Are There First Time Home Buyer Benefits to Buying a Home?

You hear that being a first time home buyer is a good idea. But you’re wondering how can that be? Here you are deciding to go deep in debt!!! Isn’t this going against everything you’ve learned? Once you see the many first time home buyer benefits, then you’ll understand why everyone is telling you this is a good idea.

Consider some of these benefits:

Building Equity
Pride of Ownership
Deductions

Building Equity

One of the first time home buyer benefits is that you are building equity is something rather than just giving your money away. When you are renting, you aren’t building anything, you’re just paying rent. But when you’re buying a home, you’re beginning to build equity. The down payment is the beginning of that equity. As you pay for your home over the next 15 to 30 years, you will be adding equity with each payment. Plus your home will appreciate in value and that adds equity too.

Let’s say down the road there is an event in your life where you need money now. That equity gives you borrowing power. You can borrow a portion of that equity for that emergency. That equity built in your home makes it possible to take care of that emergency right now. Of course, we should guard our equity, but when there is an emergency, you have options when you build equity. Renting doesn’t give you this option.

Pride of Ownership

Another first time home buyer benefits is pride of ownership. This is a key benefit. When you rent you are limited as to what you can do with your home. But when you own you can decorate any way you want! You can enjoy your music at the volume that is good for you.

Plus you don’t have to hear the fights that go on with your neighbors.

Of course, that doesn’t mean when you buy a home that neighbors don’t fight, but when you’re renting you hear everything. Consider too, when you rent, your neighbors may enjoy things you don’t like, for example smoking. When they smoke, that smoke comes into your apartment. Not so when you’re buying.

Pride of ownership gives you a sense a security. You don’t have to worry about the rent going up. You now have something that is yours. Not to mention the extra space you have compared to a rental place.

Deductions

There are first time home buyer benefits that are deductions. For example you can deduct the interest you paid for your mortgage on your income tax. Now you’re lowering how much you pay in income taxes. Another deduction is your property tax. You can also deduct that on your income tax. You can see now why some people consider their home a tax shelter. They can use it to lower their income tax.

Another benefit is when you make home improvements. Save those receipts because many of those improvements can also be deducted on your income taxes. Having a record of these improvements can be added to the value of your home. Guess what, those improvements have added equity to your home. I remember adding a humidifier to the furnace of my rental home when I was renting. Unfortunately, when I moved the humidifier had to stay, so that purchase only benefited me while I stayed in the town home I was renting. I couldn’t take it with me.

These are just a few of the first time home buyer benefits. As you search further you may find tax credits available to you. So buying that first home really is a good idea.