A home renovation is a chance to create the home of your dreams out of your current house. However, it may cost quite a bit to create your dream home. If you don’t have the cash to pay for renovations and don’t want to wait years until you’ve saved enough to pay for it, you still have options. You can finance your dream renovation in a variety of ways:
Mortgage refinancing
Got a lot of equity built up in your home? You can use that equity to finance your home renovation project. One way to do that is through cash-out refinancing. In this scenario, you refinance your first mortgage to a higher loan amount. You then cash out the difference and use that money to pay for your projects.
Do you have big structural changes planned for your home renovation? Planning an addition that is going to add a lot of value? The lender may even approve your new loan based on the value of your home after the improvements, giving you more money for the renovations.
Home equity loan
You don’t have to refinance your first mortgage to get money to renovate your kitchen. Instead, you may want to consider a home equity loan. It uses the equity you have built up in your home for a second mortgage. You get the money in one lump sum, good for renovations with a contractor where you have to pay the full amount upon completion. Although a home equity loan typically has higher interest rates than a first mortgage, it also usually has lower closing costs.
Home equity line of credit (HELOC)
A HELOC is another good option for home renovations. A HELOC is a revolving line of credit secured against your home’s value. You can get the money as you need it by using a checkbook or credit card attached to the loan. A HELOC is great for pay-as-you-go projects. Plan to complete the renovation in stages? Then, a HELOC may be your best bet. You make payments only on what you use and sometimes you even have the option of making interest-only payments.
Personal loan or line of credit
Is your project too small to justify using your home’s equity? Maybe a personal loan is the right choice for you. It’s not secured against your home so you’ll have a higher interest rate, but you’ll also have much lower fees. So, if your renovations are just cosmetic improvements to your home, you can avoid tapping into your home equity with a personal loan.
You can also get creative with your credit cards as long as you are disciplined. Find a card with zero interest for the first year, and use this revolving line of credit to pay for your home renovation project. Just be sure it is a small project and that you faithfully make payments in order to pay off the balance within that first year. You don’t want to have too much debt on the credit card. Also, miss one payment and your nice zero percent interest rate may be replaced by an exorbitant rate.
Published on May 30, 2007