Question on Itemized Deduction

Quote from Dr. J : BUT you still wind up with alternate years having less. In other words, I don't really think you net much after all the effort.

It's totally worth the effort if you're itemized deductions is close to the std deduction.

Let's say your mortgage interest and prop tax is $10k and the standard deduction for your family is $10k.

It's either do nothing and just get a $10k deduction OR prepay your mortgage for a year and your prop tax and you take an itemized deduction of $20k one year. Next year you pay squat (well apart from 1 installment of your prop tax) and take the std deduction of $10k.

$30k over 2 years in deductions is still better than $20k. Clearly this wouldn't work out well for everyone but if you're itemized deductions are close to your std deduction then from a tax standpoint it is pretty favorable. Other things to consider like the amount of available cash on hand, whether your home is under water, etc. but in some situations it's definitely gonna get you some extra cash in your pocket!