is it worth it to buy a house just to write off the interest?
99433
The answer is - it depends.  You can rent a place to live, or rent the money to "buy" a place to live.  With prices and interest rates where they are it may be cheaper to rent.  If you go to www.ASKMoneyMetrics.com and fill out the Mortgage Readiness form, we can do a rent v. own comparison for you, then you will know for sure.  Yahoo calculator link also below.  It usually does not make sense to go into debt just to lower your taxes.
617052
Since the interest that you pay on your "Owner Occupied" home is tax deductable (even 2nd mortgages and Home Equity Lines of credit) where investment properties (Non-Owner Occupied) interest is not, I personally think it would be better to use the equity in your current home to put money down on an investment property. Plus, putting money down on the investment propertey will most likely lower your interest rate.\nBUT, with all that being said, I don't know full details of your financial situation and strongly suggest going to your financial planner for further information. If you don't have a financial planner, I know that Ameriprise Financial Advisors is a fantastic, safe company to deal with (formerly American Express Financial Advisors until they broke away from them last October). \nAnyway, best of luck with all this.
1084097
Yes.  You can pay them off.  Or pay cash for your property.
1152638
here is a link for a calculator\nhttp://mortgages.interest.com/content/calculators/discount.asp\n\nit depends on how long you want to keep the property. \nlet's say for $500,000 loan @ 6.5% your interest payment is $2708.. if you want to "buy it down" to 6.00% and pay 1 point.. then, your interest payment @6% would be $2500... and it would cost you $5,000... it means it will take you 5000/(2708-2500)= 24 months to recoup the point.. so, paying this points will make sense if you will keep the loan for 24+ months
742345
If you're planning to sell it in the next few months, no, since the costs to refinance would probably more than eat up any savings.  If you're planning to sell in a year, maybe.  Longer out than that, probably yes.
581593
an interest only loan means you only pay the interest accruing.\nthe advantage is having lower payments, because you are not actually paying off what you owe.\nyou could do that for a year or two to clear your other commitments, or to wait for a child to enter school so both parents can work.\nIn Australia, you must finalise a home loan within 30 years of taking it...so paying interest only is actually increasing the rate that you must later pay.\nIf you are certain your home will increase in value, you could presumably pay interest only for an extended period then sell at a profit, clear your debt, and walk away with the remaining cash.\nHowever, banks are reluctant to grant such conditions due to the uncertainty of selling at a profit.
42913
It's probably not wise to actually close the account.  You could borrow against it, and then pay it back as you have more money.  Owning a house is important to one's self worth, and it's (usually) a good investment.  If the housing market in your area is going up in value, it's a better investment than most things in your 401(k).  If the housing market is going down in value, wait to buy a house.  In short, don't close the account, keep putting money in.  Houses are a good investment usually, but not always a sure thing.
144379
When the interest rate changes downward and you have a loan that you pay a higher rate is the only time to consider it simply to save money.\n\nThe problem is that you have to pay loan origination fees, and possibly points (if you are paying points then the rate really wasn't lower like you thought). So there is some rate that gets eaten just to break even. I don't have any exact numbers, but what you do is take the fees and compare to the monthly income stream that makes the loan different. \n\nIt is very important to take into account the extra payments at the end of the loan. If you only owe for 27 years on your 30 year loan and you get a new 30 year loan then you have 3 extra years of payments. These are way out there and so the interest rate drops the value in todays dollars, but you still need to take it into account.\n\nUsing a financial calculator or spreadsheet you can then calculate the interest rate you would in effect be getting on the "refinancing investment" you are considering. If the rate is high enough to be better than any other option you could spend your money on (opportunity cost) then refinance. \n\nSometimes you can add these new fees to the loan and you owe more, so be sure that you don't do this without realizing it (add it into the spreadsheet calculations). In fact this is sometimes actually the main reason to do it.\n\nIf you own a rental property that has appreciated in value you can refinance it with a new loan for the specific purpose of getting the money out. You will have a higher amount owed and therefore a higher monthly payment, but presumably the income has gone up and can support the higher payments. Then as the expert real estate investor you can earn a much higher rate with your new cash or you just wanted some income without being taxed. Either way its a cool thing to do. \n\nTax free money for equity, gotta love it.
218073
Without a doubt, it's best to buy if you can.  Paying rent is paying someone else's mortgage for them.  Better to pay tax deductible interest to the lender than to just give money away to a landlord.  Many mortgage companies collect property taxes as part of your mortgage payment, and you can have the payment charged directly to your bank account - don't have to remember or ever be late.  Just have to make sure there's enough money for the mortgage, figure out ahead what your bills will be, such as utilities, food, car payment, etc.  Years later you probably can sell your house or condo for more than you paid, it's like having lived there for free.
541508
Your lender can tell you.  I'm paying a mortgage on a piece of land I am buying with a credit card that gives cash back.  It's really nice.  Pay the morgtage with card.  Pay card within grace period.  Get 5% cash back.  Of course, you can do miles, too, but the value of miles is waaaaayyyyy down from a decade ago.
828295
You  can't do it with the plus loan, but you could refinance with a private load that allows it.  I don't recommend it though.  Paying interest only you will never get the loan paid off, and the difference in the payment would not be that much since at the begining, the largest part of your payment is interest.
626211
no.  the government is in the business of encouraging home ownership, not funding it.  the whole point of home ownership is to put some equity into something so you have a sense of connection to this massive pile of debt you've just bought.  if the government gave you the downpayment, what sense of connection is that?  you bought a house with the government's money and there's nothing keeping you from walking away.
590303
If you have your mortgage paid, then you'll have all the interest paid as well. That's a good thing. But if you have credit card debt, go after that first. More than likely it's 4 or 5 times the interest rate on your mortgage.
586914
Most people are taking interest only loans.   This is not a problem if you plan on staying in your home forever, and don't mind the fact that you are never building up equity.  However, if you plan to sell in the future, this could be a big problem if the market crashes because you will owe more than your house is worth. Be careful!
292099
It all depends on what interest rate you are paying on the mortgage and what return you think you can get with your investments.  If the return you think you can get on your investments is higher than the interest you pay you are better off not paying off the mortgage.  For example, say you get 10% on your investment portfolio and you pay 5% interest on the mortgage.  Why take $1,000 away from your investments and miss out on the $100 ($75-$85 after taxes) you would have gotten in return in order to save $50 ($62 after tax savings) in interest in the first year?  It works the same way for successive years afterwords.  So you need to think about what you can reasonably get by investing before you make this decision.
50653
if you intend to stay in a property for a short period of time, then an ARM could still be a good deal. if you intend to stay 5 years or longer then a fixed loan would be better. a sharp rise in an ARMs could occur and force people into negative amortization. it is better to know what your costs will be in the future, then worrying about being homeless because of an interest rate spike!\n\njust my opinion. i have done it both ways in the past and was uncomfortable with the ARM going higher.
1071060
I'm not sure about your question--which is better?\n\nWhen you have a mortgage, early on the bulk of the payments are interest, and you can deduct that amount on  your income tax.  A good deal.