But the systems aren’t cheap; they can cost anywhere from$3,000 to $15,000.
Think of a heat pump as a sort of air conditioning unit that also provides heat.
In the summer, it does the opposite, functioning basically like a standard air conditioner.
And they’rea lot more efficientthan most traditional types of heating systems.
What is a home equity loan?
Ahome equity loanis essentially a second mortgage you take out against your home.
Let’s say your home is worth $500,000, and your primary mortgage is $300,000.
That means you have $200,000 in equity available.
A bank would usually be willing to lend to you up to 80% of the home’s value.
With a home equity loan, that’s in the form of a lump sum of cash.
What is a HELOC?
HELOCs, however, usually have variable interest rates, which means your monthly payment could change over time.
And there’s also a benefit to not tying up significant amounts of cash you might already have saved.
And if you might’t, suddenly you’ve got yourself in a very tricky situation.
“What, if anything, is being sacrificed for this decision?”
But this might not work for everyone.
“A lot of clients don’t like the delayed gratification,” Casey said.
Paying in cash would also foreclose that opportunity to deduct home equity loan interest from your taxes.
But that comes at a cost.
But this has some of the same downsides as a personal loan: namely, really high interest rates.
“They’re not charitable organizations,” Casey said.
“They’re trying to make money from us.”
If you’re going to go down this road, be careful.
