Noob dumb tax question.

[Matt W.]

OK apologies in advance if this is a dumb question, but I'm not quite getting it. 

Background, this is my first rental, manage and maintain it myself.  In Wilmington, NC. Small 3br/2ba. Total payment is $794 and rents for $1350 

Breakdown is:

Principal: $143

Interest: $474

Tax: $90

Insurance: $87

So for simplicity's sake I'm not counting saving capex, repairs, depreciation etc. my monthly cashflow is $556. So 556 -474 interest-90 county tax-87 insurance= negative $95. Am I understanding this correctly?

Also, I'm assuming I don't get to deduct the $143 principal portion of the payment because that is contributing to my equity.

I don't know why this seems confusing to me sometimes, but it does!

Thanks!

[Basit Siddiqi]

@Matt W.

Your rent is $1,350 and your mortgage payment appears to be $794.
Why are you subtracting certain payments twice. It seems like you are subtracting interest, tax and insurance twice...

Another thing to consider is the "insurance" and "taxes" that you mention are really "escrow" payments.