If you or someone you know are still paying a landlord’s mortgage instead of building equity of your own, see what you’re missing. Check out some of the other financial benefits of being a homeowner.
Typical Tax Deductions for Homeowners
Mortgage interest – One of the biggest tax incentives to owning a home is that the interest you pay on your mortgage is tax-deductible, up to $1 million. This deduction applies to any kind of home, including a second home under certain conditions.
Real-estate taxes – As a homeowner, you can deduct the local property taxes you pay each year, too. This applies to both your principal home and any others you may own.
Points – If you (or even the seller) paid points to the lender to secure your mortgage, you may be able to deduct those points on your taxes.
Despite the recent headlines, bank failures are extremely uncommon. But if you’re concerned, here’s what you need to know.
Question: If you have $100,000 in a checking account and also have a $200,000 CD with the same bank how much of your money is protected by federal deposit insurance? How much would you receive if the bank failed? –Walter Matthews, Savannah, Georgia
Answer: Talk about déjà vu all over again. When hundreds of customers lined up to pull their money out of IndyMac, the failed bank that federal regulators seized last week, my mind instinctively flashed back to the S&L crisis of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, when at one point banks were dropping at a rate of more than one a day. Read the rest of this entry »
