The housing market crash of 2008 made a huge dent in home values across Arizona but now home equity is strong. Don’t you wish there was some way to tap into some of that stashed-away cash?
There is.
Now that it’s Springtime, chances are you’ve hit up the hardware story already but how do you pay for all of the improvements you want to make? You can unlock the money that’s already in your home with a HELOC.
That stands for Home Equity Line Of Credit and the fact that Desert Schools is funding a lot of these HELOC’s means people actually have equity to tap. That’s good news if you want to upgrade.
“Bathrooms. Kitchens. Countertops. Those kinds of things they do add value.”
Lisa Saye with Desert Schools is helping a lot of customers with those home improvements these days.
She told me items like swimming pools or even debt consolidation could be possible purchases with HELOC money under the right circumstances but you don’t always want to tie in purchases to your home’s value.
“You don't want to use it for day-to-day living expenses because it is your home. But to improve your home there's value in that,” Saye said.
Desert Schools website, www.desertschools.org, has a “Home Value Bot” that’ll break down what your home may be worth and point you toward a product with interest rates as low as 2.5% and no closing costs. Sounds great, right?
It’s important to remember, though, that a HELOC is like a credit card.
“It's not free money and it is another debt that you're taking on,” Saye said.
