MORTGAGING THE PURCHASE OF YOUR NEW HOME

WealthFocus

Buying a home

Whether you’re a novice or you’re experienced in the home buying market,  here are some things to think about as you move forward in the process

The benefits of cash In “hot” real estate markets, cash buyers often come out ahead. Even if you ultimately intend to put a mortgage on your new home, presenting a cash offer can be an important factor in determining whether the home becomes yours.

If you choose to offer cash and want to close quickly—and without disrupting your long-term investment plans or generating unnecessary capital gains—consider taking a loan against your securities portfolio. A line of credit against your portfolio can be put in place in a matter of days—and you pay nothing to set it up. In fact, there are no fees; you only pay interest on amounts you draw against the line while those amounts are outstanding. You can repay the loan over time, or you can repay it if you decide to take a mortgage loan on your home.

Match your loan to your expected  time in the home Many people instinctively prefer a fixedterm loan, whether 15 or 30 years. But if you expect to be in a home for a shorter period of time, or if your income comes irregularly—and especially if you can afford to repay the loan at any time—consider an adjustable-rate mortgage. The annual percentage rates on adjustable-rate mortgages tend to be lower than on fixedrate mortgages, and the payments on interest-only adjustable-rate mortgages are generally low since they don’t include any principal payments. And during the period that you are only paying interest, many interest-only loans reset your monthly payment lower if you prepay principal (rather than reducing the number of payments you’ll eventually make).

Look at all the terms, not just the rate While the rate is the easiest number to judge, consider other elements of a mortgage loan when making your choice. Does your lender charge fees for closing, locking a rate, extending a rate lock, etc.? A low headline rate can increase with the imposition of “stealth” fees. Will your lender hold the loan on its own balance sheet, or will it sell the loan to a servicer? If you want to modify the loan later, or if you run into an issue making payments, your original lender is likely to be easier to deal with than a servicer with whom you have no relationship.

If you have an adjustable rate loan, how high and how quickly can the rate increase? Often, adjustable-rate loans allow for a five percentage point increase in the first adjustment—so your 3.25% adjustable-rate mortgage can increase to up to 8.25% at its first reset point if interest rates have increased significantly. In the current environment, is that a risk you want to take? Other loans provide for only a two percentage point increase in the first adjustment (so the 3.25% rate could only rise to 5.25%). Even if you may be paying an eighth- or a quarterpoint more today, it might be worth it in the future.

Selling a home

Don’t forget that if you are selling a primary residence—and you have lived in it for at least two of the past five years at the time of the sale—you can exclude from your income for the year of the sale up to $500,000 of gain for married couples or $250,000 for single taxpayers.

Tax-aware borrowing

You can deduct the interest on up to  $1 million of mortgage debt and on up to $100,000 of home equity debt (usually a home equity line of credit).

That deduction is subject to the so-called “Pease limitation” on itemized deductions for high-income taxpayers, making it less valuable if your adjusted gross income

Buying a home is over the threshold (in 2017, $261,500 for single taxpayers and $313,800 for married filing jointly).

If you’ve borrowed against your securities to fund your down payment—or even if you haven’t—and you want a loan against your home of more than $1.1 million, consider using the proceeds of the loan to invest in securities. Under a different provision of the Internal Revenue Code, interest on money you borrow to invest is deductible to the extent you have investment income.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

So if you borrow money against your home and use the loan proceeds to purchase investments, interest on the entire amount of the loan can be deductible (and not subject to the Pease limitation). Note that in order to qualify for this deduction, you can’t invest in tax-free bonds and you can’t offset the interest expense with qualified dividend income.

Talk to your J.P. Morgan Securities  Financial Advisor about thoughtful ways to use credit for your home purchase, and thoughtful ways to use the equity in your home tax-efficiently.

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