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When selling a home, is a home equity credit line treated as a second mortgage or is a line a credit ?
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Can I sell a home with just a 1st mortgage, collect the equity and continue to pay on my Heloc as if it is a line of credit? or will I have to include it in my home sale (and possibly a short sale)?


The HELOC is secured by your home (read your loan documents). It likely has a due on transfer clause which means that if you transfer your ownership of the property, the loan becomes immediately due and payable. Typically that means you need to pay off the HELOC with proceeds from the sale (or you need to bring enough cash to settle it at closing).

Anyone with any sense would not buy the property with an outstanding lien for the HELOC, because if that is not paid, that lender could still foreclose (that lien would be senior to any sale or transfer you make now).

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Some Ways to Lower Your Home Equity Line of Credit Rates Owning a home must be the most precious property that someone can possess in most peoples ...

How long should I wait before applying for a home line of credit after refinancing?

I just refinanced my home to get a fixed rate and now I want to open a line of credit account.


You might not be able to get a 2nd mortgage so quickly. It will depend on your equity in the house.

HELOCs aren't such a good idea right now because the interest rate fluctuates with the prime rate and it could jump every month.

Is a Home Equity Line of Credit or Home Equity Loan used to buy a second home tax deductible beyond $100,000?

Would a Home Equity Line of Credit or loan used to buy a home be considered a Home Aquisition Debt instead of a Home Equity Debt?


For HELO interest on principal beyond $100k to be deductible, the proceeds must be plowed back into the property pledged as security. If it's used for any other purpose, the interest on the amount of the loan over $100k is non-deductible. To be considered as acquisition debt, the property acquired must be the security for the loan.

What is Home Equity Credit Line of Credit (HELOC), whst is the advantage and disadvantage of that?

What is Home Equity Credit Line of Credit (HELOC), whst is the advantage and disadvantage of that?


A Home Equity Line of Credit is a line of credit based on the precentage of your home you have already paid for. For Ex. you have a loan for $100,000 and you have paid 30,000 of it off and owe $70,000 still. The equity would be the $30,000 that you own. YOu could then take line of credit out on the $30,000 that you own. HELOC interest rates are based on the prime rate on Wall Street posted each month, which means that it changes monthly. Prime right now is on the rise. Recently it has been at 7.75% for the last couple of months and now it is at 8%. The prime rate is then added to what is called the Margin. Your margin is based on you FICO(credit score). The better credit you have the better margin you will have. I have even seen negative margins on some loans. So for example lets say you have a 2% margin and then prime rate is 8%. Your HELOC would then have a 10% interest rate. This is pretty high, but lower than most peoples credit card interest rate. Let's say you have 10,000 in credit card debt and the average interest rate on the collection of cards is 22%. It would be a good decision to take out a HELOC and then use that money to pay off your debt on the credit cards. You would save because of the interest rate. HELOC's have a cap rate of 18% so that would still be lower than the 22%. Unfortunately the down side of this is that the interest rate changes monthly, as well as the payment amount. There are all different kinds of HELOC/2nd mortgages you can get. Some are No Cost HELOC's and don't require you to pay closing costs, but the fine print says you cannot pay the loan off or refinance within a certain time period. Also watch out for prepayment penalties or termination fees. These usually only last for 6 months, but make sure read all the fine print! Also sometimes there is an account maintenance fee that is waived only if you never make a late payment within the first year. If you do miss a payment in the first year you end up paying a maintenance fee yearly for the life of the loan, after the first year you don't have to worry about being late except paying the late charge. You really should try a fixed rate 2nd mortgage right now instead of a HELOC since interest rates are on the rise.

Should we wipe out savings or go with home equity line of credit to finance home improvements?

My husband and I are debating how to finance some home improvement projects. He says use savings, I say use a line of credit(repay within two years hopefully) I am afraid if we use savings we will never replace it. He doesn't want debt. Any opinions?


If you got the equity then go with the HELOC. If the home improvements are going to increase the value of your home then it's a no brainer. As long as you're not going to buy a car or take a vacation with it. Leave your savings alone.

...OR say you can get a HELOC @ 6% APR. Then the money in your savings account that you would have spent on your house - put that money in a CD (or some other investment vehicle) that earns 6% interest and then you're pretty much getting your home improvements for free. If you got 6% going out then see if you can get at least 6% coming in.... and then you'll make that much more when you sell the house because you didn't really pay much for the improvements.


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