I have a interest only home loan,do i have equity on my house?
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It depends on the down payment and appreciation. If you put money down, you can assume that you have at least that amount as equity (less any of the closing costs, etc). If you have only owned the home for a short period of time, you are likely backwards, or have negative equity. If your home has had time to appreciate, then you might have some equity, but not as much as you would have if you were making a principal and interest payment.
Your equity is the difference between the principal on the loan and what the house is worth. If you bought a $100000 home and took out a loan for $80000, then you have $20000 in equity (assuming the house is still worth $100000).
Because you have an interest only loan, you are not growing your equity as fast. This is because you are not reducing your principal.
Interest only, so that means none of the money has gone toward the purchase of your home. Paying toward the principle is one way to get equity, but that doesn't accrue very fast at the beginning of a loan, so I don't think that's a big deal. What you need to do is determine if your home can sell for more than you paid for it. To do that, find out what "comparable" houses in your neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods sold for recently. The housing market is a bit depressed right now, but I don't know where you live. You could call your mortgage company and tell them you want a home equity line, and see what they say.
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