Tax Breaks for Homeowners

Owning a home is still the surest way I know to build wealth -- regardless of short-term dips in local real estate markets. Most homes continue to increase in value as the mortgage is paid down and equity goes up. When your home appreciates, our government allows you to keep potentially all the profit, tax free.

Under current tax law, if you sell the home you live in, you don't have to pay any taxes on the first $250,000 profit if you're single -- or the first $500,000 profit if you're married. You simply must have lived in the house you're selling for two of the previous five years. This incredible tax free gift from the government used to be a one-time tax benefit -- now you can do it every two years.