Mortgage : Home Loans : Refinance : Home Equity Loans

By Bob Benson

Many lucky homeowners are using equity they gained during the recent bull market in real estate to purchase second homes. Leveraging one property in order to acquire another can be a solid investment strategy, as you increase your investment portfolio one step at a time, and one house at a time, by using each new asset to help pay for another one.

Banks will normally scrutinize credit reports and income documentation more stringently when you borrow to buy a second home, because they want to make sure that both of your mortgage obligations can be paid each month without a problem. And they may require larger down payments and charge slightly higher loan fees or interest rates than they did when you bought your first home. Nevertheless, many homeowners find it easy to qualify for new loans, and this is especially true for those who maintain excellent credit ratings. With the potential to profit from your purchase through equity appreciation, the repayment of a second mortgage is often easier than it was for a first mortgage.

For those who plan to use the second home as an income-producing property, there are also available tax deductions. As a landlord, you can usually deduct such things as repairs, utilities, and even routine trips you take to visit your property and check on its upkeep. Many investors combine their use of the second home, so that it is rented or leased sometimes, and at other times it is used as a personal vacation home. When you aren

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 19th, 2006 at 3:17 am and is filed under Refinance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.