When's the last time someone told you what your house is worth? Not what some online valuation tool guessed. Not what your neighbor's house sold for. What yours is actually worth right now.For a lot
Your Equity Could Make a Move Possible
Dated: June 6 2024
Views: 139
Many homeowners looking to sell feel like they’re stuck between a rock and a hard place right now. Today’s mortgage rates are higher than the one they currently have on their home, and that’s making it harder to want to sell and make a move. Maybe you’re in the same boat.
But what if there was a way to offset these higher borrowing costs? There is. And the money you need probably already exists in your current home in the form of equity.
What Is Equity?
Think of equity as a simple math equation. Freddie Mac explains:
“. . . your home’s equity is the difference between how much your home is worth and how much you owe on your mortgage.”
Your equity grows as you pay down your loan over time and as home prices climb. And thanks to the rapid home price appreciation we saw in recent years, you probably have a whole lot more of it than you realize.
The latest from the Census and ATTOM shows more than two out of three homeowners have either completely paid off their mortgages (shown in green in the chart below) or have at least 50% equity (shown in blue in the chart below):
That means the majority of homeowners have a game-changing amount of equity right now.
How Your Equity Can Help Fuel Your Move
After you sell your house, that equity can help you move without worrying as much about today’s mortgage rates. As Danielle Hale, Chief Economist for Realtor.com says:
“A consideration today's homeowners should review is what their home equity picture looks like. With the typical home listing price up 40% from just five years ago, many home sellers are sitting on a healthy equity cushion. This means they are likely to walk away from a home sale with proceeds that they can use to offset the amount of borrowing needed for their next home purchase.”
To give you some examples, here are a few ways you can use equity to buy your next home:
- Be an all-cash buyer: If you’ve been living in your current home for a long time, you might have enough equity to buy your next home without having to take out a loan. If that’s the case, you won’t need to borrow any money or worry about mortgage rates.
- Make a larger down payment: Your equity could also be used toward your next down payment. It might even be enough to let you put a larger amount down, so you won’t have to borrow as much at today’s rates.
The First Step: Determine How Much Equity You Have in Your Home
Want to find out how much equity you have? To do that, you’ll need two things:
- The current mortgage balance on your home
- The current value of your home
You can probably find the mortgage balance on your monthly mortgage statement. To understand the current market value of your house, you can pay hundreds of dollars for an appraisal, or you can contact a local real estate agent who will be able to present to you, at no charge, a professional equity assessment report (PEAR).
Katherine Rubis
Kathy brings over 20 years of sales experience and is ranked in the top 2% of agents in 2021 and 2019 receiving the prestigious recognition into the Presidents Circle Gold level. Chicago Magazine Top ....
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Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) All information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. All properties are subject to prior sale, change or withdrawal. Neither listing broker(s) or information provider(s) shall be responsible for any typographical errors, misinformation, misprints and shall be held totally harmless. Listing(s) information is provided for consumer's personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing. The data relating to real estate for sale on this website comes in part from the Internet Data Exchange program of the Multiple Listing Service. Real estate listings held by brokerage firms other than House Hunters 4U may be marked with the Internet Data Exchange logo and detailed information about those properties will include the name of the listing broker(s) when required by the MLS. Copyright ©2026 All rights reserved.Based on information submitted to the MLS GRID as of September 22, 2026 5:22 PM UTC All data is obtained from various sources and may not have been verified by broker or MLS GRID. Supplied Open House Information is subject to change without notice.
Data is updated as of September 22, 2026 5:22 PM UTC
All information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. All properties are subject to prior sale, change or withdrawal. Neither listing broker(s) or information provider(s) shall be responsible for any typographical errors, misinformation, misprints and shall be held totally harmless. Listing(s) information is provided for consumer's personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing. The data relating
