Is Your Home Where Your Heart Is?

Your home has suddenly become more important than ever. Being at home for weeks at a time has been almost surreal. For most of us, life has slowed down considerably, but with better communication that we couldn’t think of being without. Suddenly, new and different priorities influence where we eat, where we sit to work from home, where we exercise and how we watch a movie. Maybe we should embrace the slower pace and take the time to recognize and focus on our new priorities at home. Shouldn’t we conscientiously reprioritize in case we go through something like this again? Is this the home you want to stay in for a while and is it time to make some modifications or simply finance it differently?

Many are looking at refinancing and yet many do not know about Home Equity Lines of Credit, a HELOC loan. This is where you establish a line of credit to finance home improvement using the equity as collateral. If your net equity is $100,000, you may be able to establish a line of credit for up to 70% or $70,000 for the upgrades and changes you would like to make. Now what room is more important? Probably not the bathroom but more like the kitchen, home office, TV room, exercise area or even the laundry room so you don’t have to have clothing scattered about. With your line of credit in place, you can take cash out all at once or in stages, repay when you want, and only pay a very low interest rate on the money you have taken out. With some HELOCs, you do not have to repay principal until you sell the home. It’s almost like free money but you have earned it so it is yours to enjoy (with a little interest to the bank).

If your current house just doesn’t work for you anymore, this is a great time to move up (though not such a great time to downsize in the current market). A parallel price move is good too because you are buying a house in the same market you are selling in. If you don’t own your own home, it is a great time to buy, because there are real opportunities out there that will not last forever. If we have inflation as some predict, watching your house go up in value quickly because of it is a good feeling. If your heart is not in your home, maybe it’s time to make some changes.