• Closing cost deductions – You will need to invest money in the purchase of your home but you will be able to deduct some of these costs when filing taxes within the year of your purchase.  Contact your accountant to discuss these benefits in more detail so that you are fully aware of these benefits as they pertain to your particular financial circumstances.

• Interest deduction – For most Americans this will be one of the largest deductions they will make in a tax year.  Uncle Sam offers this discount on the interest you pay on your mortgage.  Be sure to contact your accountant to discuss these benefits in more detail.

• Property Taxes – The taxes on both your investment residence and vacation home are tax deductible and provides yet another opportunity to save money. Please consult your accountant. 

*****While the closing costs deductions will be a one-time savings opportunity, both the interest and tax deduction can provide immediate tax relief as well as a long term savings benefit.   LONG TERM FINANCIAL BENEFITS:

• Build wealth – For many Americans nowadays, creating a savings plan for the long term can prove difficult.  With costs increasing every year and income growth remaining stagnant for most, purchasing a home can be regarded as a forced savings plan.  While paying for housing and building equity in your home, you will have the opportunity to grow your net worth over the long term.

• Fixed mortgage payment – 30 year and 15 year fixed rate mortgages offer the opportunity to lock-in your housing payment over the long term.  This will allow a homeowner to avoid housing cost increases over a lifetime.  The average rental increase can be as little as 2% per year or as much as 7.7%. ApartmentList.com had a recent study conducted on two bedroom two bathroom units in Miami and found that rents increased by 7.7% over a year term.

PRIDE OF HOMEOWNERSHIP

• Pride – While the pride of homeownership is the least tangible of the benefits on this list, it can also carry the most reward out of all.  As any successful first time homebuyer will tell you, after navigating and achieving their first home purchase, the ability to call one’s house their home, is incalculable.  Achieving what most Americans feel is a lifetime milestone can feel very fulfilling in and of its own.
• Community interaction – whether becoming a bigger part of your local school’s PTA, Church, Temple, or Synagogue is important to you or not, it is our opinion that you will find deeper involvement and relationships in neighborhoods with a higher concentration of homeowners.  A deeper sense of community.

UNEXPECTED BENEFITS

• Retirement – As many Americans begin planning for their retirement, most find the ability to save the necessary amount to maintain their current lifestyles very difficult to achieve. One unforeseen benefit of owning a home early in life is the ability to payoff their mortgage by the time they retire.  Taking into consideration the current rental market and the fact that costs can only increase over time, it is comforting to know that once a home is paid off, the housing expenses at retirement age can be more manageable.

• College – While it is extremely prudent to begin some sort of college savings plan for your children at an early age, today’s economic environment makes it difficult for most Americans to save accordingly.  A home that has built a substantial amount of equity throughout the years can provide a last minute resource for college expenses if the need arises.

• Life’s Incidentals – Murphy’s Law, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.  We all know how life can throw curve balls and sometimes more than one at a time.  The equity built over a long period of time can offer an emergency fund if you find yourself in dire need.  While it’s not highly recommended to access equity in your home for frivolous pursuits, unforeseen circumstances that produce a dire need can be addressed if you have owned your home for a long period of time and diligently paid your mortgage to increase your equity over time.