Owning a house is the greatest American dream. Additionally, having a house to save you from monetary needs adds up to the benefits of owning the greatest American dream.

You have tightened your belt during the time you are saving for your house. Now, that you have enough equity in that property, you may loosen up a bit by making use of your equity through home equity line of credit.

Home equity line of credit or HELOC, can help you in myriad of financial necessities. It can help you have a fund when you need it and for whatever purpose you may need it.

Although, you should be careful because putting your house as collateral may cause you to loose your house if you fail to pay your debt. This should make you think many times before you embark on taking money through home equity line of credit.

However, if your purpose of taking out money by means of home equity line of credit is to pay for medical bills or children’s college education, these expenses are inevitable. Thus, taking out money by means of home equity line of credit can be your best bet.

Additionally, if you want to consolidate your debt, HELOC or home equity line of credit may also be beneficial. This is because compared to credit cards and other unsecured credit facilities, the interest rate in a home equity line of credit is somewhat smaller. Another benefit of this means of taking out money is that consumer credits interests are tax deductible.

However, having said the benefits you may have from acquiring a credit through home equity line of credit, you may also need to look at the possible consequences if you fail to pay your debt.

The most important consideration is the possibility of loosing your house to pay off the debt.

It is thus recommendable that while you are considering the flexibility of a credit line, if you need a lump sum fund, you may consider taking out a Home Equity Loan instead. This is because in a home equity loan, you pay the interest and part of the principal debt regularly.

This is in contrast to the variable interest rate that applies in a home equity line of credit. Additionally, in a home equity credit line, your payments balloons at the end when you need to pay the principal amount of debt.

The flexibility of the home equity line of credit extends up to paying only the interests and paying the entire principal loan at the end of the term.

This makes it quite hard, and if you are not ready for such balloon payment, the risk of loosing your house is intrinsic in this case.

This is the reason why financial experts recommend that before you sign any contract that puts your house as collateral, you may need to scrutinize yourself a bit.

-Will you need the money lump sum?

Ask about home equity loan.

-Do you need fund periodically?

Ask about home equity line of credit.

Consider also asking for payments terms, interest rates and what conditions will make the lender consider you in default. These questions once answered may help you realize if putting your house as collateral is the best solution to your monetary needs.

There are other credit facilities, for this reason, you may need to do your research first before deciding.

Various debt management websites can help you understand the eccentricities of financial management that will help you avoid loosing your most precious asset.



Thanks to Paul Hata for contributing this article to our Equity blog:

Home Equity Refinance

By refinancing your home loan you can increase the equity on your home, thus letting you obtain in the future a home equity loan or line of credit or eventually, once the first mortgage is canceled, another mortgage in order to make home improvements, buy another property or for any other purpose you may think of.

Equity Explained

Equity is basically the difference between your property’s value and the remaining debt on your mortgage. For example: If your property is worth $100.000 and your home loan debt, though originally $100.000, is now around $60.000 due to the continued payments, then, the equity on your home is $40.000.

The equity on your home let’s you obtain cheap finance in large amounts because loans and lines of credit based on equity are secured by the same property as your mortgage. In the above example, the proprietor could easily get approved for a home equity loan or home equity line of credit for $40.000 with an interest rate only 1 or 2 points over his mortgage rate.

Refinancing Can Help You Build Equity

Though refinancing is usually used for reducing the burden that mortgage installments sometimes imply or for consolidating debt with a cash out refinance loan, with the proper refinance mortgage loan you can easily start increasing your home equity at a considerably faster rate.

Equity builds either when the property’s value increases for whatever reason or when the mortgage debt’s principal is reduced. The current rate at which the mortgage’s principal is reduced depends on the interest rate and the loan length or to make matters easier, the equity building pace depends on the composition of the mortgage installments.

If the mortgage installments have a higher proportion of interests and a lower proportion of principal, each time you pay your mortgage installments you are only reducing the debt’s principal slightly and thus, your home equity will increase just a bit.

However, if you could refinance your home loan in such a way that a higher amount would go to reducing your debt’s principal, then, your equity would build much faster and you could increase your ability to get finance at lower rates and with higher amounts in a matter of months.

Refinancing To A Shorter Term

It is obviously best if you can get a lower interest rate when refinancing, however, the key to reducing the principal and building equity faster is to shorten the loan term. You’ll of course have to pay higher monthly installments but those installments will have a considerably higher proportion of money that will go to cancelling your mortgage debt’s principal and so, your goal of hastening the equity building rate will be accomplished.

Moreover, since refinancing to a shorter term will undoubtedly reduce the interest rate you pay for your mortgage, by refinancing for a shorter term you will not only build equity faster but you will also save thousands of dollars on interests over the whole life of the loan.



Thanks to Devora Witts for contributing this article to our Equity blog:

How to Make Money Online

Can you answer Melissa O’s question about Equity?:

My husband and I are currently paying PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) on our mortgage. (We have no second mortgages.) I know we need twenty percent equity in order to eliminate PMI, but I don’t think we’re quite there. Is taking out a home-equity line of credit to pay down the mortage a good idea? I know that we’d then have two loans to pay, but the PMI would be eliminate and all of our payments (minus the interest) would be going toward the loan rather that insurance. Is it possible to get a home-equity line of credit for 6%?

Have you claimed your Genesis site?

Can you answer Melissa O’s question about Equity?:

My husband and I are currently paying PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) on our mortgage. (We have no second mortgages.) I know we need twenty percent equity in order to eliminate PMI, but I don’t think we’re quite there. Is taking out a home-equity line of credit to pay down the mortage a good idea? I know that we’d then have two loans to pay, but the PMI would be eliminate and all of our payments (minus the interest) would be going toward the loan rather that insurance. Is it possible to get a home-equity line of credit for 6%?

Reverse Equity Mortgage

You might have heard a lot about the home equity loan from friends or co-workers, but still you are not sure what it is and how it works. But really, what is a home equity loan? To understand what it is and how it works, first we need to know what home equity is. To be able for you to have home equity, of course, you should have or own a home. Your home can be your best asset and no matter how much money you are making at present, the time will come when you need a considerable amount of money - not just a little extra - but a large amount of money. And don’t say that that’s not going to happen, because we don’t know what the future has in store for us.

Home equity is the difference between the current market value (appraised value) of your home and the outstanding mortgage balance. Therefore, if -

Your home’s appraised value is $ 100, 000

Your outstanding mortgage balance is $ 50, 000

Your home equity is $ 50,000

Now that you know what home equity is, it’s time for you to ask “what is a home equity loan”? A home equity loan has two major types; the home equity loan and home equity line of credit. A home equity loan or a home equity line of credit allows you to borrow money using your home’s equity as collateral. Both types actually put your home in the hands of the lenders. If you are not able to pay your dues, this could mean the loss of your home. So, be very careful in dealing with this kind of loan.

To compute for your potential credit, most lenders set a percentage of your home’s appraised value minus the balance owed on mortgage. The exact amount in which you can borrow also depends on some factors like your ability to pay, debts, and other financial obligation. Given the above example:

Your home’s appraised value $ 100, 000

Percentage x 80 %

Percentage of appraised value = $ 80, 000

Less balance owed on mortgage - $ 50, 000

Your potential credit is $ 30, 000

Now that you know what home equity and a home equity loan are, the next thing you should be asking is, which home equity loan is best for you? To find which home equity loan is best for you, determine the purpose of your loan and how long you want to pay it, in terms of years. In order for you not to get hooked-up on debt for a long time, borrow only the amount you need for a specific purpose only.



Thanks to T J Madigan for contributing this article to our Equity blog:

Mortgage Refinance Rates