Today is September 4, 2025.  Writing these blog posts a little bit different these days as a homeowner as opposed to renter.  I successfully closed on my new home in early August 2025.  3 bedroom, 2 bathroom built in the 1970s. Close enough to Dallas to get there if / when I went to but far enough where the neighborhood is relatively quiet. My realtor who is a friend was super patient with me which I really appreciated along the journey. I didn’t feel pressured at all and a few of the properties I knew were a hard no right off the bat.

Nearly a month into the process I’m very happy with my decision and considering I just turned the ripe young age of 42 in August, I don’t think renting especially in that old apartment in that neighborhood fit my aspirations. Shortly after I moved out a woman was held at knifepoint at another complex down the block causing 12 police cruisers to show up. My immediate neighbor also wasn’t renewing her lease so that makes 2 of us. There were signs as soon as you turn down saying to lock up and basically be aware of theft. Started to feel like a third world country to be honest. Cars lined up and down the street, people repairing cars on the street, people speeding up and down the road blasting loud music.

With the purchase of a home comes along unexpected expenses and my situation is no different. Sharing a few pictures of my August experiences. I really did a lot in a month. Today I finished mowing the lawn for the third time I think? It grows super quickly in the back.

1. Proper maintenance of the exterior is of the utmost importance, so I needed to buy a lawnmower.Along with the lawnmower purchase were a weedwhacker and a leaf blower. The estimated cost for all these items was about $566.
2. Altogether the moving company cost roughly $890 including the tip if I recall correctly. They did a really good job getting all of my items packed onto the truck and delivering them without any noticeable damage.
3. I went through a bit of an ordeal trying to figure out how to properly connect the power cable from my electric dryer into the home.I thought I was doing something wrong but it turned out that the previous owner hired a contractor who installed a stove outlet instead of a proper 4 prong dryer outlet. We went back-and-forth for several days about them fixing it prior to my closing date. The work was never done which resulted in me making an emergency phone call to a local electrician who fortunately was able to arrive within an hour and finished up right when the movers were coming with all my stuff. The final cost of that was $265.
4. The home that I purchased had prior foundation work done earlier in the year. With that my online research found that it is highly recommended to transfer the foundation warranty from the previous owner to the current owner within 30 to 60 days. I jokingly say that was the most expensive piece of paper with a certificate on it that I’ve paid aside from my college degrees. $150, but I think it’s worth it for additional piece of mine and if god forbid I ever have to make a claim on the warranty.
5. Home essentials are  also something that is important as far as making the space “livable”, That includes bedding, new towels, a step ladder, includes a 6 foot ladder to allow me to get to the roof. Also 2 $80/each custom made cellular window shades, lamp from Ikea. Estimated cost altogether I’d say is $650.
6. Furniture – Think I covered this last month but it was around $1100-1200. includes furniture for the living room area as well as a bookshelf, and a reading chair.
7. As far as an additional expense in terms of time involved/labor and less so the money aspect. I climbed up the ladder to remove a ton of debris from the gutters since I noticed when there was heavy rainfall, the water was literally just rolling off of the edge of the gutters my fear, if not quickly addressed, that would create water damage to something I wasn’t trying to deal with as a brand new homeowner.
8. During the middle of all of this, my semi estranged grandfather, passed away at the age of 89. I really struggled with this emotionally as I’ve not seen him in person over the last 16 years the most we’ve spoken to was approximately one hour in total, he also has not contributed to my life at all as an adult nor have I asked him to if I didn’t want to go to the service they had it would’ve been a 9 hour drive or alternatively a $700 round-trip flight. At the time no one was very communicative about whether there was even going to be a service or would it just be a viewing and that’s it. With all that said I did not go to my own grandfather’s funeral. I explained the situation to my mother, and she seemed OK with it. It was not made in haste since I just bought a house and haven’t even made the first payment having an additional expense of that scale for someone who barely made an effort… just wasn’t something that resonated in my soul. I also have never spoken to his wife or met her in person.
9. Temperatures in August are some of the hottest of the entire year in 2025 is no exception. Given that the square footage of this property is more than double what my apartment was so two are the projected electricity cost. That means for approximately three weeks of living here. We’re looking at an electricity bill of over $220 projected. Only recently have I taken additional measures that could help minimize that this includes some blinds that are blocking some of the light in the front two windows and using a dehumidifier, which should allow the AC to not work as hard to get the interior at the desired temperature.
10. Home security is another expense associated with homeownership. As a gay man living in a red state, and a minority on top of that, and not knowing any of my neighbors on top of that, I thought it would be best for me to get a home security set up with that. I did have to finance the equipment since I wasn’t buying it outright the cost of that including the labor, the equipment and taxes was approximately $2,900 (a big part of the CC balance)granted that is at a 0% interest rate. It still is considered an active/open credit line on my credit report. My goal is to pay extra as I go, but the financially smart thing to do would be to milk it as much as I can. There’s also a recurring cost for the service of the alarm of roughly $50 per month and I think it was also close to $60 per year to register with the city since that is a requirement since apparently there are a lot of false alarms.
11. Pest control was another item that I needed to take care of, this house is built in the 1970s and we’re in Texas. I’ve had experiences with carpenter ants and other ants infestations, at this house. There were some mosquitoes in the yard that we were trying to take care of, along with some ants near the window that kept coming inside. I do think one of the sprays I can smell inside when the fan is on. It was particularly strong at first though it is gradually starting to dissipate. I see dead ants on the floor, which is OK though there were quite a lot overtime I do think the previous owner did some type of pest control treatment prior to leaving. Roughly $65/mo
12. An upcoming expense that I may have is regarding exterior plants for the property. Haven’t decided exactly on what plants. I’m going to purchase but want something nice that hopefully isn’t going to die within the next month as the seasons change I’m not entirely how much that will cost, but we’ll see…
13. The water and sewage bill should come in the mail soon, I’m expecting that to be $70 dollars.
14. There are some additional expenses associated with throwing a housewarming party, but those are relatively minor. Let’s say $100.
15. Refrigerator – I bought a more affordable one from Best Buy but it was the wrong size so it had to get shipped back. The one I was able to get in a timely manner came from Home Depot to the tune of $1,358.52 including tax. That was under a special buy with $801 off.
16. Truck Rental – Rented a truck from U-Haul for a grill my friends gave me that doesn’t work. Cost was about $110 including gas.
17. Handle – One of the handles in the kitchen was missing on a cabinet, prompting me to find a replacement. I went to Lowes, I want to Home Depot. They almost matched but I ended up ordering line for a near perfect fit.
18. Saw these cute little goats out in Terrell, TX. I didn’t pet them but they were super adorable to look at and see especially the children’s faces light up.
19. Went to a potluck / pool party with friends early this week and really enjoyed myself. It’s fun to continue putting myself out there and experiencing new things.

