Seven Reasons to Own a Home

Even with the recent changes in the real estate market, there are many important and financially beneficial reasons to own your own home. Sometimes those reasons are unknown or often overlooked by potential buyers. In this blog I have put together a list of seven reasons to own your own home.

Seven Reasons to Own a Home

• Tax Benefits – As of 2019, the U.S. Tax Code lets you deduct the interest you pay on your mortgage, your property taxes, and some of the costs involved in buying a home.

• Appreciation – Historically, real estate has had a long-term, stable growth in value. In fact, median single-family existing-home sale prices have increased on average more than five-percent each year from 1972 through 2014, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. Even the most recent 10 years, which included quite a few very bad years for housing, values are still up seven-percent on a cumulative basis. In addition, the number of U.S. households is expected to rise 10-percent to 15-percent over the next decade, creating continued high demand for housing.
• Equity – Money paid for rent is money that you’ll never see again, but mortgage payments let you build equity ownership interest in your home.
• Savings – Building equity in your home is a ready-made savings plan. And when you sell, you can generally take up to $250,000 ($500,000 for a married couple) as gain without owing any federal income tax (for tax year 2019).
• Predictability – Unlike rent, your fixed-rate mortgage payments don’t rise over the years so your housing costs may actually decline as you own the home longer. However, keep in mind that property taxes and insurance costs will likely increase.
• Freedom – The home is yours. You can decorate any way you want and choose the types of upgrades and new amenities that appeal to your lifestyle.
• Stability – Remaining in one neighborhood for several years allows you and your family time to build long-lasting relationships within the community.

We want our clients to be prepared when they go into the home buying process. For this reason, we have even created our own ebook, The Essential Handbook for Buying Your Home, for potential buyers to help guide them through the process. If you would like a copy please contact me and we will email it over.

*Taxes and other benefits listed are always subject to change.