Ways Your Home Equity Can Help You Reach Your Goals
If you’ve owned your house for at least a couple of years , there’s something you’re going to want to know more about – and that’s home equity. If you’re not familiar with that term, Freddie Mac defines it like this: “. . . your home’s equity is the difference between how much your home is worth and how much you owe on your mortgage .” That means your equity grows as you pay down your home loan over time and as home values climb . While it’s true home prices dipped slightly last year, they rebounded and have been climbing in many areas since then. Here’s why that price growth is good news for you. In the latest Equity Insights Report , Selma Hepp, Chief Economist at CoreLogic , explains: “ With price gains continuing to help homeowners build wealth, equity has reached a new high and regained losses that resulted from declines last year . And while the average U.S. homeowner gained over $20,000 in additional ...