The more equity in your home, the more options you have. Since equity is determined by the difference between value and what is owed on a property, when homes lost value during the Great Recession, homeowners’ equity decreased.

Negative equity occurs when the value is less than the mortgage owed. According to CoreLogic, 91% of all mortgaged properties have equity and only 4.4 million properties remain in negative equity at the end of the second quarter in 2015.

A homeowner, who qualifies, can release part of their equity by refinancing the existing loan and taking out additional cash or by getting a home equity loan. The benefits include:

• To get a lower rate on your current mortgage
• To finance capital improvements on your home
• To payoff…

A home can easily be a person’s largest personal asset and it can be a powerful tool to increase financial stability also.

Since most mortgages are amortizing, the loan becomes a forced savings account that reduces the unpaid balance with each payment. The equity could be used to improve a homeowner’s financial position involving other loans.

While every homeowner recognizes that they can deduct the interest paid on their mortgage, it is surprising how many don’t know that they can write-off the interest on up to $100,000 of home equity debt assuming there is sufficient equity in the home.

The real advantage to a homeowner is that the money borrowed can be used for any purpose and the interest is still deductible. Homeowners could payoff…

Shadow: Walking seems so simple. Just put one paw in front of the other
and viola’! You’re walking. Now you may not be going where YOU want to
go, but you’re still walking. This month we are going to be talking about
what you are walking on, not so much where you are going. As for me, I
liked walking next to my dad. Where he walked I walked. It didn’t matter.
Snow. Ice. Rain…
Rudy: RAIN!! Now way Shadow Bob. That’s where I draw the line. In fact,
any H2O derivative is out of my walking tolerance. Water I’m sayin’ is not the
bomb. Not to me. You labs, yeah “water, water everywhere” or something
like that. I am NOT walking anywhere near water. I don’t even walk in the
fog! No good old terra firma for me. I need dirt under…
Kovu: SAND. It’s sand for me. Or used to…

Well we’re back, from Mexico that is. As always it’s good to go and good to come home…even if it’s a 70
degree shift in temperature. While we are gone we monitor the Anchorage Daily News for the weather
and to tell you the truth, watching the ice evaporate in my glass, -5 didn’t exactly nudge me to return
home anytime soon. Both Dave and I agree though, two-weeks from home is just about right. We miss
the dogs (and Bob: see dog article) and business seems to just explode the minute I decide to leave town. I
don’t mind, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that when Dave and I leave, we take half the office with us leaving
Lester the shoulder the brunt of the load with support from Jessie and Kelleigh. I must say he did a bang
up job. In the past have felt more…

Two years ago I told Dave, “I hate to run. I’ve never liked it.” Well now I ARE one. A runner
that is. Not only that but I am working hard at becoming a better runner, such that I have
taken out stock in Skinny Raven Sports. Well not perhaps not that committed, but close.
Dave knows that for the last year, Christmas and birthday presents are easy: Skinny Raven
gift certificates, though this year they would be from REI.

I run races all around town all summer benefiting all sorts of causes. One of the best parts
is I have gotten Dave to run them as well. He does it begrudgingly at times, but he sees the
fun in it…I hope.

We also have got caught up in this thing called Bonny Sosa Tuesday Night Race Series.
It’s amazing, and every fall there are races held all…