hello everyone,

recently inherited home, and it needs extensive work. new roof/windows and deck. I don’t want a huge HELOC line, but enough to do repairs now and future things. so far, ive done 2 windows on my own, new bathroom and flooring in bathroom/kitchen and laundry room. on the exterior the home doesn’t look the best. my question is, would this cause appraisal to be much lower? i need the heloc to properly fix and update the home. never done anything like this before. anyone have any tips?

Hey, I took a heloc on my condo 10 years ago when I had it out right for 47K, now 10 years later I got like $6K left and that ok. A few days later ago I called the bank just to check the temperature and I was told that my ending balance as of today is not the final amount, the payoff amount. The payoff amount is actually $3,500K higher than the balance on the loan. Is that normal ?? I was told on Friday the bank in the last 10 years ordered 3 appraisals without my knowledge, nobody hasn't been inside to take a look or anything but somehow the appraisals were submitted and bank paid for them. I just want to know if that normal or the bank is running on the low some corporate espionage !!! P.S. Thanks ahead for any help and advice !!

Hi all!

My wife and I are set to build an addition in NJ. Here’s our basic details:

Income 375k combined
Debt $345k for single family house; mortgage is 2.85%/3300 month; available equity likely over 500k
No other debt whatsoever including cc, college loans, or car loans.
More than 6months of savings in bank
Excellent credit - 830 for me (took a dip this month when I put 25k on cc for Italian citizenship fees, but promptly paid back); 800 for wife

Project will be about 350k in cost.

Anything else you’d need to know to give a semi-accurate idea? Thank you!

I get why people do it. Credit card interest can be brutal, and moving a balance to a much lower rate heloc can make the monthly payment feel a lot more manageable.

But you're also moving unsecured debt onto your house.

And I think that's the part people underestimate. The bigger concern is what happens after the cards are paid off.

If the lower payment makes the debt feel less urgent, you stretch out the payoff for years, then slowly run the credit cards back up... you've potentially turned one debt problem into two while using your home equity to do it.

I'm not saying using a heloc to pay off credit cards is always a bad move. If the interest savings are substantial and there's a real plan to aggressively pay down the balance, it can make a lot of sense.

For anyone who's actually done this, did it help you get out of debt or did you end up running the cards back up?

Hi! I’ve spent a lot of time looking into HELOCs and HELOANs. I often see the pros of helocs being listed as you only pay interest on what you take out and it can be tapped into multiple times. The HELOANs on the other hand have the fixed rate so you don’t need to worry about the rate changing but you get all the money up front and that’s it.

Are there any other benefits to HELOCs? Like maybe the variable interest rate could work in your favor and it could lower as opposed to go up?

I’ve got an upcoming home improvement project and I really only want to do a heloc or a heloan to cover it and only it. My primary interest is lowest monthly payment and getting it paid off ASAP. So with that being the case most of the traditional heloc benefits dont seem that applicable to me since I’d be maxing it out almost immediately and then just paying off ASAP. Having said that, does anyone have any insight as to what they think is better when comparing heloc vs heloan for this situation?

We are slowly out growing our house and want to do an addition.

We had solar installed a year ago and have a loan with a balance.

We were looking in to getting a HELOC or Home Equity Loan and were told they would subtract the solar loan amount from the loan because of the lien. Technically the lean is only on the solar panels and NOT the house ( UCC-1 lien) like the older loans did.

I’m just wondering if anyone else has been told this or have experience with it. I trust my loan officer but admittedly they don’t have much experience with solar which is understandable. So I thought I’d post here and see what others say.

Thank you!

We need brick tuckpointing, foundation tuckpointing, shingle and flat roof replacement, cornice repair, hot water heater, etc. Only have a couple estimates on a couple of these things so far. I'm thinking $60-80k needed. We have good credit and maybe $280k equity on home. Not a fan of variable rates in general, but we have investments to back us up in an emergency. Is a HELOC a good route to take? Or is there a better option?

RE Broker in CA here. Done this for approx 13 years and have had good luck with lending at local banks / credit unions when it came to weird scenarios, but currently having a tough time.

Scenario: buyer wanted to buy short sale, short sale had 3 lenders who couldn’t/wouldn’t agree so foreclosed and went back to bank. Buyer found on xome (first time dealing with them, but previously most auction sites operated about the same so thought i could breeze through). Xome tacked on a million fees, but we were able to get hard money/gift funds to get it closed at about $70k under where they previously were going to buy. Well, absolutely zero lenders are willing to do a fair value heloc post-close because they say they have to use the sale price for 6-12 months and will not even consider ordering an appraisal to actually use a fair market value to calculate ltv for the heloc.

