Home / Blog / Your Home Equity
Home Equity

What Your Home Equity Can Do for You: A White Mountains Homeowner's Guide

You have probably built more than you think. Here is how to find out, and what people use it for.

If you've owned a home in the White Mountains for a few years, you've probably built more equity than you think.

Equity is simple: what your home would sell for, minus what you still owe. Every payment you make grows it. So does your home going up in value.

Most people don't know their number. Here's what people do once they find out:

Move up

Use it toward a bigger place, a better location, or more land.

Move down

Sell, buy something smaller, and keep the difference. Some people buy the next place outright.

Fix up what you have

Turn the kitchen you've been putting up with into the one you want, without moving at all.

Clean up other debt

Some people roll higher-cost debt into their home loan. It's not right for everyone, and I'll tell you straight if it isn't right for you.

Buy a rental or a second home

Your equity can be the start of the next property, whether that's a cabin up the road or a rental in the Valley.

Do nothing

Honestly, that's a fine answer too. It's just better to choose it than to not know.

The point isn't to spend it. It's to know what you have, so the next decision is yours.

Want me to run your numbers? I'll show you what your home could sell for, what you'd walk away with, and what your options look like. No cost, no pressure. Call or text 602-737-1045, or email [email protected].

Written by Kristi Olson, MBA

Your White Mountains mortgage broker & realtor

Over 15 years and 1,000+ mortgages, Kristi has learned the best outcomes come from one professional who sees the whole picture. As an independent broker she shops 100+ lenders — and as a realtor who is also a mortgage broker and an investor in 50+ properties, she knows real estate as an owner, not just a lender.

She serves Show Low, Pinetop-Lakeside, Lakeside, Snowflake, Taylor, Heber-Overgaard, Springerville-Eagar and the rest of the White Mountains — NMLS #1459928, licensed in Arizona & Missouri.

More about Kristi
Your equity

Want me to run your numbers?

I'll show you what your home could sell for, what you'd walk away with, and what your options look like. No cost, no pressure.