With property values rising at a decent clip you may have built up some good equity in your home. You may need to do upgrades on your home like a roof, kitchen, windows or maybe you have an old furnace that needs upgrading. Using the equity in your home is the cheapest form of financing these improvements and since you are technically upgrading your home your value should go up.
If you have debt other than your mortgage that is approximately $15,000 or more with a rate of 5% or more then you should consider looking at the option of consolidating this debt into your mortgage. Some people think that adding to your mortgage to pay off other debts is not a good move because you are extending the debt repayment through a mortgage and your equity will be less. Consolidating higher interest debt into your mortgage is a good financial move provided you structure the new mortgage in the right way. This means that you do not extend the life of your mortgage from what it is currently and you take the payments that you are making in this outside debt and add them to your mortgage payment, provided that your cash flow is fine with your current situation. For an example of how this would work check out eatonrealty.ca/debt. If you are considering pulling out equity from your home your mortgage situation needs to be evaluated to see what your options are and if it will save you money, every mortgage is unique.
When refinancing you can take out up to 80% of the current value of your house less your current mortgage balance. For example if your house is worth $350,000 and your mortgage is $220,000, the available equity is 80% of $350,000 is $270,000, less your current mortgage balance $270,000 – $220,000 = $50,000 available for any means. Please call me if you are considering pulling out equity. I will ensure that your situation makes sense and that you save significant money in the process.
Jeff Attwooll
Mortgage Broker
Equity Care Mortgages
519-620-1175
jeffattwooll.ca