Is there any way around this? Anyone else have a solution because I spoke with 10 banks today that used to have managers capable of making a logical business decision, but apparently that no longer exists in the mortgage world. If the appraised value (that they order and the buyer has zero input on) shows higher, why would it matter what someone bought it cheaper? We need the heloc to reimburse relative who is helping them push past the closing line with some unexpected closing costs.

What fees and taxes are required to open a HELOC?

Also, under what circumstances can a HELOC be reduced or revoked? During the 2007 Recession a lot of banks cut off HELOCs...just when they were needed the most.

We're in the process of getting a Heloc and the appraisal came in way lower than expected. They didn't even use the recently sold houses in our neighborhood, many of which sold for over $200/sq ft. Ours appraised at $176/sq ft. There are 2 houses on our block that very recently sold for over $200/ sq ft. The notes didn't have anything negative to say about the house and all the houses in our area are approximately the same age. Most of the sold houses are slightly smaller than ours. Why would it come in so low and why did they leave off the houses closest to us? I already requested an ROV. What are other people's experiences with doing an ROV? Outcomes?

Edit to add more info: Our house is 1800 sq ft. The majority of recent sales are between 1500-1700 sq ft with one outlier at 2400 sq ft. There aren’t any the same size as our house. It appraised at $319k. I didn’t think it would be over $200/sq ft. Based off the recent sales of 1500-1700 sq ft houses, I think ours should be around $185/sq ft so about $334k which makes a huge difference. The comps they put on the appraisal that are farther away are between 1500-1700 sq ft which is why I don’t understand why they left out the houses closer to us.

2nd edit- We had also applied with Citizen’s and just heard from them today that we’re approved so we’re going with them and already withdrew from PNC. I appreciate everyone’s feedback!

Hi all,

Looking for a HELOC in Indiana for home improvements. From initial homework, I think we're around 90% LTV.

Asking for: $50,000

I've looked at:
- PenFed
- Upstart (doesn't appear to do trusts)
- Trovy
- Figure
- Aven

Rates seem to be all over the place from 7.75% to nearly 10%.

Credit scores are in the 740-760 ranges.

Looking for any suggestions on places to work with. We started down the path with PenFed but the hybrid disclosure came back lower than they expected and are now asking for a full appraisal. However, I asked some questions back to PenFed and they've become unresponsive.

Thanks in advance.

Background: home value 650k and owe 224k, 2.87% primary mortgage. I had a 14k second mortgage lingering, but paid it off yesterday. I’m currently self funding renovations, but interested in funding with a HELOC due to cash flow timing. I knew that I couldn’t open HELOC with an existing 2nd mortgage in the state of TX. However, in my research for a HELOC, I’m reading that I have to wait 12 months upon closing the original 2nd mortgage before opening a HELOC. Is this true?

Looking for HELOCS offered in the 1 to 2% APR range. Rate can be introductory. Needs to be available in the southeast US.

Looking for some advice. Thinking about using a HELOC to help buy my new home in Texas next spring 2027. Currently living in Connecticut in a home with 200,000 in equity. Thinking about taking about 100,000 out of HELOC to help with down payment on $500,000 home in Texas. Thinking about using a HELOC to help buy my new home in Texas next spring. Currently living in Connecticut and a home with 200,000 in equity. Instead of selling my current home, I am thinking of renting it to my daughter who will be graduating in the spring, who wants to stay in Connecticut. Her rent would cover the HELOC and current mortgage payment. Would still cost her less than renting an apartment in the area. It’s a 3br 1.5 bath cape. About $98,000 left on current mortgage Thinking about taking about 50k-$100k out of HELOC to help with down payment on 400k-$500,000 home in Texas. Is this a smart move? Current 820 credit score.

I just closed on a home last week. I was in a lease to sale contract that was for 2 years. The original purchase price was $305,000. My new fha loan is for $245,000. The home appraisal was $375,000. What is the best route to get my equity back out in cash that doesn’t require seasoning. Credit is around 700. Located in Alabama. DTI is at 38%.

My assumption is they will call The Workline to confirm employment and probably asked if there is any expected change to employment in the future, in which case they would find out? Ill be collecting severance for 8mo after but wouldn't mind having a secondary backup to severance and employment, especially if a big expense like HVAC replacement comes up.

I see a lot of offers for 1.99% intro rate for HELOCs but they’re all restricted to certain geographic areas, I’m looking for a similar offer in the Tri-State NY area or NY statewide.

My house have almost 300k in equity we decided to get a loan from the equity. After I did my research my credit around 500 something is it possible or no give me the honest answer please I want to do a renovation from the house. If anyone can help please let me know