when dealing with a home, can someone please explain the word EQUITY to me in laymans terms?

Answer 1

Equity is the part that YOU own.

Here's an example: You live in a house that is worth $100,000. Your mortgage balance is currently $65,000. That means your equity is $35,000.

Sweat equity means the value of the work you put into the house that increases the value of the house. If you buy bushes and other landscaping for $1000, and do the work to install them yourself, and that increases the house's value to $105,000, you've added $4000 of sweat equity.

Answer 2

Equity is the amount of the house that you actually own, versus what the bank owns.

So If I bought a $200,000 house, putting down $30,000, I'd have 15% equity or $30,000 equity.

Or another way of thinking of it as a formula is:
Equity = Value of the House - All Debt on the House (ie Mortgage)

Answer 3

The speed of sound is approx 700mph - the speed of light is way faster (light takes approx 8 mins to get from the sun to hear and thats millions and millions of equivalent miles - you could get your calculator out and work out how long sound would take but of course, sound doesn't travel in space due to the vacuum). My understanding of the theory of relativity (and it may not be entirely accurate) is that for a body to achieve the speed of light (or "infinite" speed) you would require "infinite" energy (i.e. all the energy in the universe) and therefore would require infinite mass (i.e. all the mass or matter in the universe). As you can imagine, for a layman such as myself, that is why it is easy to agree with Einstein, that speed of light travel is not possible. Of course, noone told also those light photons that go around! The theory also goes on about: what if you were on a train at the back of the carriage, travelling at the speed of light and then moved to the front, you would in fact be travelling at faster than light speeds (which Mr E stated is impossible). Lastly, Mr E bangs on about if you were on the train doing the Speed of Light (S.O.L.) your perception would be different to someone standing by the side of the "train track" - imagine you are looking at a tree; what you are actually seeing is the light (that took 8 mins to arrive from the sun) bounce of the tree to your eyes, which sends the electric signal to your brain which tells you you're seeing a tree. Apply that example to the bystander watching the S.O.L. train - what can you see when the train is moving at the same speed as the light that needs to bounce off the train to reach your eyes? I think this is why Mr E called it the theory of relativity because of this taking into account of the relative perceptions of the train passenger and the track bystander. As I said, this is my understanding and I could be way wrong - I would recommend you read "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawkings, although I've read it 3 times (last time was about 5 years ago) and I still feel like a caveman grappling with a Nintendo DS! Good luck in your journey towards enlightenment - may the force be with you!

Answer 4

Equity is the simple mathematical difference between what you OWE on the subject property vs its appraised market value. The term is somewhat nebulous, since you cannot determine exact value of equity unless you SELL the property, at which time you will know precisely what your equity was. In the interim, it's an educated guess of equity value.

Answer 5

Equity is the difference between the value of the home and the amount you owe. If the home is worth $100,000 and you owe $25,000 then you have $75,000 equity.

Answer 6

Equity is the value of the amount of the home that you yourself own, to put it simply.
For example, if you own a house that is valued at $300,000, but you have a mortgage with a balance of $250,000, then your equity is $50,000.

Answer 7

Home much a home is worth less what is owed on the house.

For example:

$200,000 House Value
$150,000 1st Mortgage
$ 5,000 2nd Mortgage

The above home would have equity of $45,000 ($200,000 - $150,000 - $5,000 = $45,000)

Answer 8

Equity is the difference between what the home is estimated to be worth, and what's owed on the house.

The important thing to remember is that the estimated amount of worth is just that, an estimate. You may not be able to sell for that.

Answer 9

equity means that whatever is the difference between what you paid for the house and what your house is worth now...only thing is its...only money on paper until the house is sold...

Answer 10

Equity is what you have paid on the principle of your home, not the interest.