The Library
Home Equity Guides
Eight original guides, written in plain language and kept current. Start at the beginning or jump to the question in front of you.
Foundations
What Is Home Equity?
The plain-language definition of home equity, how it grows or shrinks, and why it is often the largest piece of a household's net worth.
Updated June 10, 2026
How to Estimate Your Home Equity
A step-by-step method for putting a realistic number on your equity, plus the common mistakes that make estimates too rosy.
Updated June 10, 2026
Access Options
Ways to Access Your Home Equity
A survey of the main routes to turning equity into usable money — selling, refinancing, borrowing, and newer alternatives — with the trade-offs of each.
Updated June 12, 2026
HELOC vs. Home Equity Loan
The two most common ways to borrow against equity, compared line by line — structure, rates, payments, costs, and which situations favor each.
Updated June 12, 2026
Selling Your Home As-Is
What "as-is" really means, who buys as-is homes, how pricing works, and how to protect your equity when you can't or won't make repairs.
Updated June 12, 2026
Planning & Protection
Home Equity and Taxes
How U.S. tax rules generally treat equity growth, home-sale gains, and interest on equity borrowing — and the records worth keeping.
Updated June 15, 2026
Equity, Leverage, and Risk
How borrowing against a home multiplies both gains and losses, what loan-to-value really measures, and how to think about a safe cushion.
Updated June 15, 2026
Protecting Your Equity from Fraud
The scams that target homeowners' equity — title theft, foreclosure rescue, contractor and lending fraud — and practical defenses for each.
Updated June 15, 2026