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Cash or Mortgage - Which is the Best Way to Go?

By
Real Estate Agent with Roy Wheeler Realty Co.

You might think that a person who pays cash doesn't have many concerns or at least not the same ones as most people.  Roughly, about 9% of people paid cash for their home last year with a considerably higher percentage paying cash this year. 

The first question that comes to mind when I hear someone say they want to pay cash for a home is "Do you think that you might put a loan on the home in the future?"  Paying cash may affect your ability to deduct the interest on a mortgage placed on the home at a later date.

Currently, a homeowner may deduct the interest on up to $1 million of acquisition debt.  Paying cash for a home establishes acquisition debt at $0.  At that point, the only deductible interest would be home equity debt which is limited to $100,000 over acquisition debt.  You can get more information about this from IRS Publication 936.

On the surface, paying cash certainly seems simple but it may have consequences later.  Honestly, having a mortgage or not is a personal financial decision.  If you are lucky enough to have the option, I recommend that you speak with a financial planner or tax accountant.  As a Residential Finance Consultant, I can point out the areas when advice from a tax professional is in order.

Comments(2)

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Beth Larsen
RE/MAX Sedona - Sedona, AZ
Sedona Arizona

GREAT post Virginia, and very thought-provoking. We have actually been seeing a much higher percentage of cash buyers in our market. I also read that this last year the national average was somewhere in the neighborhood of 30%, which they indicated may have been an all-time record. (Must find that post). It certainly means we should be adding this question-I had not looked at it from this perspective before.

Jun 08, 2011 03:53 PM
Retired Notworking
Tallahassee, FL

Good question. Dave Ramsey is always promoting paying off the mortgage as soon as possible and the few people I know personally who've paid theirs off early have been enriched by it. You have more options when you don't have a mortgage and I don't think the tax benefits outweigh the extra interest that's paid over the life of the loan.

Jun 09, 2011 01:36 AM