FAQs About Trading In Your Home's Equity For Cash
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With interest rates at an all time low many people have already, or are
considering, refinancing their homes by leveraging the equity in them.
Much needed renovations, eliminating higher-interest revolving credit
card debts or securing an education for their children are just some of
the reasons people are now looking to get on the refi bandwagon
We have compiled a list of seven questions and answers that are relative to
the subject of equity for cash. Review them carefully and consult with
an expert before making any long-term decisions that can affect your financial
stability and health
1. How Does Cash-Out Refinancing Work? Cash-Out transactions permit you to access and spend the equity you have built up in your home since you started repaying your current mortgage. You accomplish this by applying for a new mortgage that is greater than the outstanding unpaid principal balance of your current mortgage. The big difference between Cash-Out refinancing and a home equity loan, or line of credit, is that it's a new mortgage and not a second lien against the equity in a home.
2. I Need To Remodel My Home And Make Improvements. Am I Better Off Refinancing My Mortgage Or Getting A Home Equity Loan? Before you can reach an educated decision consider these points:
- What are your financial goals?
- What are the interest rates on the new loans?
- What is the interest rate on your existing mortgage?
- What is your marginal income tax rate?
- Do you have the ability to use the mortgage interest deduction on your income taxes?
A good way to examine and decide on the different loan alternatives is to chart out the APRs and then compare them. Here is an example of how to do that:
a.) Take the interest rate of each loan and multiply it by its portion of the total debt. As an example let us say you owe $100,000 on an existing mortgage and want to spend $50,000 on building a new edition to your home. If you take out a $50,000 home equity loan or line of credit, you would then owe a total of $150,000; sixty-six percent of it in the form of the original $100,000 mortgage and thirty-three percent of it from the new home equity debt. Now, to get the "weighted" APRs, you multiply the rate of the $100,000 mortgage by 66% and the $50,000 equity loan by 33% (see the table below for an example).
After substituting all of your numbers for those in the chart below
analyze the results and determine what is your best option at this time.
APRs include estimates of closing costs, so this method will make the
adjustments for the differences in closing costs among all the alternatives.
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