Hope Leitner, Realtor®, CRS

Owning a home can pay off at tax time. Take advantage of these home ownership related tax deductions and strategies to lower your tax bill: Mortgage Interest Deduction One of the neatest deductions itemizing homeowners can take advantage of is the mortgage interest deduction, which you claim on Schedule A. To get the mortgage interest deduction, your mortgage must be secured by your home - and your home can be a house, trailer, or boat, as long as you can sleep in it, cook in it, and it has a toilet. Interest you pay on a mortgage of up to $1 million - or $500,000 if you're married filing separately - is deductible when you use the loan to buy, build, or improve your home. If you take on another mortgage (including a second mortgage, home equity loan, or home equity line of credit) to improve your home or to buy or build a second home, that counts towards the $1 million limit. If you use loans secured by your home for other things - like sending your kid to college - yo...

The recent housing crisis has prompted questions over whether home ownership is still a viable way toward greater wealth in this country. Confidence in home ownership was shaken, and many have had to turn to renting (the number of renters has increased nearly 25 percent since the housing crisis). The home ownership rate, in turn, has fallen from a peak of nearly 70 percent in 2004 to a two-decade low of 64.3 percent more recently. Still, researchers continue to find evidence that home ownership contributes to individual wealth. One example: The Center for Responsible Lending of Federal Reserve Board’s Survey of Consumer Finances recently found that median net worth of home owners in 2013 was $195,400, while at the same time the median net worth for renters was only $5,400. “Home ownership long has been central to Americans’ ability to amass wealth; even with the substantial decline in wealth after the housing bust, the net worth of home owners over time has significantly outpa...