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Is This A Good Time for a Home Equity Loan?

One of the ways we tend to organize our personal finances and plan for the future is with our home. We buy a home as an investment, very often with the plan of selling it when we retire and moving in with our children (whether they know about this plan or not) or into a retirement community. This is an excellent idea, even in today’s market, but as with any other aspect of money management, it will not happen on its own. While there are many jokes and a few stigmas around moving to retirement communities, there are also a number of advantages.

For starters, someone else does the hard work. There comes a time in your life when you just shouldn’t have to be the one to replace the garbage disposal (this is really about five minutes after you’ve trapped yourself under the sink, but such a community should avoid that.) There is also the advantage of knowing there will be someone there if you or your partner runs into trouble.

Speaking of having another person weed the lawn and cut the grass, it is very easy when living in a house to become accustomed to things which are imperfect. Not bad, not materially damaged, just not ideal. When looking to sell a home, especially in this market, the house should be as close to perfect as possible.

With this in mind, when you are going over your personal finances and making sure your portfolio has the right balance of stocks, bonds, CDs and savings accounts to support you through your retirement, there is something else to look into. Is this a good time for you to have the house inspected by both a real estate agent and a building inspector to see if there are things that can and should be repaired before the property goes on the market?

The reason this is something to work into your money management schedule is that one of the best ways to make sure that the insulation gets pumped up and the windows reglazed is through a home-equity loan. It’s best to know what needs to be done well before you sell so that you can budget it in and hire a broke college student to paint the outside.

So, the question to ask well before you’re ready to sell is “Are we in a good position to take out a loan and work on the house?” If not, and this is part of your future plans, it is time to start reorganizing your finances to reach that goal.

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