Home Equity Calculator: See What You Could Get and Who Funds Your State
Unsplash
Enter your home value, mortgage balance, state, and credit range. See a realistic cash range, whether a HELOC or a home equity agreement fits you, and which companies can actually fund your state.
Preferred Sources is a Google setting that lets you choose the sites you want to see more of. Add My Millennial Guide and Google shows you our guides more often when they match your search.
Two minutes here saves you a week of applications. Enter your home, your mortgage balance, your state, and your credit range. You get a realistic cash range, a straight answer on whether a HELOC or a home equity agreement fits you, and only the companies that can actually fund your state.
Home equity calculator
Nothing here is submitted anywhere. The math runs on this page.
$
Type it or slide, from $100,000 to $10 million. Not sure? Use your last appraisal, your county’s assessed value, or a recent sale on your street. A rough guess is fine, because the estimate form runs its own valuation.
$
Everything secured by the home: first mortgage plus any HELOC or second loan. Enter 0 if it is paid off.
The short version: if you can carry a payment and your credit is 600 or higher in most states, a HELOC keeps every dollar of appreciation and almost always costs less. If a payment is the problem, a home equity agreement gives you the cash with nothing due monthly, and you settle from your home’s future value instead.
How this calculator works
Home equity agreement companies typically offer 10 to 20 percent of your home’s value, and they want you to keep at least 25 percent equity after the deal.
So the range you see is 10 to 20 percent of your value, capped so your total borrowing stays under 75 percent of the home, and capped at $600,000, the highest offer in the category.
The HELOC number assumes a lender will go to 80 percent of your home’s value including your first mortgage, with $750,000 as the ceiling, which is where Figure tops out. The monthly payment estimate is interest only at 9 percent, close to the middle of the current range.
State coverage comes from each company’s current funding list, not marketing pages. Credit floors are each company’s published minimum. Both change, so treat the result as a shortlist and let the estimate form give you the final answer.
The ten year cost box uses the rule most agreement companies price with: the share they take is about double the slice of value you receive, and it assumes 3.5 percent a year of appreciation. Our best home equity investment companies roundup compares how each company prices that share.
HELOC or home equity agreement: how to decide
These are the two real choices for most homeowners, and the deciding question is not the rate. It is whether a monthly payment is possible for you.
Home equity agreement
HELOC
Monthly payment
None
Required, interest at least
Credit needed
About 500 to 620, by company
600 or higher in most states
Income documentation
Minimal, often none
Full underwriting
What it costs
A share of future value, about 2x the slice you take
Coverage is the first filter, because a company that cannot fund your state is not an option no matter how good its terms look. The calculator applies this for you. Here is the full picture.
Nobody on this list funds Texas or Mississippi with an agreement right now, so a HELOC is the route there. Our best home equity investment companies roundup compares every agreement company side by side.
Our top pick for no monthly payments
Turn the estimate into a real offer
Hometap could give you up to $600,000 of your equity with no monthly payments. The estimate is free, takes a couple of minutes, and does not affect your credit. Homeowners with credit from 575 and at least 25% equity could qualify, among other criteria, in an eligible state.
With a home equity agreement, most companies offer 10 to 20 percent of your home’s value and want you to keep at least 25 percent equity afterward. With a HELOC, lenders typically let your total borrowing reach 80 percent of the home’s value, so the math is your value times 0.8 minus what you owe. Run your numbers above, then get an exact figure from a free Hometap estimate. It takes a couple of minutes and does not touch your credit.
Which company should I start with?
Hometap if it funds your state and your credit is 575 or better, because it goes to $600,000 and its estimate is fast. Point if Hometap does not cover your state or your credit is under 575, since it reaches 29 states plus D.C. and starts around 500. Figure if you can carry a monthly payment, because a HELOC keeps your appreciation. Two estimates take about ten minutes and none of them affect your credit.
What is the difference between a HELOC and a home equity agreement?
A HELOC is a loan: you draw what you need, pay interest on it monthly, and keep all of your home’s appreciation. A home equity agreement is not a loan: you get a lump sum with no monthly payment and settle by paying a share of your home’s value when you sell, refinance, or reach the end of the term. If a payment is realistic, check Figure’s rate first. If it is not, start with Hometap.
What credit score do I need?
Home equity agreements start around 500 at Point, Splitero, and Nada, 575 at Hometap, 600 at JG Wentworth, and about 620 at Unison. A HELOC from Figure needs 600 or higher in most states. Under 575, Point and Splitero are the ones that will look at you. Our best HELOC lenders guide covers lenders with lower floors than Figure.
Do home equity agreements have monthly payments?
No. There are no monthly payments and no interest. You settle once, when you sell, refinance, or reach the end of the term, which runs 10 years at some companies and up to 30 at others. Hometap runs 10 years and Point runs up to 30, so pull a number from both if the timeline matters to you.
How fast can I get the money?
Figure approves a HELOC in about five minutes and funds in as few as five days. Home equity agreements take longer because an appraisal is involved: JG Wentworth averages about 30 days from application to funding, and Hometap and Point run on a similar few-week timeline. If speed is the whole point, Figure is the one to check first.
Does checking my estimate hurt my credit?
No. Every company in this calculator uses a soft credit inquiry for the estimate. A hard inquiry only happens if you move forward with a full application and approve it. So there is no cost to pulling two or three numbers: Hometap, Point, and Figure are all free to check.
JG Wentworth calls it a Home Equity Cashout. Is that the same thing?
Yes. A Home Equity Cashout is a home equity agreement with a different name: a lump sum today for a share of your home’s future value, no monthly payments, and settlement within 10 years. JG Wentworth takes credit from 600 with no income requirement in 16 states plus D.C. Get a JG Wentworth estimate if you are in one of its states, and read our JG Wentworth review for the full cost math.
What happens if my home loses value?
With a HELOC, nothing changes: you owe what you drew plus interest. With an agreement, the company’s share is worth less, and at Unison the company shares in the loss, so you can owe back less than you received. If downside protection matters to you, get a Unison estimate and compare its share against Hometap‘s.
Why does my state matter so much?
Each agreement company is licensed in a different list of states, and none of them cover the whole country. Point reaches 29 states plus D.C., Hometap 27, and the rest fewer. If no agreement company funds your state, a HELOC is the route, and Figure covers 48 states plus D.C., every state except Hawaii and New York. The calculator above already filtered the list for your state.
Where to go next
The calculator gives you a range. Only an estimate from the company gives you a real offer, and each one is free and a soft pull. These are the three to start with.
Our top pick
Up to $600,000 with no monthly payments. Credit from 575, 27 states.
If a payment is possible, price the cheaper route with our best HELOC lenders guide. If speed matters most, see which options fund quickest in our guide to getting a home equity loan fast.
Advertiser disclosure: My Millennial Guide may earn a commission when you sign up through our links, at no additional cost to you. All opinions are our own. Calculator results are estimates, not offers.
Brian Meiggs founded My Millennial Guide and has spent over a decade writing about money. He tries every app and product before it goes on the site. No fluff, no guesswork. Named to the Northern Virginia 40 Under 40 earlier this year, and featured in WSJ, Business Insider, and Entrepreneur. Off the clock: chess, the gym, a quiet night in.
Hometap: up to $600,000 of your equity with no monthly payments. Free estimate, no credit impact.Get my Hometap estimate
Before you go
Free estimate, no credit impact
See your real number first
Hometap could give you up to $600,000 of your home's equity with no monthly payments. Checking your estimate takes a couple of minutes and does not affect your credit.
