Home Equity loans

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Hog Farmer

There's nothing wrong with investing in your own home. Just keep in mind that its best to make sure that investment increases the value of your property the same. But if it doesn't and it makes your life more comfortable that's a good thing too.

That's where I stand. I realize that life circumstances may cause a quick move at some point, but if you think you're going to be in the house for a while, fix it up the way you want it. It's not just an investment, it's your home, so enjoy it.

I never actually realized that it was so easy to remodel a home. I'd never seen anyone do it growing up, so when we bought our first condo, it was an experiment. It was two apartments that were being converted into one condo, and since we bought it early in the process I got to see a lot of the construction and help make decisions. That made it much easier to buy our fixer-upper home a couple of years later, because I could envision the house's potential and see a path to get there. I'm very happy the decision to do that, and we were able to do it by using a HELOC to fund each project. We'd then pay it down and start on the next project.