I transferred money from my bank account to the equity in my home; from an assets and liabilities standpoint, that's no different than transferring money from your checking account to your stock account. Spending money is depleting assets. Now, the closing costs were real expenditures and totaled around $4k, but I'm pretty sure I was still under $30k for the year. Definitely my most expensive year though.
I put $34k down on an 80-10-10 mortgage. You can easily save that amount in a year or two if you are willing to live on $30-40k a year, which is still possible while renting if you are willing to live with roommates. My salary at the time was $85k.
It is about 1.17% in most of california. Closer to 1.5% in SF, Berkeley, Oakland. But the tax increases by at most 2% per year. So $4800 a year on a $400k house in Castro Valley, Burlingame Hills, Broadmoor, or other cities without extra taxes.