Well, there is no tall-tell answer to this question, but most of the time you can bet that it is not the smartest thing to put all of your efforts towards paying off the mortgage.

There are many other things you can do with your money than paying off your mortgage in full, and there are actually tax benefits to just having a mortgage in place.

A January 12, 2007 article by Jennie Phipps, “Keep the mortgage or pay of the house?” from Bankrate.com and reposted on Yahoo! Finance, discusses both sides of the story for this very important question.

“Mortgage burnings used to be a ritual that families hoped to be lucky enough to perform. But times have changed. Now growing older and retiring doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t continue to pay the mortgage every month. As they head down the road toward retirement, many people are asking themselves: Should I use part of my nest egg to pay off the mortgage and gain a sense of security? Or should I leave my nest egg intact where it’s earning interest and let my mortgage continue to provide me with a tax deduction?”

“If you decide to keep your mortgage in retirement, you won’t be alone. In 2004, 32 percent of households headed by someone age 65 to 74 were carrying home mortgage debt, and nearly 20 percent of households headed by those 75 and older had a mortgage, according to the triennial Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances conducted in 2004.”

Most people that say it is better to hold on to their mortgage say so because of some sound reasoning. It makes even more sense when rates are low and you can use money saved to invest in other things.

Obviously, the tax advantages play a big role. Basically, the more expensive your house, the better the tax advantage will be.

“The picture changes dramatically for a single homeowner with a house in San Francisco, where the median price is $749,400. In the first year of a home purchase, for which he puts down 3 percent, the tax benefit would be worth $16,222. If that homeowner in the 33 percent tax bracket were to hold on to his home for 30 years, the cumulative deduction would be worth $368,728. A pretty good deal.”

When it comes to saving for retirement or paying off the mortgage, the answers becoming startlingly clear.

A recent report by some noted economists stresses the importance of not paying off the mortgage.

“About 38 percent of U.S. households that are accelerating their mortgage payments instead of saving in tax-deferred accounts are making the wrong choice.”

“One of three authors of the report, Clemens Sialm, an assistant professor of finance at the University of Michigan, says his conclusions are actually more dramatic than they appear. He says the number of people who should be saving instead of paying off the mortgage is closer to 60 percent because the economists relied on very conservative investment returns to calculate their findings and didn’t take into account employer matches.”

All in all, homeowners should shift their focus to more lucrative investments instead of just rushing to pay off the mortgage.

For more resources about home mortgage refinancing or even about bad credit refinance and especially about california refinance, please review these links.

Groshan Fabiola

http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/should-you-pay-off-the-mortgage-112712.html

But a little caution is in order because these reported figures may not be realistic. For instance, in my community reported home prices show little change during the past year. The catch is that “reported” home prices do not reflect discounts offered by owners including repairs, upgrades, appliances and so-called “seller contributions” that can total $30,000 for a $500,000 home.

What does it mean for buyers?

• Homes are more affordable than they’ve been for the past several years. The reason is that there are now discounts and price drops in many areas that did not exist at the height of the market. Combine reduced effective prices with interest rates which are low by historic standards and the result is the ability to either buy more house or to better afford a smaller one.
• Some regions are devastated. If you’ve always wanted a condo in Miami or a place in Las Vegas, Dallas, Colorado, Ohio, Michigan and a growing number of areas in California, you’ve got a huge and growing number of choices.
• The situation is likely to get worse before it gets better. Many authorities believe that foreclosure rates will increase in the next few months, meaning that purchasers will have even more leverage in the marketplace.

If there really is a window of opportunity for buyers, it’s a window which needs to be treated with caution. Lower prices — by themselves — may not be a good enough reason to purchase at this time. To buy wisely you need to look deeper. Here are important issues to consider:

First, you have to line up financing. You must speak with lenders before looking at houses so your financial capacity can be determined. Once you know how much you can borrow and how much you can afford, you will then know the price range to search for homes. Doing it the other way — finding a great house and then looking for a loan — will not work if the property is not affordable.

In the process of looking for a lender be aware that the marketplace has changed. You’ll do best if you’re looking for a residence and not an investment and if the financing you need is less than $417,000 — the conventional loan limit. Also, some of the loan practices of the past few years are now largely gone. Expect a return to older, traditional underwriting standards.

Look into FHA financing and fixed-rate mortgages. FHA loans have liberal qualification standards and great terms. Fixed-rate loans are a hedge against future interest increases, a protection many ARM borrowers now wish they had.

Second, buy for the long-term. It makes no sense to buy real estate low and sell lower. We don’t know that today’s prices are as low as the market will go. Alternatively, if you expect to own your home for many years then what happens in the coming few months is largely irrelevant.

Third, work with a buyer broker. There are many questions to negotiate in a real estate purchase, it’s unlikely you can win every issue but you’ll have the best shot at getting what you really want by using an experienced broker who knows how to bargain and works for you.

Fourth, look at the long-term prospects for an area. For instance, is the population growing? Are new jobs being added? Are state and local budgets balanced or in the red? A growing population means more housing demand while an expanding job base suggests a larger pool of qualified buyers. As to budgets, when governments are in the red they will want to raise taxes, a cost that cannot be avoided or paid down.

Fifth, buy smart. For instance, buy in the path of future growth, consider existing homes but also look at distressed properties such as foreclosed homes and real estate owned by lenders, or “REOs”. An experienced buyer broker can show you a range of options and explain the pros and cons of each choice.

Peter G. Miller
http://www.articlesbase.com/mortgage-articles/fha-mortgages-is-now-the-time-to-buy-a-house-273451.html

Maybe. Manufactured housing counts as a home. You can’t have owned a home for three years, so it would depend on exactly when you sold and exactly when you bought since this is really close to within the three years.