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Tax Benefits For Homeowners In 2005 Hit $125 Billion
Congress has just toted up the billions in taxes America's homeowners will save this year through various federal housing writeoffs and credits. The number is huge and the underlying message is loud and clear: If you don't own a home, you are missing out on Congress's most generous lump of tax goodies served up to any category of individual taxpayers.
Here's what the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimates homeowners will keep in their pockets in 2005, rather than sending to Washington:
$72.6 billion in mortgage interest
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deductions on owner-occupied homes. Federal tax law allows owners to write off interest payments on up to $1.1 million in mortgage debt on a qualified principal residence.
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How Your Credit Affects Your Homeowners Insurance
If you've researched or gone through the process of getting a home loan, you know how important it is to have a good credit history. But did you know insurance companies also use your credit habits in determining whether they'll provide you with insurance and how much you'll pay?
Insurance companies have traditionally used many factors in determining how much of a risk you are to get into an accident or incur losses resulting in
claims.
For example, insurers will look at your driving record and how long you've been driving when you seek auto insurance. Likewise, when you apply for
homeowners insurance, they'll look at the age, size, and construction of your home.
Through the years insurers have found a person's credit information to be a highly accurate predictor of risk, according to the Insurance Information
Institute, a non-profit organization supported by the property and casualty insurance business.
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Pledge To Make '05 Your Year
Alphonso Jackson, Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, suggested a new year's resolution last month that may not be nearly as tough to realize as many people think. And better yet, once you reach his proposed goal, it should be much easier to maintain than keeping off a few extra pounds or working out more often.
We're talking, of course, about home ownership, a goal to which practically every family in America aspires.
Owning the roof over your head isn't for everyone. Some folks don't want the responsibility, while others don't want to give up the freedom of being able to pick up and move, whether across the street or across the country,
almost at will.
But if you hanker to put down some roots, give your kids a place to grow and prosper, become part of a community and build a little nest egg, owning your home instead of renting it from someone else should be one of your top priorities.
"As long as you have a steady salary, good credit, and few long-term debts, purchasing a home is probably within your reach," Sec. Jackson said in a pre-Christmas message. "And by taking things one step at a time, you'll find that buying a home can be a very manageable process."
As the nation's housing agency, HUD
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Reverse Mortgages: Aid For Financially Strapped Seniors
Owning your own home free and clear was once the American dream, but today many seniors are reversing the theme and using their paid-off home as collateral for a loan that pays them monthly.
The reverse mortgage is being billed as a helping hand for some seniors, sitting on a home rich with equity, but who also may be on a fixed income and facing rising health and medical costs, low returns from bank deposits and dismal stock portfolios.
"The biggest benefit to seniors is that, one, they don't have to have any debt service payments. Everything is deferred until they no longer reside in the house and then they have a period after that in which to repay the loan,"
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