As you start considering looking for your first home, it’s critical to make sure you have the right motivations to carry you through the homebuying process. One mindset shift to make is around what your first home is for. Hint: it’s so much more than just a place to live your life!
Instead, your first home is a cornerstone for building wealth and securing your financial future. Let’s take a deeper look at why your first home is a significant investment beyond just a place to live:
Wealth Building: When you own your own home, you can use it to build wealth over time thanks to equity. Every time you pay down your mortgage, you increase your equity in your home, which you can tap into when you sell. Renting just can’t compete with the power of equity. Plus, home values tend to appreciate, making your home worth more over time.
Tax Advantages: Beyond building your wealth, owning a home can help keep more of your income in your pocket thanks to tax benefits. Mortgage interest and property taxes are often deductible on your income tax, which reduces the amount you pay in April. These exclusive tax advantages can help you save even more compared to renting!
Financial Security: If you’re a renter, you probably know to expect an increase in your rent each year. But if you own your home, you can relax and enjoy a stable monthly payment. With a fixed-rate mortgage, the most common type of mortgage, your mortgage’s principal and interest payment stays consistent throughout the life of the loan, adding extra financial stability.
Investment in Your Future: Because your home is a tangible asset, it’s an investment in your future. You can use your home to leverage other financial opportunities like starting a business or sending your kids to college through methods like a home equity loan or home equity line of credit.
Retirement: With equity built in your home, you have options for retirement. Whether you want to stay in your home and live mortgage-free or downsize and use the proceeds to fund your retirement, owning your first home is the way to start.
Stop looking at your first home as just a place to live. Embrace it as a powerful tool for building wealth, securing tax advantages, ensuring financial stability, investing in your future, and planning for retirement.