ll be buying a place closer to the lower end of our budget, not our highest.

How much did you all end up dishing out in interest & taxes last year?

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4 Comments

  1. Anonymous February 8, 2010 at 8:48 PM

    My rental days were $300-385 for 1 bedroom apartment (600 sq ft). Water/trash were paid by landlord. Electric averaged $60. There was a laundry room, pool, club house and safe neighborhood.

    I bought a 3 bed/1bath with carport 8 years ago. It's a 50 year old ranch with 960 sq ft. I have a laundry room and nicely sized kitchen. I also have a little yard. My mortgage is $376 with insurance/taxes. My water bill is $52, trash $11, electric $21 and gas is $39. All the bills are averaged. I paid about $3500 in repairs and maintenance with broken water heater, privacy fence replacement, 2 plumbing problems and locksmith twice.

    The priceless part is having a little elbow room between the amorous or party animal neighbors. Also, my landlord had some tenants who trashed their apartments and the bugs and critters moved in. In a house, there is a little more room so the problems don't just move next door.

  2. J. Money February 9, 2010 at 2:44 AM

    Wow, so cool to see the differences in price here. 3 Bedroom for a $376 mortgage? Yes please! hahaโ€ฆ.although that would still get me stuck in one place (my real complaint with owning).

    Appreciate you sharing!

  3. auntrapunewer September 29, 2010 at 12:44 PM

    I think most peole fail to take into account when going from โ€œrentingโ€ to โ€œowningโ€ are the unknown expenses. I would advise a sizable savings dedicated just for that purpose, otherwise your dream home can turn into your worst nightmare.

  4. J. Money September 29, 2010 at 8:45 PM

    Yep, you got that right!