It does feel like I have gone through a decent amount of money with all of the initial move-in expenses, but many of these are one time costs. Or items that will benefit me for several years minimum. I’ve been trying to cash flow things as much as possible. Fortunately, my first mortgage payment is due the start of October so that does give me a little bit of a buffer. The mortgage lender is going to be selling it to a different company to service, fingers crossed nothing gets mixed up along the way.

My net worth is down about $5k for the month which isn’t bad considering I bought a whole house. Still up about $106k for the year. In September 2020 my total net worth was only $96k, a *lot* can happen in 5 years.

While I hate the idea of carrying extra, the alarm is at 0% so mathematically it makes no sense to pay it off early. Any money I add to principal on the mortgage will get me closer to eliminating PMI and lower my overall interest payments. And lessen the amount of time on the loan. However with the roughly $22k of interest for 2026, plus property $4k taxes, and $1200 of PMI of I would benefit from filing taxes under the itemized deduction.

Here’s a snapshot of my amortization schedule.

I asked Gemini how much extra I’d need to pay to have the mortgage gone by my target retirement age. This is what it generated:
To pay off your $340,000 mortgage by October 2043, you would need to pay an additional $514.09 per month towards the principal.

This calculation is based on the provided amortization schedule and the goal of paying off the loan in 18 years (from October 2025 to October 2043), rather than the original longer term, which appears to be a 30-year mortgage.

Breakdown of the Calculation

Here’s how we arrived at that number:

• Original Loan Details: Based on the amortization schedule, your original monthly payment for principal and interest is approximately $2,180.07. The annual interest rate is approximately 6.625%.
• New Payoff Goal: To pay off the mortgage by 2043, the loan term is shortened to 18 years (216 months).
• New Monthly Payment: To meet this new goal, a new monthly principal and interest payment of approximately $2,694.16 is required.
• Extra Principal Payment: The difference between the new and original payment is the extra amount that needs to be paid each month:$2,694.16 (New Payment) – $2,180.07 (Original Payment) = $514.09 (Extra Monthly Payment)

By adding this extra amount to your monthly payment and ensuring it is applied directly to the principal, you can significantly shorten the life of your loan and save a substantial amount in interest over time. It is always a good practice to communicate with your lender to ensure any extra payments are correctly applied to the principal balance.

I also need to think about ways to boost my income. Even an extra $500 could go a long way consistently. Maybe a raise will be in my future? 😂