Is it better to buy a house if you pay for it in full or is it better buying with a mortgage?

Answer 1

There is a big debate about your question.
If you pay off the house then you loose the tax write offs on the interest.
If you finance the house, you can invest the money and earn interest on it, and you can get the write-offs on the interest paid.

If you invest and make a profit then you'll have to pay taxes on that money to offset the write-offs. If you lose money on your investments then you can write off up to 3000 per year and add that to the interest paid on the loan.

Myself, I favor the paid off house. Your living expenses greatly decrease without the house payment. If you don't pay the interest then you have the money to pay the taxes and some left over too.

Answer 2

Great question.....

Mortgage : = Loan, interest you can write off on taxes, but interest on that loan paid over 20 or 30 years at even 4% can run into the 10's of thousands even 100's of thousands. Your homeowners insurance can be rolled into your payments and also your taxes. Mortgage companies insist that you have Mortgage insurance, that Insurance can be removed after a balance has been met , however a lot of mortgage companies don't tell you that and you continue to pay unnecessarily. You can build your credit rating and get a equity loan in a few years to increase your debt if you like and NEVER own your home.

Paid in Full : = You have no Mortgage. You pay Taxes and Insurance on your own. You have 100% equity in your home in the event something happens and you need money a loan is pretty easy to acquire. You MUST remember...If you outright buy a home, you must continue to pay the Taxes, on your home and land because...You never really own the governments precious dirt, so if you don't pay the taxes, a Tax Lean will be placed on the property and it can be auctioned off at a Tax Sale for the taxes owed.

My opinion is buy, set your roots deep and keep your Taxes paid.

Answer 3

Mortgage. Tax break on the interest and you should be able to earn a better return on your money than you would pay in interest with the break. After the 30 years you'll have more money if you're good about it.

If you borrow money at 5% and are getting returns of 9% it's obvious. The stock market has yielded 9% anual returns over the last 70 years. And I like the dividend stocks. But you have to be disciplined or it won't work. Can't blow your money drinking on on vactions.

Answer 4

If you can afford to pay the house off in full, it is definitely better to do so. Then you will have an asset equal to the full amount of the value of the house. Also, you won't have to make monthly payments to a mortgage company who will be making money off of you in interest.

Do you know that if you get a mortgage the total amount that you end up paying in interest equals or exceeds the loan amount by the time you finish paying it off? That's insane!

Answer 5

Very good question....
The logic would suggest that, having the opportunity, it is much better to just buy it outright and not having to pay interest on a mortgage...and in most cases that is exactly right...
But you could have money invested in an Isa or in Bonds that would give you the same ( or even better) return as the interest you would pay on a mortgage, so in that case it's better to keep the investment and get a loan...especially with the ISA...because once you take the money out you cannot put them back in anymore until the next year (and, even then, only £3000)..
So, it depends on the circumstances...but generally, if you have enough cash, why would you want to pay interest if you don't need to???

Answer 6

Most experts agree that the way to build wealth is to get the mortgage. You can make more money on your investments. The tax breaks reduce the cost of money from the mortgage and the excess cash you didn't stick in the house will earn greater dividends.

Answer 7

If you have the money to buy a house in full, that's great.
But, it is always best to mortgage. It builds credit.
Just put that extra money aside in savings or some kind of interest building account.

Answer 8

We were blessed and were able to pay for ours in full. We wiped out our savings doing it, but it was worth it! Paying for all of it is always better than a morgage if you are able to do it. Morgages have interest and closing points and blah, blah, blah, and whatever they can stick you with. Pay cash, be done with it, and then you can save your money back up again. You'll need to be free of a morgage so you can have money to make home repairs, improvements, pay taxes, etc.

Answer 9

Well, that depends on what your money is doing right now and what interest rate you can secure on your new home purchase. There are tax breaks to consider when you have a mortgage too.

Answer 10

You could surely earn more money on that cash than it would cost you to finance your home. So If you are making 8% on the cash you woulda spent on the house and the house costs 6% interest - you tell me.