Your home may be your castle, but it can also be a source of ready cash. If you have owned your place for a few years, done some improvements, or maybe just live in a high-demand area, you can have considerable equity. That equity can be converted into money through one of several different instruments. The chore is to find out which one is right for your situation.

Making the decision to pull some of the equity from your home is only one of the numerous choices you will face before you sign your name to paper.

Refinance – If your original mortgage rate is higher than today’s rate of interest, if the length of your loan or the size of payments are wrong for you, or if some terms of your mortgage are making your life difficult, this may be your best choice.

Second Mortgage – If you just want to keep the sweet deal you have on your first, or today’s terms are less than best, this can give you the tool to utilize that money accruing in your home.

Home Equity Loan – Flexibility is the keyword of this choice. You can take a little now and take even more as you need it to finance a trip, home improvements or an education.

You can use a fixed rate over a set period of years, or can base your interest rate on the market. If your personality demands riding the market, or if it demands the known quality of a set rate for a set time, you don’t need to analyze anything. Just gamble on your ability to pull off whichever type looks best to you. If you are like most of us, you will want to consider some of the variables and identify which fits your financial profile best. This requires some research.

Fixed Rate

The interest rate on home loans has been the lowest in decades. The Prime Rate, a component of your mortgage interest rate calculation, was 20.5% in 1981. It took 4 years for that rate to fall below 10%. It hovered in the 7 – 7.5% range for a year in ’86-’87, and bounced back up to 10% in ’88. In 1991 a decline dropped the prime 3.5 percentage points in one year. It remained in the 6% range for 2 years and then played with the 8 – 9% range until 2001 when it got back to 6%. By the end of 2001 the rate had hit 4.75% and stayed in that neighborhood for almost 3 years, dropping as low as 4%. Since July 2003, the rate has slowly climbed to the current 8%.

So what does all this economic history have to do with your getting some money? It’s a track record to look at to help predict how that rate is going to change in the next few weeks, months or years. Because that rate should be of prime concern to you in selecting which loan structure is best.

Adjustable Rate

This structure has gained popularity because of the ever-increasing home prices in demanding markets. It’s also a great tool for the first time buyer. It allows the purchaser to be creative in putting together a package of several options, enabling them to get into a home with minimum down, lower initial payments and provides time to decide if it works best. That means that you can purchase that house now before the price goes up, yet have a built-in option to change it in a few years. Since so many people move within 5 years – the common first step in an adjustable rate mortgage – it allows lower living expenses for the soon-to-move homeowner. This is especially helpful in high cost neighborhoods.

The adjustable rate mortgage is written for a set initial period and with defined conditions. For instance, you may have 5 years at the current interest rate, but then it could increase by several percentage points if rates are much higher. Conversely, if rates fall in that time, you can get a better deal than you have today. That’s the gamble and the reason for taking a stab at predicting the market change. The life of the mortgage could be for 20 or 30 years, but the interest rate you pay is variable.

If you expect to move in a few years, you can enjoy lower monthly payments now and still use the increased value of your home to realize cash out when you sell. This is a popular choice for first time buyers, young families, and fledgling investors.

In spite of the pundits who predicted a ‘housing bubble’ to burst for years, the market continued to rise in almost all markets across the nation. The really peak markets on each coast appreciated at amazing speed, sometimes doubling a home’s value within a year or two. That rampant growth has now slowed. Even in the most robust markets, homes are on the books longer. Multiple bidders are no longer driving the sales price above the listing price. Some builders of new homes and condo conversions are becoming concerned about the inventory they’re holding. People are still buying, and homes are still appreciating, but there has been a decidedly different atmosphere in real estate. The other factor in todays mix is the rising Federal rate.

Now the question is what will happen next? How much risk can I or should I take?

I think this answer lies in your personality. You can go with an ARM and have a lower rate right now with reasonable payments and see what happens when it comes under review. If you are expecting your income to increase through promotions, seniority or new opportunities, this makes a lot of sense. If you have student loans or other expenses which will be paid off, you can envision a much better personal balance sheet. Today’s reality is not forever.

If you are on a different course, you might need to have the stability of that fixed rate. You will always know how much you are going to have as an expense every month for the life of that loan. And if the interest rate drops in a few years, you can refinance then. This is much more appealing to the person who will be keeping their property for a while.

So which personality are you?

By: Carolyn Staggs