Mortgage interest to write off

[it is i]

Can someone explain why having mortgage interest to write off is good? People at work say I'm a fool for paying cash for my house since I can't write off the interest I would pay on my taxes. (First of all I take this with a grain of salt since none of them are smart enough to be able to do what I did.)As I understand the rules, if I pay $10k in interest I can subtract $10k from what I pay taxes on. I'd rather take a few extra vacations and not work extra overtime to make that 10k I'm writing off. Others have said I could keep my money longer and invest it, or leave it in a bond and make 4.25% interest. I lost 3k in investments this year and mortgage rates are above 4.25%, so this doesn't sound like a good idea. What are the positive aspects of paying title search costs, points, interest and closing costs?

[russrimm]

Generally, you can earn more interest in mutual funds/stocks/etc than you're paying on your house, so it's a better deal to write off the taxes and invest your money, as you'll come out ahead as long as the investments are making a higher interest rate than what your mortgage loan is at.

[sweet sweet jane]

The only real benefit is in your credit rating....which will evaporate if you have no credit to speak of.....a house being paid on time is a good credit and would keep your number up. However, paying it down to near nothing, say 1000.00, and not paying on it at all until you have to would do the same thing since you are still on time and you still have a good credit item on file.

[Walter T]

You can write off interest, but only up to a certain percentage depending on income, then no more. Talk to a CPA for the amounts. Pay it cash. Thats called security, something your co-workers aren't familiar with. Then put into investments, on a monthly basis, what you would have been putting into the mortgage had you taken one out. I guarantee you will be way ahead later.

[Roberts]

Unless you have a fixed-rate mortgage, the current mortgage interest rates are very important to deciding how much you should pay every monthcompanies offer different interest rates so it is a good idea to shop around for the best deal before settling on one particular lender.