I recently took a mortgage to buy a house. I will soon sell my previous house, and need to decide what to do with the money. I am considering using it to purchase a rental property instead of repaying the mortgage. Given the rising interest rates, it seems clear that it is better to keep my current fixed-rate mortgage and use the funds to buy the rental property, rather than repay the mortgage and then take a new one later for the rental property. However, I am not sure if my mortgage is portable from my current home to the new rental property. If it is not portable, I will be using a mortgage secured by my home to purchase a rental property. Will I be able to deduct it as a business expense, since the money will actually be used for this purpose, or will that be impossible because the loan is secured against a different property? (Any links to relevant materials will be appreciated.)
