Article Sphere Logo

A Decent Tax Deduction: Getting to the Point on Mortgage Points

By Expert Author: Joe Cline | View Article Summary
Word Count: 542 words | Views: 219 view(s)
Joe Cline

Points are everywhere. Pencils have points; pins have points. Conversations have points. Points can be earned; points can be lost. Points can be counted; points can be made. And in real estate, points can be paid.

In real estate, points are your mortgage’s interest, your property taxes and your loan fees. They are the little things that push the cost of financing your new home, along with closing costs and down payments, up ever so slightly. They could be what makes you unable to afford the house of your dreams. They can be an utter nuisance, something you have no desire to focus on, as they are another slash in your checkbook, and another blow to your steadily decreasing account. At least, that’s what they may seem like when you first encounter them, but that’s not all they’re cracked up to be.

Points are also tax deductible. In Austin and the United States as a whole, points are tax deductible - 100 percent in the year you pay them. And generally, a point is equal to one percent of your mortgage. So if you have a $100,000 mortgage, you’ll pay only $1,000 and write it off the next time you have to pay taxes. Your savings will be high, extremely high during your first few years with the mortgage particularly.

Another benefit of points is that they can often be used to obtain a mortgage with a lower interest rate. Banks will give you a deal if you agree to pay one, three or five points. You pay a little bit right up front but considerably less in the coming months, making the deal seem too good to be true.

Is it?

That depends. As far as the lower mortgage interest rates, you first want to consider how long you’ll be living in your home. If you plan to stay there for the remainder of your days, then the interest rate is certainly something you want to consider and most likely accept. But if you plan on staying there for only a few years, you have to do the math. Will paying a lot up front actually cost you more than the original monthly payments? If so, you’ve found yourself in a situation where paying points will do little to no good.

The same is true if you are refinancing your mortgage, as in that case your points are not fully tax deductible. The IRS requires you to spread out payments on a refinanced loan over the life of the original loan, so you may only be able to deduct a small portion of the points you paid, and since you can’t deduct points not paid in the current tax year, the remaining points, not written off, will simply be money you signed away with no benefit.

As tempting as paying points and reaping the rewards may be, you have to consider the ramifications of the act first. Will you actually end up saving money by spending more now, or will they only add to the cost of financing your home? Can you deduct them? Can you use them to get lower interest rates? Points are good and bad for different people. Know which kind you are before you make a decision.
About the Author/Author Bio

The author writes articles on Austin Real Estate Blog. For more information about Austin real estate, Lost Creek real estate and Austin Texas real estate can be found on the net.

Article Source: http://www.articlesphere.com/Article/A-Decent-Tax-Deduction--Getting-to-the-Point-on-Mortgage-Points/158512

Article Submitted: 2008-08-05 | This Article has been viewed 219 times.

Comments on this Article


More "Mortgages Refinance" Related Articles

 
 

Listed below are more articles related to the above article from the "Mortgages Refinance" article category.

People interested in the above article "A Decent Tax Deduction: Getting to the Point on Mortgage Points" are also interested in the related articles listed below:

 
If you had to resort to a home mortgage to purchase your property, and you are in an advanced stage of repayment, thinking about a home mortgage refinancing may give you extra money to count within your monthly budget. Many times, after a while living in a property, there are certain repairs that happen to be done. A broken roof or old plumb cannot stay that way forever, but we are always thinking about something else that has to be paid first and we leave our properties to loose bright and value with the pass of the years.
Being as it is, increasingly difficult to pay off mortgage installments, more and more people are resorting to long term mortgages in an intent to reduce the amount of the monthly payments. If there is no other option for purchasing your own property there is no much to discuss. However, if it is possible to afford a shorter term mortgage it is wise to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of closing on a long term mortgage deal with your home loan lender.
Although banks love the lawyers whose services they can buy, either as government legislators, regulators, or law firms who will lie to courts about foreclosure cases, these same lenders rarely enjoy talking to the legal representative of a homeowner.
This weekend on the radio, there was an interesting discussion among a handful of financial and mortgage experts about the banking industry's current fascination with loan modification programs. The participants in the discussion came up with some very good points about the modifications that lenders are currently offering to homeowners in foreclosure trying to lower their monthly bills and how banks use attorneys to pursue foreclosure but do not want to deal with a homeowner's legal representation.
A "Jumbo" mortgage is defined as a loan that is too large to be bought by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae. Depending on the state, limits range from just under $420,000 to $730,000. When the credit crisis was at its peak, jumbo mortgages were hard to find. Lenders looked at them as an unecessary risk and these mortgages were down 70 per cent in 2008 from prior years. Now that the dust has cleared, some companies are considering the jumbo mortgage market a new opportunity. As mortgage rates continue to drop, so do rates for 30-year jumbo mortgages.
The government and the President have a new plan to help homeowners out of foreclosure. We refer to it as the "Obama Plan". Many homeowners are hoping and praying for the best, but if history has shown us anything, we know it's always best to have a back up plan.
Over $9 million was deposited into an account controlled by Bell. This complex scheme resulted in charges to 24 co-conspirators for bank and wire fraud, money laundering and corrupt racketeering activity. They had participants from real estate, title insurance, appraisal and notary public.
 
Article Directory Home All Categories Finance Mortgages Refinance
 

Can't find what you're looking for? Try Google Search!
 
 
Copyright © 2005 - by Larry Lim, Singapore - Article Search Engine Directory at ArticleSphere.com™
All Rights Reserved Worldwide. All Trademarks and Servicemarks are the property of the respective owners.
French Spanish Bulgarian Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Croation Czech Danish Dutch Finnish German Greek Italian Japanese Korean Norwegian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Serbian Slovak Swedish Arabic Hebrew Hungarian Thai Turkish English US