i guess both. . . . .
debating between renting vs owning a home, assuming I live in the same area for about 5 years (which i believe is the minimum amt of time i've heard you should own a home to start seeing a monetary benefit instead of renting)
1)-what tax benefits would you get for owning a home? do your property taxes cancel these benefits out. Is there some other benefit(s) that I 'm missing
Well, home ownership is one of those things that certainly has pros and cons.
As far as tax benefits go...you can deduct your mortgage interest. You can deduct your property taxes so no, I wouldn't say that property taxes cancel them out per se but property taxes is one of those things that people always use an argument FOR renting. You should rent because you don't pay property taxes.
Well, anyone who thinks that every landlord in the universe doesn't just fold the property taxes into their monthly rent payment is completely delusional. You're paying property taxes when you rent. Rest assured of that.
But....owning a home does come with lots of hassles and expenses. You need a lawnmower. You need a garbage can. You need a mailbox. Some problem with an appliance, or a roof or a maintainence issue? You're either taking care of it yourself or you're paying for it.
For me though, the benefits far outweigh the negatives. Just the idea of a house that's MINE. No weird neighbors banging on the walls. I like mowing my lawn. I like the fact that if I want to paint the walls purple, I can.
2)-leasing vs leasing to own your small business vs. buying a building
With your own business, I heard you can itemize certain deductions, i.e. travel expenses. What specific tax benefits do you receive besides this (if any).
Well, for a business it's basically the same thing. There's added tax breaks because generally the building is owned by a separate corporation and you can creative with your accounting and how you structure rent payments etc. etc. so that it's most favorable to you, the owner.
However, I would not recommend anyone own a building unless their practice is on solid footing (ie: mostly paid off) or the practice is not the primary tenant of the building.
The last thing you need is a struggling practice making it difficult to pay your mortgage on a building resulting in a double headache.
And another thing you don't need is a great practice in some ratty old building that is going to cost tens of thousands of dollars to fix up.
But like most things in life, ownership is generally better.
