If you're like most folks with a mortgage, you'll be getting a tax form soon from your mortgage lender after the first of the year indicating several things, including how much interest you paid in 2019 and the current balance on your mortgage. 

So it's a good time to talk about equity. Remember, equity is the difference between the fair market value of your home and what you still owe on the mortgage. If you sell, equity is what you receive after any liens against the property or other required costs are paid. It represents the part of the property you really own. 

Two things have happened that could have had a positive impact on your equity: 

• In general, property values have stabilized. If you've been in your house even as few as five years, you might have seen your property value take a tumble from one year to the next. If you've been in your home longer, the fall was likely more dramatic. But in the past two years or so, we've seen property values stabilize and take an upward turn. 
• Over the past several months, we've seen an uptick in prices as housing inventory in the Roanoke Valley remains low. 

Assuming you've been paying your mortgage all along, you're currently sitting on some equity, maybe more than you realize. In fact, CoreLogic's Homeowner Equity Insights report for the second quarter of 2019 reports that homeowners in the U.S. who hold a mortgage "have seen their equity increase by a total of nearly $428 billion since the second quarter 2018, an increase of 4.8%, year over year."

So what does that mean? 

Well, if you've considered selling your home in the past but thought you didn't have enough equity, you should check it out. Pull out the mortgage statement and find out how much you owe. You can probably access this information on your lender's website, as well. If you don't have a recent appraisal, start with your latest real estate tax assessment and get at least a ballpark number for your home's value. (It's important to remember that the assessment is just the starting point; a list price will be different as it takes into consideration many other things.) The difference between what you owe and what your home is worth is your equity. Then repeat the calculation annually to be sure you always know where you stand financially on what could be your single largest asset. 

You can't make a good decision if you don't have all the information you need. Knowing how much equity you have is a good first indicator of what sort of down payment you can make on another home. That will get you better equipped when you're trying to decide the price range of your next home and whether this is the time to get into the market. 

If you have other questions about buying or selling — or how the value of your home might compare to its previous value — contact me anytime at 540-353-0123 or sonya@sonyadickinson.com.