Guide to defining your second home

Vacation home

When it comes to buying a second home, understanding how to define the property will help you better understand your mortgage options.

Let’s go over the basic home types defined by Fannie Mae.

Principle Residence, a property the borrower occupies as his or her primary residence.

Second Home, a property that must be occupied by the borrower for some part of the year, restricted to residences suitable for year-round occupancy. Borrower must have exclusive control of the property, must not be rental property or timeshare, and cannot be subject to any agreements that give management firm control over the occupancy of the property.

Investment Property, a property owned but not occupied by the borrower.

The property types seem straightforward, but here are a couple examples of when it gets tricky.

College homes

Many parents planning to purchase a home for their kids while they attend college will often apply for a second home mortgage.

If a home is considered as someone’s primary residence, regardless if that person (or student) is obligated or not on the loan, the home cannot be someone else’s secondary. In this case, the college home is an investment property.

Vacation homes

Another area of confusion are timeshares or homes managed by a management group, e.g., rental company. Most often, these do not qualify for conventional financing.

Your vacation home may qualify as a second home if it is in your full control and not generating income.
Remember, second homes are a second residence for the borrower to enjoy or use when not occupying their primary residence.

If you plan to rent the property while you are not using it, it may not qualify as a second home.

If you’re planning to purchase a vacation home or second property speak to a lender before you start the mortgage process.

The more you know about your loan options and your individual qualifications, the more satisfying your homebuying experience is.

Lenders at RCB Bank are happy to help answer questions even if you are not a customer. Give us a call or visit our online Mortgage Center.

Opinions expressed above are the personal opinions of the author and meant for generic illustration purposes only.  RCB Bank is an Equal Housing Lender and member FDIC. RCB Bank NMLS #798151.
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How new tax law affects mortgage deductions

W-4 tax sheet with money and house on it

You’ve likely heard about the new tax plan and the changes coming to our tax code. I am not a certified public accountant (CPA) and cannot speak to how this may directly affect you individually, but I can share how the changes may affect your mortgage tax deduction.

One benefit of home ownership is being able to deduct your property taxes and mortgage interest on your income taxes.

For example, let us say you buy a home for $275,000 and the taxable value of the home is 1.25 percent of the sales price. On a mortgage at 80 percent loan-to-value accruing interest at 4 percent, you can expect to pay around $8,700 in interest and $3,400 in taxes, a total of $12,100, the first year. This amount will decrease each year as you pay down your principal.

Under the current tax code, the standard deduction is $6,350 for single filers and $12,700 for married filing jointly. If you had no other deductions, it would benefit you to itemize if you were single but not if you were married filing jointly.

The proposed tax plan will increase the standard deduction for single filers to $12,500 and married filing jointly to $24,000.

Using our example, the $12,100 mortgage deduction falls below the standard deduction for both single and married filing jointly.

Owning a home is an American dream for many people, and there are benefits to home ownership other than a tax break. Before you decide to purchase, be sure to look at the full picture of ownership.

With many current deductions and potential phase-outs of those deductions if the new tax proposal passes, it’s important to do your homework. Talk with your CPA and ask them to show you a future tax plan based on the proposed law.

When you decide to buy or refinance, first talk to a local lender. The more knowledge you have about the mortgage process, available loan options and your individual qualifications, the more satisfying your home buying experience will be.

Lenders at RCB Bank are happy to help answer questions even if you are not a customer. Give us a call or visit our online Mortgage Center.

Opinions expressed above are the personal opinions of RCB Bank personnel and meant for generic illustration purposes only.  For specific questions regarding your personal lending needs, please call RCB Bank at 855-BANK-RCB, RCB Bank is an Equal Housing Lender and member FDIC. RCB Bank NMLS #798151.
Sources: taxpolicycenter.org and irs.gov
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