Calculating the equity in your home is easy: simply subtract what you owe on your mortgage from the market value of your home. There are steps you can take to increase your equity; here are tips to help you increase the amount of equity you have in your home. The amount of equity you have in your home changes as time passes. This happens because the value of your home changes or the housing marking in your area changes. If your goal is to build equity in your home, the easiest way to do this is to pay down the balance on your mortgage. The more principle you pay in addition to your regular monthly payments the faster you will build equity in your home. Mortgage loans are front-loaded with interest payments. This means in the beginning most of your payment goes into the lenders pocket and very little is applied to your loan balance. As you gradually pay down the balance of the loan less and less of your payment is applied to the finance charges. There are things you can do with your mortgage to pay less interest and build equity faster. Refinancing your mortgage to a loan with a shorter term, 10 or 15 years for example, will build equity at a much faster rate than a traditional 30 year mortgage. You can also build equity in your home by making improvements to the property that increase the appraised value. You need to be careful doing this as renovations rarely recoup their expenses with your home is appraised. The best thing to do is make improvements that bring your home in line with those in your neighborhood. Many homeowners build equity in their homes without doing anything. If home values in your neighborhood increase, your home equity will increase along with it. This can work against you, if the housing market in your area declines your neighborhoods value could decline along with it. This is why 100% mortgage loans are risky; be careful purchasing your home with a no money down mortgage loan. Home values nationwide appreciate around 5% every year. These values have been increasing at a steady rate since the 1960s. You can learn more about your mortgage and home equity by registering for a free mortgage guidebook. |
