Mortgage insurance is now tax deductible
From the NY Times by Bob Tedeschi, for decades, home buyers have strained to reach the magic down payment or equity threshold of 20 percent, so they could avoid or end dreaded private mortgage insurance, which can add $100 or more to a monthly house payment without any tax advantage.
Many used creative financing such as the ever popular 80/10/10 loan (I've used it myself) as a way to get your payment to be considered tax deductible interest rather than merely an extra charge for putting down less than 20%.
That is all changing as of January 1, 2007 and for the better for everyone. Read the complete story.