Before you pay cash for a home

Before you pay cash for a home, ask yourself if there is a possibility, at some point in the future, you might put a mortgage on the home and would want to deduct the mortgage interest on your federal tax return.

Current federal tax law allows homeowners to deduct the interest on up to $750,000 in acquisition debt used to buy, build or improve a property. When a person pays cash for a home, the acquisition debt is zero. The only way to increase the acquisition debt is to make and finance the improvements to the home.

As with many IRS regulations, there are exceptions to this rule. If a mortgage is secured on the first or second home within 90 days of the purchase closing, the debt is considered acquisition debt. The interest on the funds used to purchase the home can be deducted on up to $750,000 of the mortgage balance.

Assuming a borrower has good credit, the ability to repay the loan and the home justifies the loan, lenders are willing to make mortgages for homeowners. It does not mean that the interest on the mortgage will be deductible.

Additional information can be found in Publication 936, Home Mortgage Interest Deduction, of the Internal Revenue Service at IRS.gov.

To deduct home mortgage interest, you must file Form 1040 or 1040-SR and itemize deductions on Schedule A. The mortgage must be secured debt on a qualified home in which you have an ownership interest. Interest on home equity loans is only deductible if the borrowed funds are used to buy, build or substantially improve the taxpayer's home that secures the loan.

If you answered yes or even maybe to the question first posed in this article, contact your tax professional to determine the best way to approach your individual situation. For more information, download the Homeowners Tax Guide.

Comments

Make Your Home Offer the Most Appealing

Sales in February 2023 were up 14.5% month over month and still down 22.6% year over year according to the NAR Housing Snapshot. The median sales price dipped 0.2% to $363,000 and there are 2.6 months supply of homes on the market compared to 1.7 months a year ago. "Inventory levels are still at historic lows, and consequently, multiple offers are returning on a good number of properties." According to Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist for the National Association of REALTORS�. It is still important to have a strategy for potentially competing with other buyers on the house you want to buy. The plan should include several available provisions and options, so that at the time of drafting the sales offer, you can consider exactly what to include based on the situation. Unless a person is paying cash, you need to be pre-approved by a trusted mortgage professional long before you start looking at homes. Include the written pre-approval letter along with the offer

Rethinking Backup Offers

Like with any professional, there are tools and techniques available to help with particular situations. They might be more popular at certain times and might even be put aside or forgotten at others. For real estate professionals, one of those is the backup offer. In a situation where there are multiple offers, the seller can accept any offer for whatever reasons are important to them, leaving the makers of the other offers disappointed. There is always some uncertainty that the buyers on a contract will close accordingly. To hedge on that possibility, the seller may choose to make a counteroffer to one or more of the other offers to be a backup should the primary contract not close. From a buyer's perspective, the purpose of a backup offer is to be next in line to have the chance to purchase the property should the first contract fall through. The benefit is that you'll be next in line to purchase the home without having to submit another offer and possi

When do you lock your mortgage rate?

Locking your interest rate protects you from increases due to market conditions. Locking early safeguards your budgeted payment. By locking the rate, if the market goes up, you get the lower rate; if it goes down after the lock, you may be able to pay a fee and lower the rate. Knowing when to take the lock is determined by which direction you think the market is going. If you think rates are going up, lock in early. If you think rates are going down, ride the rate to within a few days of closing. Some lenders may allow a borrower to lock a rate after pre-approval but is more common to not offer a lock until there is a signed contract on a home. Even with a pre-approval, it could easily take 30 days or more to close a transaction and the rates can move a lot in that period. There may be a fee charged to lock a rate which is determined by the lender. Generally, the longer the time for the rate lock, the higher the fee. There is a lock period established by the l

Welcome to Chapin Real Estate Blog

Search This Blog