Mortgage interest deduction is a total joke. If you have a $200,000 balance on your house at an interest rate of 5%, that’s $10,000 a year that you pay to the bank in interest. If your income puts you into a 25% tax bracket, then not having a mortgage (or interest to go with it) means you pay $2,500 to the government on that extra $10,000 in the form of taxes. So..... buying a house when you'd rather rent simply to claim a mortgage interest deduction is stupid, as is not paying off your home because you'd lose the deduction. Yeah, let's pay the bank $10,000 so I don’t have to pay the government $2,500....
If you dont have a mortgage and want to "save" that $2500 that you would owe to the irs, donate $10K to your church or a charity, and be done with it.