Using HELOC to buy a home in AZ

[Amelia Navarro]

I recently discovered Bigger Pockets! What a wonderful forum! I currently live in CA and am planning to move to AZ in fall of 2018. I would like to buy a home in AZ prior to my move. My current primary residence has a lot of equity and I would like to tap into that equity to buy a house in AZ. My question: Would I still be able to write off the interest on the HELOC for the AZ purchase or is the interest deduction strictly for rentals only?

[Bob Okenwa]

Hi Amelia and welcome to BP and congrats on your future move to Arizona. From what @Brandon Hall stated in this post not too long ago, "Interest paid on home equity loans that are not "acquisition debt" is not deductible. (Debt tracing rules will apply - if you use a HELOC to buy rentals, you can still deduct the interest)." Looks like interest write-offs would be for rentals only.