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Saturday, July 11, 2009

Avoid Paying Too Much For Your Home Improvement Loan

By John Thomas Millner

Improving the current home you live in is a great way to increase its value, make it more livable and improve your lifestyle. Improving your home is now a big business that often requires more than just pocket change and some elbow grease. Home remodeling loans are becoming more popular as interest rates on borrowed money remain low.

Today's home improvements are becoming more expensive and many times home owner must take out a loan to cover the project or borrow money from some existing asset. Using borrowed money to remodel a home is a much easier option than buying a new home and moving for most people.

Larger home improvement projects that require financing could including adding an addition to your home, remodeling your home to add more space, upgrading the appointments in a kitchen or bathroom, installing a new furnace or cooling system, replacing a roof or installing siding or simply putting in a new swimming pool.

There are two general types of house improvement loans. There are unsecured home improvement loans and a secured home improvement loans. Within those two types there are many different loan vehicles which can give you extra money, though each has it's own good points and potential drawbacks. The differences among the loan vehicles are many, but let's focus on the two types of home improvement loans that are generally available:

Unsecured house improvement loan: An unsecured loan of any type involves you borrowing money without putting anything up for collateral. That means that if you can't pay the loan then there is technically nothing the bank can immediately take away from you. Unsecured loans are granted based on many factors, but a steady income and good credit score definitely help. Home improvement credit cards are technically unsecured loans that are meant to be used for home improvement projects. Unsecured loans are meant to be paid back over a short period of time and will almost always have a higher interest rate.

Secured house remodeling financing: A secured loan of any type is a loan which involves you offering something to the bank in exchange for the money. If you get a home improvement loan based on the equity in your home, then you are really trading part of the ownership in your house to the lending institution. As you repay the loan you are buying back your house. Secured home improvement loans usually involve larger amounts of money but do have a lower interest rate and offer a longer time to pay it off.

The type of loan you choose should be based on the size of your house improvement project, your credit score, your income and the amount of equity or collateral you have readily available. Remember that there are many different types of loans to choose from. You might also want to see if you are approved for an FHA Title 1 home improvement loan package from a local lending institution. Borrowing money to improve your home will generally raise the value of your home, though the value may not always exceed the amount of money you borrowed initially.

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