Realtors roll to protest mortgage proposals

State and national Realtor association members are making a nationwide bus tour to alert the public to the proposed changes and urge them to contact their lawmakers. Realtors With this bus tour, Realtors hope to give people the opportunity and the resources to make their voices heard. Why is the mortgage interest deduction so important and how is it threatened. The deduction is available for interest on mortgages for a principal residence and one additional residence. The $1 million limitation represents the combined allowable debt on two residences. Mortgage interest on up to $100,000 of debt on home equity loans or lines of credit also qualifies for the deduction. Individuals with incomes below $250,000 would generally not be directly affected by this proposal. While only about 30 percent of all taxpayers in any given year itemize their deductions, more than three-fourths of homeowners utilize the deduction over the period they own their home. According to NAR research, eliminating the deduction would cause a 15 percent decline in the value of homes across the nation. In high-cost areas, that impact would be greater, while in lower-cost areas the effect would be more modest. Realtors believe the proposal would have (an) adverse impact on housing values and the pace of economic recovery. Even with the current higher limits, borrowers are finding it more and more difficult to obtain affordable mortgage financing. Making the current limits permanent at levels appropriate in all parts of the country will provide homeowners and homebuyers with safe, affordable financing and help stabilize local housing markets. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Reader discussionWe encourage an open exchange of affirming and dissenting opinions on our stories. We invite you to comment on our content as part of our interactive community. Some people prefer to read the newest comments first, while others prefer to read the oldest comments first. Others prefer to sort on comments that have the best rating (highest number of "likes") or are the most popular now (highest number of "likes" and replies). You can lock in your personal preference by selecting from among the options presented in the "Sort by" drop down menu that appears above the comments you are reading. This setting follows you across the site as your read articles and can be changed at your convenience. New comments will be sent directly to your email inbox, where you may read and respond by email. This link will include step-by-step instructions on how to set up the RSS subscription. This is a per-post selection, so each time you comment on an article or reply to another comment, you will need to indicate your interest in sharing the post to Facebook. If you want to display a unique avatar, you can upload one to Disqus, Facebook or Twitter, and then comment on thestate. Will I be able to indicate my approval of a comment. The ability to reply to specific comment posts will remain a core of thestate. We ask that you remain civil, and that you follow these guidelines: Do not resort to personal abuse. You may disagree with the content of an article, with the reporter or with other readers? comments, but do not attack anyone personally. Do not libel or defame anyone or violate their privacy. Comments that bear no relation to the story will be deleted. Don't try to camouflage profanity with asterisks or other symbols or foreign phrases. Abusive comments, racist rants or defamatory statements about any group will be deleted. Repeated bullying or taunting will be cause for banning your account. Use standard English grammar and observe accepted rules for capitalization, punctuation and spelling. Do not use an avatar that is offensive or portrays someone in a negative light. Do not misspell or emphasize letters in a person's name to ridicule them or portray them in a negative manner. Do not report comments as abusive simply because you disagree with them. We reserve the right to delete posts that do not follow these guidelines. Posts that violate these guidelines or are otherwise offensive should be reported immediately. If a post is determined to have violated the guidelines listed above, it may be (1) blocked or (2) deleted from our system. Users who continue posting comments that violate these guidelines may, at our discretion, be blocked from submitting future comments as well. For problems with article commenting, or feedback on the changes, please email online@thestate.