Do You Know Your Home’s Value?

 

1. Get rid of your private mortgage insurance (PMI). If you don’t put down at least 20% for your mortgage, you’ll have PMI attached to your loan. After a certain time, though, you can get this removed, but that starts with knowing your home’s value. This can save you up to $90 per month. 

 

2. Make sure your homeowners insurance covers the full value of your property. If you bought your home a long time ago and its value has increased, you’ll want to know this so you can adjust your coverage. 

 

3. Lower your property taxes. In this type of market, you won’t find many homes that are depreciating, but that doesn’t mean this won’t change in the future. If your home’s value goes down, you can save on your property taxes. 

4. Update your information on online syndicates. Many websites, such as Zillow, give you the ability to update your own home’s listed value on the site. This is important because Zillow’s home value algorithm doesn’t take all necessary information into account. This means that what buyers see might not be entirely accurate. You, of course, want your home to be represented in an accurate (and favorable) light.

 

5. Equity for a HELOC (home equity line of credit). If you’re getting a HELOC, you need to know your home’s value so you can determine what you can pull out of it to make home improvements or invest in real estate. 

 

6. It’s time to sell. If you’re selling your home, you obviously need to know how much it’s worth. Beware of online valuation tools, though, because they used fixed algorithms that encompass entire ZIP codes. They’re useful if you want a ballpark idea of what your home is worth, but after you have that number, go ahead and call a real estate agent so they can calculate an exact price.