Leveraging your home’s value: What to do with home equity

When you buy a house, you’re not just getting a nice place to call your own. You’re also buying one of the few assets that tends to increase in value the longer you own it. Even better, you can access that value, or at least part of it, by tapping into your home’s equity.

The equity in your home is the difference between your home’s current market value and what you owe on the house. If you’ve only owned your home for a couple of years, you might not have much equity, but if you’ve been paying off your loan for a few years you potentially have tens of thousands of dollars you can draw on. The only question is, how do you put your home’s equity to good use?

Here’s what to do with home equity

How to access your home’s equity in the first place

The first step toward maximizing your home’s equity is knowing how to tap into that equity in the first place. For most people, that means taking out a home equity loan or a home equity line of credit.

 

continue reading »