An infamous yet glamorous slice of American history is now up for sale. The former waterfront mansion of Al Capone, which has been meticulously restored, is on the market for $14.9 million.

The price doesn’t seem like a steal, but it’s located on a lush lot on guard-gated Palm Island, overlooking Miami‘s Biscayne Bay.

The Prohibition-era gangster bought this waterfront home in 1928 after a stint at Alcatraz, because it reminded him of the sunny shores of Italy. He reportedly paid $200,000, a veritable fortune at the time, to install a gatehouse, 7-foot-high walls, and search lights, because security was obviously an issue.

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This little beauty of a home in Harrison, AR, was designed by E.R. Herndon, a protégé of E. Fay Jones, a winner of the American Institute of Architects gold medal. Jones studied with Frank Lloyd Wright as a Taliesin Fellow. Although his work was influenced by Wright’s vision of organic architecture, Jones developed his own style unique to the Ozarks, where he made his home.

Herndon, in turn, was influenced by Jones’s vision, and in 1977, built this three-bedroom, three-bathroom house. “Herndon was working for Fay Jones when he designed this house,” explains listing agent Melissa Collins. “Though the design was Herndon’s, anyone familiar with Jones’s style can walk through this house and see his influence.”

The walls of the home are covered in tongue-and-groove imported California redwood, while the floors are laid with native Arkansas stone. “The flooring is absolutely gorgeous,” says Collins.

The 3,792-square foot home has multiple fireplaces, a wet bar, recreation room with Tiffany pool table, wine fridge, distinctive wood paneling on the ceilings, wood floors, dual sinks, a covered patio, and sits on 1.55 acres of land.

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While the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) adversely shifts the playing field for home mortgage interest deductions, all is not necessarily lost. Many homeowners will be blissfully unaffected because “grandfather” provisions keep the prior-law rules in place for them.

That said, many homeowners will be adversely affected by the TCJA provision that for 2018-2025 generally disallows interest deductions for home equity loans. Once again, however, all is not necessarily lost. The little-known fact is that you still deduct home equity loan interest in certain circumstances. I’ll explain when after first covering the necessary background information.

Prior law: the ‘good old days’ for mortgage interest deductions

Before the TCJA, you could claim itemized qualified residence interest deductions on up to $1 million of home acquisition debt (meaning mortgage debt incurred to buy or improve your first or second residence and that is secured by that residence), or $500,000 if you used married filing separate status.

Under prior law, you could also claim itemized qualified residence interest deductions on up to $100,000 of home equity debt for regular tax purposes, or $50,000 if you used married filing separate status, regardless of how you used the loan proceeds. For Alternative Minimum Tax purposes, however, you could only deduct the interest if the home equity loan proceeds were used to buy or improve your first or second residence.

TCJA change for home acquisition debt

For 2018-2025, the TCJA generally allows you treat interest on up to $750,000 of home acquisition debt (incurred to buy or improve your first or second residence and secured by that residence) as deductible qualified residence interest. If you use married filing separate status, the debt limit is cut to $375,000.

TCJA change for home equity debt

or 2018-2025, the TCJA generally eliminates the prior-law provision that allowed you to claim itemized qualified residence interest deductions on up $100,000 of home equity debt ($50,000 for those who use married filing separate status).

Grandfather rules for up to $1 million of home acquisition debt

Under one grandfather rule, the TCJA changes do not affect up to $1 million of home acquisition debt that was taken out: (1) before Dec. 16, 2017 or (2) under a binding contract that was in effect before Dec. 16, 2017, as long as your home purchase closed before April 1, 2018.

Under a second grandfather rule, the TCJA changes do not affect up to $1 million of home acquisition debt that was taken out before Dec. 16, 2017 and then refinanced later — to the extent the initial principal balance of the new loan does not exceed the principal balance of the old loan at the time of the refinancing.

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Fast-rising home values have more homeowners sitting on newfound home equity. Home equity is the current value of a home minus the amount of mortgage debt against it.

Over the course of 2017, the amount of equity borrowers could take out of their homes, or so-called tappable home equity, rose by $735 billion, the largest annual increase by dollar value on record, according to Black Knight. This brought the collective amount nationwide to $5.4 trillion, which is 10 percent more than at the pre-recession peak in 2005.

Home equity represents valuable savings, but it can also be a valuable finance tool. Homeowners often tap it to pay for other expenses, like education, home repairs or remodeling – or to pay off other, more expensive debt.

So what is the best way to do it?

First, remember that most lenders require you to keep at least 20 percent equity in your home, just as a cushion in case home prices fall. If you don’t have more than 20 percent equity, then you are unlikely to qualify.

If you do have at least 20 percent, the most common ways to tap the excess equity are through a cash-out refinance or a home equity loan.

For a cash-out refinance, you refinance your current mortgage and take out a bigger mortgage. For example, let’s say your home is worth $100,000 and you have a $40,000 mortgage on it. Remember, you have to keep 20 percent in, so $20,000. That means you have $40,000 in equity to tap. You refinance your current mortgage to up to $80,000. Pay off the old loan and have $40,000 left in cash.

This is a good plan if interest rates are currently lower than the rate you have on your old mortgage. If not, a home equity loan might be a better option.

A home equity loan can be a second loan on your home. So you keep the first mortgage and take out another. You can do this in a lump sum or a home equity line of credit, which is like a checking account on your house. Lenders call these HELOCs for short. You only pay interest on what you take out. Home equity loans can be interest only, but after 10 years you have to start paying principal.

There will be fees for all of these options, and the more money you take out, the higher your monthly payment will be. Make sure you can swing it. A house can be a great finance tool, but it’s also a great way to save equity for the future.

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In-law suites, granny flats, accessory dwelling units — whatever you call them, developers and housing economists say these units could be a cure to the inventory shortage in real-estate markets nationwide. That is, if homeowners actually show interest.

Accessory dwelling units are secondary units built on or into single-family homes. Most often they are completely separate, cottage-like structures, though in other cases, they are spaces that were converted from garages or basements to serve as an individual living quarter. In recent years, advocates have pushed city and state governments to loosen zoning laws so that more of these units can be built.

And those laws appear to be having a significant effect. In California, three new zoning laws took effect in 2017 that allowed for expanded development of granny flats. As a result, California experienced the largest uptick in the number of building permits granted for these units of any state, with a 63% increase, real-estate data firm Attom Data Solutions reported, using data from real-estate data provider BuildFax.

Some cities particularly benefited: Santa Barbara, for instance, saw 314% more permits issued for accessory dwelling units, or ADUs for short. Hawaii saw the next largest increase of any state at 31%, followed by Tennessee (25%) and Washington (22%). California also had the largest number of total permits issued in 2017 for in-law apartments, with 4,352, more than twice as many as Oregon, the state with next-most.

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Just two hours north of San Francisco, a jaw-dropping example of Victorian Italianate architecture sits in Woodland, CA. Built in 1885 for two pioneering ranchers, the gorgeous classic is the most popular home this week on realtor.com®.

This historic landmark has been restored and modernized, and it’s easy to see why it’s captured the imagination of architecture fans. Considered a “work of art,” the interior space features hand-stenciled wallpapers, multiple stained-glass windows, and hand-decorated ceilings.

The runner-up this week is an Ohio home that’s been slashed to seven. As in, dollars. The single-digit price tag is a reduction from the $777 the home was asking when it topped our list in March. The historic Toledo home needs all-new everything, and now the seller is willing to throw in a new roof to sweeten the seven-dollar deal.

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