People have been using their home equity as a source of emergency funds or as a backup savings plan for years, but not a lot understand how it really works. If you haven’t tapped your home equity yet, 2019 might be the year to consider tapping your home equity for huge bills, consolidate loans, or pay for expenses that your savings or income can’t cover.
Building up your home equity by diligently paying your mortgage is a smart move that builds up this asset of yours over time. Once you’ve accumulated a significant amount of home equity, you can use it for any of the following!
Debt Consolidation
Consolidating your debts to start the year is a smart move towards better management of your finances. By consolidating your debts, not only will you make it easier for you to get your debts paid but you will also save money on interest. You can use your home equity to finance your debt consolidation. Just ask us how!
Home-Equity Line of Credit (HELOC)
A HELOC is a line of credit that acts like a credit card but instead of a credit limit, you are given access to a certain amount of your home equity. You are free to use as little or as much of the HELOC as you want as long as you are able to make payments according to the terms. New terms are currently in the works for HELOCs these days so be sure to consult with us whether a HELOC will be advisable for you.
Refinancing Your Mortgage
Refinancing your mortgage involves renewing your current mortgage so that you can use your home equity to access a cash amount. For instance, you have an initial mortgage of about $500,000 and you were able to pay about 70% of it, that will give you $350,000 in home equity. However, if the real estate prices in your area have increased, your home equity can be a lot more than that. In this situation, refinancing your mortgage makes sense to create a new mortgage loan to replace your current one in order to access some of your home equity as well as make payments easier for you. Know that specific steps have to be carried out to refinance your mortgage (like getting a home appraisal), and there are other fees that you’ll have to pay too.
Second Mortgage
A second mortgage might be a good option for you if you have an existing mortgage but don’t want to refinance. In a second mortgage, your house is your collateral and you still have to pay off your primary mortgage so you have to be sure that you can afford paying two mortgages at the same time to avoid possibly losing your home to foreclosure. We have some articles on what you have to know about second mortgages but feel free to reach out to us should you have additional queries.
Use Your Home Equity in 2019
It is up to you to determine which is the best way to access home equity for yourself this year based on your financial situation and other personal factors. If you need professional help to assist you in assessing your options, contact us at Mortgage Central Canada and we’ll surely help!
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