How much equity do I have?

To calculate your home's equity you will need two things first: the value of your home and how much you still owe on your mortgage. In order to find out an accurate estimate of your home's value there are a couple of ways to do this.

1) If you're looking for a free estimate there are numerous resources available online. Simply do a keyword search for "find my home's value" and you will see several of the top real estate websites that are almost guaranteed to have your home's current market value listed. If you are looking for a more exacting estimate, the other option is to hire a real estate agent or other broker to inspect your home and come up with a thorough estimate.
2) Once you have your home's estimated value, you will want to examine your mortgage to determine the exact amount left that you owe. This information can easily be attained by calling your bank or financial institution that provided your home loan.
Now that you have these two items, it is simply a matter of taking the current estimated value of your home and subtracting the amount you still owe on your mortgage. The remainder is what is referred to as your home's equity or your unencumbered interest. Home equity is also referred to as real property value. Home equity is important because it may serve as collateral for a home equity loan or a home equity line of credit and these are the two most popular reasons for calculating equity.
I hope these steps were helpful and you are able to find out your home's equity!

Calculating your home equity is very easy. First take the value of your home and then subtract how much you owe on your mortgage. The difference is the equity you have in your home, or how much of it you own.
 

Finding out the value of your home will be the most difficult part. To get an authoritative number, a home appraisal will be required, which could cost several hundred dollars. You could also use the value from your annual county tax assessment, or you could use one of the home value estimators available online. Usually the tax assessment will undervalue your home, while the online assessment is just an average of recent sales in your area.

In many cases home equity will be expressed as a percentage, to calculate your percentage simply take the difference from above and divide it by the value of your home. The resulting number is the percentage of your home that you own, which is a figure often used in many different financial calculations.

Building equity is the real goal of any homeowners with a mortgage. Over time you are making payments that gradually grow your equity in your home. At the end of a mortgage when you have fully repaid the loan and interest, you have 100% equity in your home and own it free and clear.

Your home equity is often used when calculating home equity loans, lines of credit or other financial products that will use your home as collateral. Lenders will take the amount of equity you have, then modify if based on your credit score to determine your maximum borrowing limits. The higher your equity, the more a lender will be willing to lend or extend to you.