question about mortgage points and taxes

From: john@gwis.com
Subject: question about mortgage points and taxes
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1999 21:14:26 -0500 (EST)

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I have a question regarding mortgage points and taxes.

My wife and I bought our house in Oct 96 and paid 3 points - about $3000
dollars -
when we closed the deal.  We did not claim this deduction for the 96 tax
year, because
we were better off taking the standard rather than itemized deductions.
However, I had 
read somewhere (don't ask me to remember!) that it was possible to take the
deductions for 
the points at ANY time during the life of the loan.  That is, now that we
are itemizing our deductions
due to the fact we are paying so much interest and taxes on the house, can
we claim the points
(that is, the full $3000) on the 1998 taxes?  Or am I completely crazy? 

Thanks for any help on this matter!

John G.
john@gwis.com


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