Grats. Word of advice from personal experience. Start saving $50-75 a month in a "stuff breaks" fund. Things like water heaters every 5 to 10 years, the garbage disposal, faucets, toilets, those exhaust vents in the bathrooms, etc. This doesn't cover major appliances but you didn't say it came with any or are you buying them now.
At least you don't have to worry about a lawn with a condo.
The flip side is that homeowners insurance is a bit more tricky with condominiums.
Here's an oddity I discovered one day. A water pipe in my home burst and proceeded to flood the house. My homeowners insurance covered the water damage to carpets, floors, kitchen cabinets damaged by water, etc. But because the insurance policy did not cover "normal wear and tear breakage" it ironically did not cover the actual pipe breaking. In other words, the insurance company would pay to replace all the stuff the water damaged, but I had to pay out of pocket to repair the water line that broke. Strange, but understandable.
If I had lived in a condo rather than a house, life would get more complex. My homeowners insurance would likely cover the damage to contents, but because the cause was due to something within the structure of the condo itself, my insurance company might have punted and asked that the condo association cover it. Which their insurance would, but then you have to deal with the condo association, and some are notorious for being glacial in processing such things.
Here's another home owner trick I learned during that experience. The insurance company would only cover replacement costs for the things damaged, but when it came to things like kitchen cabinets my insurance adjuster told me that I was not actually required to replace them exactly as they were before. If I wanted *better* things than what the house originally had, I was free to take the money and buy better things, paying the difference out of pocket. The insurance company only wanted to make sure I was replacing what was damaged with stuff that at least replaced the original value, or better. So in effect, the insurance company paid most of the costs for a kitchen remodel, which was something I was thinking about doing eventually anyway. Always nice when your insurance adjuster is willing to sit down and explain all the tricks of the trade.
The next step Agge is to start that countdown clock to when that mortgage disappears. Recently, mine crossed the 1400 day mark. Just a couple of Star Wars sequels to go, and then I'm going to party like its 2017.
