As a homeowner in Des Moines, you may be wondering how best to leverage your home equity. After all, your home is likely one of the largest investments you’ve ever made. But what exactly is home equity and how can homeowners use it to their advantage? Let's explore what you need to know about leveraging your home equity.

What is Home Equity?

In plain English, home equity is the difference between how much of money you owe on your home and the home's value. For example, if your house is worth $500,000 and you owe $250,000 on it, then you have $250,000 in home equity. This amount can change depending on various factors such as market conditions and changes in the value of your home over time.

Ways to Leverage Your Home Equity

One of the most common ways to leverage your home equity is by taking out a line of credit. This type of loan or line of credit is called a “home equity loan” or “home equity line of credit” (HELOC). By taking out a HELOC against your home equity, you can access funds that can be used for things like debt consolidation or making large purchases. Additionally, because this type of loan or line of credit often has lower interest rates than traditional loans or lines of credit, they can also be used to save money when refinancing existing debt.

Another way to leverage your home equity is by tapping into it through a cash-out refinance. With this option, you are essentially replacing an existing mortgage with one that has a higher balance than the original mortgage amount – thus allowing you to “cash out” some of the built-up equity in your home while still keeping some proceeds from the refinance for yourself. That said, this option should only be pursued if it is done responsibly, since taking out too much could potentially leave you owing more than what your house is actually worth – something that could eventually lead to foreclosure if not managed carefully.

The final option for leveraging your home's equity involves using it as collateral for investments. This type of investment strategy involves borrowing against the value of your property in order to invest in other assets (like stocks and bonds) which offer higher returns than simply leaving the money invested in real estate alone. While this option does carry some risk due to potential fluctuations in asset values over time, proper portfolio diversification can help protect investors from major losses should any particular asset become devalued unexpectedly – making this option an attractive one for those looking for potential long-term gains while still protecting their original investment capital (i.e., their home's value).

As a homeowner in Des Moines, there are several ways that you can leverage your existing home equity – allowing you access to funds now while potentially increasing its value over time. From utilizing HELOCs and cash-out refinances to using your home's equity to collateralize investments, understanding these options will help ensure that you make an informed decisions when deciding how to best utilize your hard-earned financial resources wisely and effectively – giving you both current financial freedom and greater peace-of-mind going forward.

If you’d like to talk more about your current home-equity situation, please reach out to us. We’re always happy to help.