{"id":50910,"date":"2025-07-14T04:19:43","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T11:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=50910"},"modified":"2025-07-15T04:52:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T11:52:05","slug":"pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are the Pros and Cons of a Home Equity Loan?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>High interest rates and rising home prices have pushed many homeowners to rethink selling, but not to sit still. As home values grow, more borrowers are unlocking their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/what-is-home-equity\/\">equity<\/a> to fund major expenses. If you&#8217;re considering this option, it&#8217;s important to weigh the pros and cons of a home equity loan.<\/p>\n<p>When you need extra cash for a big expense, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/what-upgrades-increase-home-value\/\">home improvements<\/a>, college tuition, or debt consolidation, tapping into your home\u2019s equity might be a good solution. In this post, we\u2019ll break down the pros and cons of home equity loans to help you decide if it\u2019s the right choice for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"geo-cta widget-cta widget-cta--content     widget-cta--dark widget-cta--dark-blue-gradient\">\n    <div class=\"widget-element--content\">\n        <div class=\"widget-element--content-header\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"homelight logo\" class=\"widget-element--logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/ccprototypev5\/images\/logo-small-cta.png\" width=\"106\" height=\"25\" \/>\n        <\/div>\n        \n                <h3 class=\"cta-headline widget--bold\">A quick (and free) way to check your home value<\/h3>\n                        <p class=\"p1\">Get a preliminary home value estimate in as little as two minutes. Our tool uses information from multiple sources to give you a range of value based on current market trends.<\/p>\n        \n                <div class=\"widget-element--buttons\">\n            <a data-type=\"In Content CTA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/simple-home-value\/quiz?#\/qaas=0\/\" class=\"cta-click-track widget-element--button\">Check now<\/a>\n        <\/div>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div id=\"section--1\" data-toc-header=\"What is a home equity loan?\" data-toc-type=\"head\"><\/div>\n<h2>What is a home equity loan?<\/h2>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-how-do-i-get-a-home-equity-loan\/\">home equity loan<\/a> is a type of loan that lets you borrow money using your home as collateral. Often referred to as a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-what-is-a-second-mortgage\/\">second mortgage<\/a>,\u201d it allows you to access a lump sum of cash based on the equity you\u2019ve built in your property.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-heloc-vs-home-equity-loan\/\">home equity line of credit<\/a> (HELOC), which functions more like a credit card, a home equity loan comes with a fixed interest rate and a consistent monthly payment schedule over a set term. This predictability can make it an appealing option for large, one-time expenses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thinking of tapping your home\u2019s value for cash? Discover the pros and cons of home equity loan options to see if it\u2019s the right move for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":50911,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[629,632],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-financing","category-mortgage-loans"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What Are the Pros and Cons of a Home Equity Loan?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Thinking of tapping your home\u2019s value for cash? Discover the pros and cons of home equity loan options to see if it\u2019s the right move for you.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Are the Pros and Cons of a Home Equity Loan?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thinking of tapping your home\u2019s value for cash? Discover the pros and cons of home equity loan options to see if it\u2019s the right move for you.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HomeLight Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-14T11:19:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-15T11:52:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/hl-blog.homelight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan_.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"563\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Richard Haddad\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gohomelight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gohomelight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Richard Haddad\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Are the Pros and Cons of a Home Equity Loan?","description":"Thinking of tapping your home\u2019s value for cash? Discover the pros and cons of home equity loan options to see if it\u2019s the right move for you.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What Are the Pros and Cons of a Home Equity Loan?","og_description":"Thinking of tapping your home\u2019s value for cash? Discover the pros and cons of home equity loan options to see if it\u2019s the right move for you.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan\/","og_site_name":"HomeLight Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/","article_published_time":"2025-07-14T11:19:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-15T11:52:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":563,"url":"https:\/\/hl-blog.homelight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan_.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Richard Haddad","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@gohomelight","twitter_site":"@gohomelight","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Richard Haddad","Est. reading time":"9 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan\/"},"author":{"name":"Richard Haddad","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7d7103b037dcb5e844946ec92b02a128"},"headline":"What Are the Pros and Cons of a Home Equity Loan?","datePublished":"2025-07-14T11:19:43+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-15T11:52:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan\/"},"wordCount":231,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan_.png","articleSection":["Financing","Mortgages &amp; Loans"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan\/","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan\/","name":"What Are the Pros and Cons of a Home Equity Loan?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan_.png","datePublished":"2025-07-14T11:19:43+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-15T11:52:05+00:00","description":"Thinking of tapping your home\u2019s value for cash? Discover the pros and cons of home equity loan options to see if it\u2019s the right move for you.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan_.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan_.png","width":1000,"height":563,"caption":"Source: (lmphot\/ Depositphotos)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/pros-and-cons-of-home-equity-loan\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What Are the Pros and Cons of a Home Equity Loan?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/","name":"HomeLight Blog","description":"Real Estate Advice from America&#039;s Top Agents","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"HomeLight","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/logo-hr-color.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/logo-hr-color.png","width":1348,"height":262,"caption":"HomeLight"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/","https:\/\/x.com\/gohomelight","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/homelight\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCimugR9XF17-OZ7B9fNnxWw","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/HomeLight"],"description":"Everything you need to know to sell your house faster and for more money. Articles, guides, and advice from top agents all over the U.S.","email":"support@homelight.com","telephone":"(888) 688-0350","legalName":"HomeLight","foundingDate":"2012-01-01","numberOfEmployees":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","minValue":"201","maxValue":"500"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7d7103b037dcb5e844946ec92b02a128","name":"Richard Haddad","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fbb89d16f303ea1de47fd69852400830b4a663ea6dbb4eecafbea5c1403da721?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fbb89d16f303ea1de47fd69852400830b4a663ea6dbb4eecafbea5c1403da721?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Richard Haddad"},"description":"Richard Haddad is the executive editor of HomeLight.com. He works with an experienced content team that oversees the company\u2019s blog featuring in-depth articles about the home buying and selling process, homeownership news, home care and design tips, and related real estate trends. Previously, he served as an editor and content producer for World Company, Gannett, and Western News &amp; Info, where he also served as news director and director of internet operations.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.homelight.com","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/richard-w-haddad"],"url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/author\/richardhaddad\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/298"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}