 TITLE: Should I Use Home Equity for a Financial Emergency? CONTENT: How You Can Access Your Home's Equity\n-------------------------------------\nHome equity is the estimated market value of your home minus the balance remaining on your mortgage. So if the current market value of your home is $350,000 and you still owe $250,000 on the loan, you have $100,000 in equity ($350,000 - $250,000).\nYou build equity in two ways. First is by making your mortgage payments, which decreases your remaining loan balance month by month. The second way is when your home increases in value due to changing market forces. You may have bought your home 10 years ago when it was valued at $350,000, but today it would sell for $400,000. That additional $50,000 is added to your equity.\nOf course, that money isn't in your bank account—it's attached to the property until you take action. There are a number of ways to extract those funds. When a crisis hits, using one of these available methods to do so can spare you from disaster. END