About Clark Howard
Find more answers to your consumer questions, plus Clark Howard’s book “Living Large for the Long Haul,” at ClarkHoward.com.
Listen to Clark Howard weeknights from 6 to 9 p.m. on AM1290/95.7FM News Talk WHIO.
For the first time since the real estate bubble, your ability to borrow against the value of your home is returning.
This is significant because over the last eight years, there was almost no home equity line of credit (HELOC) activity and almost no second mortgage activity.
But now we have the highest equity on homes that we’ve had for years in the United States. This may sound crazy to you if you’re mortgaged up to your eyeballs, but the average equity in a home in the United States is 50 percent. So lenders want back into that game.
When does a HELOC make sense and when doesn’t it?
This is nothing like the crazed days of everybody treating their home like an ATM, but Equifax data shows three bubble states in particular have seen the largest increase in home equity lending. Those states include California, Florida and Nevada.
In Florida, as just one example, you have some people who are still upside down, but you also have many others who are buying homes for cash. With 100 percent equity, that makes them a perfect candidate for a loan.
We’re not back to the craziness of “125s” where you could borrow the value of your house plus another 25 percent during the real estate bubble. But if you have 50 percent equity or 75 percent equity, this is a growth business for community banks and credit unions sitting on cash they need to lend out to low-risk borrowers.
In fact, I’m expecting the terms and conditions on HELOCs and second mortgages will get better and better for you as a borrower over the next six months.
The reality is HELOCs can be a good standby for a rainy day. Let’s say you have to replace your HVAC and you take out a HELOC that you pay off in 36 months or less. That’s a good use of a HELOC.
On the other hand, using a HELOC to take short-term debt and turn it into long-term debt secured by your home is dangerous. It is tempting, but dangerous.
Remember, this is not free money. You have to pay it back and the terms of paying it back can get ugly if you stretch it too long.
About the Author