Electricity is one thing that is not cheap in the Philippines. Meralco customers in Manila are reporting huge increases in their latest April 2010 electric bills. Like increases to P13.25 ($0.294) per kWh.
PMI is not a cost you have to pay for throughout the life of your loan. You can eventually cancel private mortgage insurance, once your principal balance drops to 80% or less of your home's original purchase price or the amount you financed in a refinance loan. This reduces the size of the loan that you can use for the home purchase or the size of the refi loan that you qualify for. 2  It is not tax deductible, unlike the interest that you pay on the money you borrow to buy a home or to finance a refinance loan on a traditional mortgage.
You probably wont even have THAT loan long enough for you to recoup the money that you paid upfront! It would take more than 5 years for you to recoup the difference. 90% of homeowners refinance within the first 5 years. What I see mostly of, however, is 2 to 3 years! At least 1% lower would be good to refi to.