February 23, 2019
Why the Current Market Situation Might Make This the Right Time to Tap into Your Home’s Equity
The prices homes will fetch at market may be falling on average—which is increasingly being viewed as a likely positive correction for the marketplace to make, given what might be considered an overheated market in previous months—but there have also been other certain positives arising in the housing market in tandem. Among these is a certain trend that may indicate that this is the right time for homeowners to tap into their home’s established equity.
In its November Home Price Perception Index, Quicken Loans found that October of 2018 was the eighth month in a row for which the difference between appraisals and homeowner estimates of home prices at market stood at lower than a half percent. Indeed, in October itself, the percentage approached one-quarter. Prior to this stellar run, the difference between average appraisals of value and homeowner estimates of value went through about a year of approaching a full one percent. That these rubrics have grown closer to one another indicates a certain gelling of homeowner sentiment with the realities of the marketplace.
It also means that, where the loan process is concerned, the initiation and maintenance of mortgages are more likely to go smoothly. Fewer disparities leads to fewer complications, making easier the meeting of minds necessary to come to a deal.
Moreover, when homeowners have a firmer grasp on home appraisal values, it can make for a better market in which homeowners may tap into existing equity to pay down higher interest debt that may be weighing them down or to perform improvements on their homes (to further increase a property’s marketability and/or the homeowner’s enjoyment of the property). Granted, this is more certainly the case when home prices are also increasing, but the slowdown doesn’t seem to be negatively affecting house values just yet. So, if a homeowner hasn’t tapped that equity yet, now just might be the time.
At Topouzis & Associates, P.C., we perform title searches and remedy problems of title in Rhode Island, Massachussets, and Florida. We back these services with title insurance for both lenders and owners. Contact us if you’re considering purchasing a new property, whether for yourself or as an investment, so we can help ensure that you achieve true ownership of your property without having to deal with unforeseen hassles arising from problems created by someone else in the past.
