October 2012 Net Worth Update (+$1,863)

Highlights for October

We like to take advantage of 0% APR balance transfers and other credit card offers for free money. We are actively looking at taking advantage of new credit card arbitrage opportunities.
Our properties are listed on our balance sheet based on their cost basis, not current market value. We did this while the real estate market was riding high and we continue to do it now during the slide. I believe real estate is too illiquid to list based on recent sale transactions. For those interested, our November Zillow property estimates are: $192,875; $125,118; $290,385 (which just appraised for $270k); and $231,983.
My wife and I were blessed with our 2nd daughter in September. We are all still getting settled and finding time even more difficult to come by. While it doesn't pop up on the monthly balance sheet (except in the bottom line), our spending was at record levels this month as a lot of our Sept baby expenses hit the accounts and we spent nearly everything we took home. Im expected a drastic reduction in November, but may need to do a deeper dive to make sure we have a good understanding of where our cash is going.
October was an another great month for our investment portfolio which outperformed our benchmark by nearly 2% (+0.10% vs -1.81%). I'll post our investment report shortly.
We didn't gain much ground in our overall networth this month. As our investments were flat and spending was up sharply. We are are still a stone's throw away from being millionaires (on the balance sheet at least).
We locked in on a 3.5%, 30yr fixed, no closing cost refinance but hit the skids when our appraisal came back far lower than expected. We appealed the appraisal, but didn't get an adjustment. At this point we are moving forward with the refinance and planning to pay down our mortgage $30,000 to get a 80% LTV.
In anticipation of the large cash payment for the refinance we undid a move I made last month of taking our escrow refund and using it to paydown the equity line on property #2. The $2,580 went back in our checking account for now.

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