Posted on Thursday, May 3rd, 2007 at 8:48am.
For most people, buying a home is the single largest investment they will ever make. Because buying a home is such a big event, many people avoid the opportunity altogether and choose to rent instead. When considering renting, just remember that owning a home has many financial benefits - especially in Charleston's real estate market.
One of the biggest financial benefits is income tax deductions. You can reduce your taxable income by deducting the property taxes and the interest of your home mortgage from your gross income. So, if you pay $6,000 a year in interest and $1000 a year in property taxes, you can subtract $7,000 from your taxable income.
Another benefit of owning a home is that you control how much you pay for housing every month. By choosing a fixed rate mortgage, you know that your housing payment (your mortgage payment) will not change in the years to come. So, if you choose a 20 year fixed rate mortgage, your monthly payment would be the same in 20 years as it is now. If you choose to rent instead, you can certainly expect the rent price to go up significantly in that same amount of time – especially in
The rental market here in
Another big financial benefit of owning a home is appreciation. The average appreciation for homes in