Best place to get a Home Equity Line of Credit

[Anonymous]

Cardinal Bank?

Credit Union?

Through our current mortgage provider?

We are going to do some major renovations to our house in 3 phases over the next 5-8 years. Our plan is to do phase 1, pay down most if not all of the costs (repeat for phase 2 and 3)

We have about 30-40% equity in the house so we have the ability to take out a HELOC for the monies that we need. We also have excellent credit ratings.

Just wondering given closing costs / costs to keep the line open each year and rates what people have found as the best deal.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I found you really have to just call around, sometimes it's a big bank like Citibank, sometimes it's a smaller one like Sandy Springs.

FYI, appraisers and banks are both getting more conservative (I've probably refinanced 5x in the the last 10 years and this is the first time the appraisal came in below what I would have expected).

[Anonymous]

If you're planning on paying off the HELOC in full after each phase, why not wait a little while, save up for Phase 1, then pay for it in cash? Lather, rinse, repeat. Cut out the HELOC altogether (although you could still open one to cover any unexpected overages in the renovations). A more conservative approach, but maybe that's what's called for in this economic climate.

[Anonymous]

I have a really great $40K HELOC through PNC. I think the rate is at about 2.5% right now, and there's a $30 annual fee when I have a $0 balance. I originally used it to pay off my car, with the intent to use it again for a home renovation. It's been $0 for the last couple years and now I'm about to put $25K on it for the home repairs, then pay off $1000/month. After renovations, my house should sell for about $240K more than my mortgage, so I'm not worried about having the balance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you're planning on paying off the HELOC in full after each phase, why not wait a little while, save up for Phase 1, then pay for it in cash? Lather, rinse, repeat. Cut out the HELOC altogether (although you could still open one to cover any unexpected overages in the renovations). A more conservative approach, but maybe that's what's called for in this economic climate.

Unfortunately we are currently bursting out of our home - but love our neighborhood and do not want to move. We have an older colonial 3 bedroom and need a home office given our jobs. We currently have 2 kids in 1 bedroom and a 3rd on the way. We could put the 3 of them together - but I will be really tough.

The other throught is that we have a lot more leverage right now to negotiate with contractors. I know that doing a major renovation today vs 3 years ago is a lot cheaper - I can not predict the future - but I do not think 3 years from now we will be able to get as much for our dollar.