Home Improvement Loan - Education

Posted on May 8, 2008
Filed Under Finances |

by James Redder

Adding an extra room in your loft or just carrying out routine maintenance on an aging property is expensive and will need financing; the easiest way to refresh a tired looking house is to arrange a home improvement loan. Very few people want to attempt many of these home improvements themselves so tradesmen such as electricians, plumbers and carpenters will need to be employed.

A home improvement loan is a borrowing option that is open to most homeowners and there’s a choice for you to take a secured loan or a loan with no equity required. When a homeowner has only just purchase the home, they are still able to arrange a loan, subject to their status of course. Finance organized to improve a home is normally arranged to run for up to fifteen years when equity is not required.

The only condition made on no equity finance is that the owners must have a joint income which is lower than the county limit where the property is but reaches the limit specified by the lender. Whilst the lenders do not hand over the money without making some checks first about the property and the applicant, these are just to provide some security for the lender as these loans are processed quite quickly.

The difference with a secured home improvement loan means the value of the property is taken into account so when there is spare equity, the loan is basically taken out of this. Equity based loans are arranged quite quickly and whilst these loans are not considered as second mortgages, they have the benefit of lower interest rates and preferential terms as part of the arrangement.

Still before a secured loan can be arranged, the equity available in your home will need to be agreed upon by the lender. All factors are considered before a final amount is agreed upon and that includes how much is owed on the mortgage, its current value and what other debts the owners may have.

All these factors will be considered for putting a loan package together for your consideration. Normally a lender will lend to the upper limit of the house valuation but a few lenders go much further and provide loans up to 125 percent of the valuation.

An equity based loan can be risky if you arrange to lend an amount greater than you can comfortably afford so consider this carefully as you may end up handing your beautiful home over to your creditors. So be careful how much money you agree on a home improvement loan and wherever possible only borrow enough to carry out essential repairs.

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