Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't have one. Don't want one. Not interested in taking out debt against my home.

a line of credit isn't debt unless you spend it. we have one in case of dire emergency - its nice knowing its available if we need it.

Going into debt against my home during a time of dire emergency is scarier to me than the other options (pulling from retirement/Roth principle, credit cards, etc). When I'm in the midst of a crisis, the last thing I want to do is put my house on the line.

You don't understand finances very well, do you? Having a HELOC is just like having a mortgage. If you had a mortgage, you had debt against your home. Was that so scary?

We paid off our mortgage very quickly and don't intend to go back into debt on the house. It wasn't "scary" to have a mortgage, but it was something that was always a "What if we lost a job?" question. So I wouldn't choose to go back into that. Cash in the bank helps me sleep at night.

It's okay if you feel that way, but it's irrational. The benefit of a HELOC is that the rates are fairly low and usually very stable. I'm the one who has a 500k unused HELOC as emergency fund. The benefit of this is that it gives me another option for quickly accessing a large amount of money. Of course I would never take out a HELOC and incur interest expense unless I needed it. But say I found myself in that situation, having to make the tough choice of liquidating an asset during unfavorable markets, or incurring hefty transaction costs selling something in an accelerated time frame - these can be avoided if I simply use the HELOC as a cushion, a low cost temporary gap funding method that allow me to have more time to gain more favorable asset liquidation returns. This is the very definition of an Emergency fund: money you need due to time constraints, not due to lack of net worth. Cash in the bank is what keeps me up at night: that's dead money not making a return.

To the PP who got a HELOC, foreclosed, bought the condos, etc - you have a much bigger tolerance for risk and upheaval than I do. And I guess it paid off. Although it seems unethical to have used essentially "stolen" money to do that transaction, I'm surprised they couldn't go after you on that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't have one. Don't want one. Not interested in taking out debt against my home.

a line of credit isn't debt unless you spend it. we have one in case of dire emergency - its nice knowing its available if we need it.

Going into debt against my home during a time of dire emergency is scarier to me than the other options (pulling from retirement/Roth principle, credit cards, etc). When I'm in the midst of a crisis, the last thing I want to do is put my house on the line.

You don't understand finances very well, do you? Having a HELOC is just like having a mortgage. If you had a mortgage, you had debt against your home. Was that so scary?

We paid off our mortgage very quickly and don't intend to go back into debt on the house. It wasn't "scary" to have a mortgage, but it was something that was always a "What if we lost a job?" question. So I wouldn't choose to go back into that. Cash in the bank helps me sleep at night.

To the PP who got a HELOC, foreclosed, bought the condos, etc - you have a much bigger tolerance for risk and upheaval than I do. And I guess it paid off. Although it seems unethical to have used essentially "stolen" money to do that transaction, I'm surprised they couldn't go after you on that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't have one. Don't want one. Not interested in taking out debt against my home.

a line of credit isn't debt unless you spend it. we have one in case of dire emergency - its nice knowing its available if we need it.

Going into debt against my home during a time of dire emergency is scarier to me than the other options (pulling from retirement/Roth principle, credit cards, etc). When I'm in the midst of a crisis, the last thing I want to do is put my house on the line.

You don't understand finances very well, do you? Having a HELOC is just like having a mortgage. If you had a mortgage, you had debt against your home. Was that so scary?

$100k but it's for a house reno

150$ k

500k. Unused. It's our emergency fund.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't have one. Don't want one. Not interested in taking out debt against my home.

a line of credit isn't debt unless you spend it. we have one in case of dire emergency - its nice knowing its available if we need it.

Going into debt against my home during a time of dire emergency is scarier to me than the other options (pulling from retirement/Roth principle, credit cards, etc). When I'm in the midst of a crisis, the last thing I want to do is put my house on the line.

depends. I was over under on a $600k home in Las Vegas but had a $250k heloc. Couldn't get a refi on my primary, so I took the heloc, bought 6 condo units nearby at 1/4th their value a year prior and walked away from the house. It went into foreclosure a year later, I sold a condo for 250% more than I paid (kept the other 5) and used the funds to buy the house back from the bank. Sure I had the foreclosure hit on my credit but I walked away with what I eventually solid for about $3,5M total. Worth the trade.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't have one. Don't want one. Not interested in taking out debt against my home.

a line of credit isn't debt unless you spend it. we have one in case of dire emergency - its nice knowing its available if we need it.

Going into debt against my home during a time of dire emergency is scarier to me than the other options (pulling from retirement/Roth principle, credit cards, etc). When I'm in the midst of a crisis, the last thing I want to do is put my house on the line.

Anonymous wrote:My HELOC line of credit? I would have to check by putting my PIN number in an ATM machine.

Hope you don't get the HIV virus!

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like most of you have it but don't use it. Do you have it as a "just in case" or do you have something in the short term future that you are going to use it for? I don't have one but maybe I should...

We got the first one to build a garage on our vacation. Got that one paid off, but never closed it out. We got one on our primary house to put an addition on.

My DH owns his own business and it is easier to get HELOCs than it is to refinance (and get money out that way).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like most of you have it but don't use it. Do you have it as a "just in case" or do you have something in the short term future that you are going to use it for? I don't have one but maybe I should...

"just in case" for us. we haven't used for many years.

Same here. $100K, but untouched.

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like most of you have it but don't use it. Do you have it as a "just in case" or do you have something in the short term future that you are going to use it for? I don't have one but maybe I should...

"just in case" for us. we haven't used for many years.

$50K. I could have taken a larger one, but I didn't want to be tempted to borrow too much against my house. It's barely been used and is only for major house repairs and possible college payments in case the 529 and federal loans fall short.

Anonymous wrote:Don't have one. Don't want one. Not interested in taking out debt against my home.

a line of credit isn't debt unless you spend it. we have one in case of dire emergency - its nice knowing its available if we need it.

Don't have one. Don't want one. Not interested in taking out debt against my home.