Tax Breaks for Homebuyers

Buying a home this year has many benefits, such as persistently low interest rates. Additionally, Realtor.com recently published an article outlining some of the best tax benefits for new homeowners. To get the best value, consider taking advantage of the following tax breaks:

• Buy Deductible Points. Deductible points are common tax breaks, and now is the perfect time to buy them. With historically low interest rates under 4 percent, extra points can further reduce the rate you receive. A point costs approximately 1 percent of your loan amount and usually lowers your interest rate by about .25 percent. For example, if you buy two points off a 30-year fixed rate mortgage of $350,000 with an interest rate of 3.8 percent for $7,000, your interest rate would fall to 3.3 percent. Even if points don’t significantly reduce your monthly payments, you can still receive a tax benefit because points are considered a form of interest and are tax-deductible in the same year for most first-home purchases

• Use Energy Credits. Energy saving systems permit you to write off 30% of the cost as part of the Residential Renewable Energy Tax Credit until the end of 2016. The many eligible items include geothermal heat pumps, solar panels and water heaters, fuel cell property, and wind turbines. There are no maximum credit limits for qualifying items (except for fuel cell property, at $500 per kilowatt). If the amount of your tax credit is greater than your tax liability (that is, if you can deduct more than you owe in taxes in 2015), you can roll the credit over to your 2016 taxes.

• Stop Renting! Renting is becoming increasingly common among young adults, but it’s not getting any less expensive: the Wall Street Journal reports that rent has increased by 15.2 percent since 2009. While it makes sense to fulfill short-term housing needs, you are not building any equity when you rent and your monthly payments can therefore be seen as sunk costs. Renters do not benefit from tax breaks the way homeowners do. Not sure whether renting or buying is more cost effective? Use Realtor.com's Rent or Buy calculator to find out. Your most trusted resource when searching for a home is an experienced REALTOR who is a good communicator and knows the market well. If you or someone you know is thinking about buying a home in Central Ohio, visit my website and contact me to see how I can help. 

3 Home Buying Myths

1. Buying is always better than renting.  Even though buying a home has tax advantages and secures consistent monthly payments, home-maintenance can be expensive and time-consuming. Typically, buying is only better than renting if you plan to live in your home for 5-7 years or longer, which is roughly as long as it takes for homeowners to break even. Fannie Mae recently revealed that 23% of renters are postponing their plans to buy, and the main reasons people give for purchasing a home are non-financial (43% cited safety as the primary factor while 33% said school quality). One way to estimate whether it's more beneficial to buy is by calculating if the home costs more than 15% of the annual cost of renting a similar home. If  so, you'll get a better deal renting. Still can't decide which option is best for you? Use the rent vs. buy calculator to help or contact me for personal guidance.

2. Real estate is the best investment. Today, investors earn a higher return on investments in stocks than they do on real estate. Within the past 10 years, home prices have risen by only 0.3% annually whereas the S&P 500 has returned an average of 8.26%.  Financial writer Jack Hough cites that over the long run, stocks have rewarded investors with 7% inflation-adjusted return over long periods, while homes earned their owners close to 0%. This is partially explained by the fact that homes don't produce anything. Unless homeowners take measures to actively upgrade their homes, they can only increase in value as the ability of the people to purchase them rises. Appropriately, another Fannie Mae survey illustrated that the proportion of people who believe that buying a home is one of the safest available investments decreased from 83% in 2007 to 70% in 2014. Ironically, only 17% considered stocks safe at that time.

3. The bigger the down payment, the better. Putting down a 20% down payment means you won't have to buy mortgage insurance and you ultimately will borrow less (thus paying less in interest). However, it is not always necessary. You can pay a smaller down payment in exchange for buying PMI (private mortgage insurance) until you have enough home equity (usually 20%) to remove it. Increasingly popular FHA loans accept down payments as low as 3.5%. Smaller down payments (with mortgage insurance) may actually gain you better interest rates than a 20% down payment without insurance, since lenders feel safer when loans are insured. Additionally, saving for a large down payment takes time-home prices may rise in the meantime, or you could miss the opportunity to buy a home you truly love. Smaller down payments ensure all off your money is not tied up in home equity, allows you to diversify your investments (for example, across stocks), and still permits you to pay off the loan early and quit paying mortgage insurance once you put 20% down.

Millennials Put Hold on American Dream

Millennials-those born after 1980 through the mid/late 1990s-are not buying homes at the rate previous generations have. To determine why, Bank of America Merrill Lynch conducted a survey of 1000 adults ages 20-34 across various U.S. cities. This is what the company found:

Millennials want to own their own home, but lack the financial resources to do so. 73% of survey respondents report that owning a home is either very important (56%) or important (17%) to them, indicating that Millennials maintain the strong desire to own their own homes consistent with the classic perception of the American Dream. However, Millennials have been negatively affected by cyclical economic factors including high unemployment, lack of wage growth, and lack of credit. 

The study suggests that Millennials may have a distorted image of interest rates as a result of growing up during a time when interest rates were artificially low, hovering around 3-5%. Looking back in time presents a different picture: since 1971, the median 30-year fixed mortgage rate has been 7.98%. Employment for those ages 25-34 is 75.6%, which is more than the low of 73.4 but still behind the pre-recession level of 83%.  Wage growth has been slow, with the real median income for those under 35 falling 16% from $42,000 in 2007 to $35,000 in 2013. Tight credit remains another issue. The average qualifying FICO score as of July 2014 (690 and 760 for an FHA mortgage and conventional mortgage, respectively), is nearly 13 points greater than the average score back to 2000. 

Student loan debt is also hindering first-time homebuyers. One quarter of survey respondents cite that student debt has prohibited them from purchasing a home to date. The median education debt for those under 35 was $17,200 in 2013. It is not a surprise, then, that the survey revealed that Millennials who have student loans are 55% more likely to currently rent than own a home.

Nineteen percent of Millennials are living with their parents. This consists of 31% for those ages 20-24, 16% ages 25-29, and 10% ages 30-34. Many Millennials are living in an apartment (38%) while others have their own home (31%). Not surprising, higher income earners are much more likely to be living in their own home. 12% of respondents making less than $25,000 own their own home, while 60% of those making $75,000-$100,000 own their own home. 

Millennials are delaying household formation, including getting married and having children. Annual household formations of married couples lave dropped 61% for those under 25, 41% for those 25-29, and 18% for those 30-34 since 1982. Mellennials are having fewer kids, and they are having them later in life. Birthrates for women ages 20-29 are decreasing while birthrates for women ages 30-39 are increasing.

As the economy continues to recover and Millennials increase their earnings, they are expected to enter the housing market in greater numbers. Half of those surveyed plan to buy a home within the next five years. The American Dream is not lost: it is merely on hold.