Ownership v. Renting (Florida: sublet, apartments, for rent)

[whe4]

I am a homeowner living in Florida and am exploring the idea of relocating to NY. Relocating will most likely result in renting an apartment. I was curious, since a majority of people in NYC rent their homes (apartments) are there any income tax deductions available to them similar to the mortgage interest deduction that home owners have? I have been a homeowner for the last 25 years and am trying to understand all of the adjustments that I will need to make if this move is made.

[babo111]

No tax deduction for paying rent.

[PurposeInLife]

you could sublet 1 bedroom to yourself for your own business and write that off on taxes.

[Jdawg8181]

Originally Posted by whe4

I am a homeowner living in Florida and am exploring the idea of relocating to NY. Relocating will most likely result in renting an apartment. I was curious, since a majority of people in NYC rent their homes (apartments) are there any income tax deductions available to them similar to the mortgage interest deduction that home owners have? I have been a homeowner for the last 25 years and am trying to understand all of the adjustments that I will need to make if this move is made.

No tax deduction for renters...otherwise what would be the purpose in people buying homes when they could just rent, which is cheaper generally, and get $$ off their taxes? hah, nice try.

I guess ya gotta look at the numbers. The way you are speaking it sounds like you are single...or moving here alone. I own a place...albeit the SMALLEST place in the world, but as a single (unmarried) person, what the hell do I need a large place or a whole house for? Mine is a studio and for me it's fine. My place to own costs less than $1,000/mo. I also do not live in the city, I live on LI. Bottom line was...I looked at the monthly prices to rent vs. the monthly price to buy this place...and for me, this was cheaper so I went that route.

IMO I do feel it is a better choice to buy b/c it's an investment you can hold on to and then make $$ on in the end. No one has ever made $$ renting (except the landlord).

Good luck with either decision.

[mathjak107]

the tax deduction only means you spent 3 or 4 dollars as an expense over and above the cost of the house and got back 1 of them... your better off without the expenses then the deduction by far...

in the city now there is about a 25-30% dfference on average between buying a place or renting a similiar place. it can take as much as a decade at 3% rent increases to have the lines cross where its cheaper to own.

the bigger wild card is if you have the money to buy and choose to rent what did you invest the money in from the down payment you didnt make and did you invest the difference each month for that decade that you were saving by renting? thats the key to whether you are ahead renting or buying. by far the markets out performed the growth of my home in queens which i bought in 1987 for 160,000 or so. i sold it for about 400k... the same money put into a nothing special mix of fidelity funds is enough today to buy two homes even after subtracting out all the rent that would have been paid.

[nei]

You can deduct rent in Massachusetts. Up to $3000.