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Home » Home Equity Calculator: How Much Can I Borrow?

Home Equity Calculator: How Much Can I Borrow?

If you’ve owned your home for a while, you might be curious how much home equity you have.

And perhaps more importantly, if you can tap into that equity and get some cash to pay for expenses.

This is one perk of homeownership. The ability to borrow from your available equity, though it is still a loan, and that means monthly payments and a qualification process.

This home equity calculator will help you quickly determine how much equity you have based on your outstanding loan amount(s) and current property value.

It will also show you different options, whether it’s a cash-out refinance or second mortgage, to calculate how much you can borrow today.

Home Equity Calculator

See how much home equity you have and how much you might be able to borrow via a second mortgage like a HELOC or a home equity loan, or through a cash-out refinance — based on your home’s value, your remaining balance, and typical lender loan-to-value (LTV) limits.

Your Home & Mortgage

$
Use a recent appraisal, AVM estimate, or comparable sales — not your original purchase price
$
Your current first mortgage payoff amount
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Used to calculate your combined loan-to-value (CLTV)

Property Type & Occupancy

💡 These three factors change the maximum CLTV lenders will allow more than most people realize — a rental property or a 2-4 unit building can cap you 10-20 points lower than a single-family primary residence, even with identical equity.

What Are You Looking To Do?

A revolving line of credit with a variable rate — draw funds as needed and pay interest only on what you use, similar to a credit card secured by your home.
💡 Tip: some loan officers steer borrowers toward a full cash-out refinance instead of a second mortgage (HELOC or home equity loan) because a refinance replaces your entire loan — a bigger loan amount typically means a bigger commission. That’s not automatically the wrong move, but if you already have a low rate on your first mortgage, refinancing resets your entire balance to today’s rate, not just the new cash you’re pulling out. A second mortgage leaves your low-rate first mortgage untouched. Compare the total cost of both options, not just which one gets recommended first.
⏳ Heads up: many lenders require you to have owned the home for at least 6–12 months before approving a HELOC, home equity loan, or cash-out refinance — even if you already have plenty of equity on paper. If you bought recently, ask your lender about their specific seasoning requirement.
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Pre-filled with a typical limit for this option — edit it if your lender quoted something different
💡 Texas caps all home equity borrowing at 80% CLTV, no exceptions, regardless of loan type or lender. And if your first mortgage was itself a cash-out (Section 50(a)(6)) loan, Texas generally only allows one home equity loan per homestead at a time — check the box above if that applies to you.

Note: closing costs, origination fees, and other charges typically come out of this amount, so your actual cash in hand may be lower.

How Your Home’s Value Breaks Down

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Home Value

Itemized Estimate

Disclaimer: This calculator is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. It does not guarantee loan approval, a specific interest rate, or a specific borrowing limit. The LTV/CLTV limits shown as defaults reflect general national benchmarks by occupancy and unit count as of this writing (conventional cash-out figures follow Fannie Mae’s published matrix; HELOC and home equity loan figures reflect common market ranges, which vary more by lender than cash-out refinancing does) — actual limits vary further by lender, credit score, debt-to-income ratio, rental history, and state law, and can be lower or higher than shown here. Manufactured home figures are a rough placeholder only; many lenders don’t offer home equity products on manufactured homes at all, and availability should be confirmed directly with a lender before assuming any number here is achievable. Your home’s actual value can only be confirmed through a professional appraisal or the lender’s chosen valuation method; online estimates and comparable sales are a starting point, not a guarantee. Approval for any HELOC, home equity loan, cash-out refinance, or second mortgage also depends on credit, income, and debt-to-income ratio, none of which are evaluated here — for a DTI check, try our DTI Calculator. The Texas-specific guidance reflects general provisions of Article XVI, Section 50(a)(6) of the Texas Constitution as of this writing, including the 80% CLTV cap on homestead properties, the general one-home-equity-loan-per-homestead-at-a-time rule, and the general incompatibility of FHA/VA financing with a Section 50(a)(6) transaction — this cap applies to primary-residence homesteads specifically, not second homes or investment properties. Texas home equity law is unusually detailed and fact-specific (loan history, timing, and exact transaction structure all matter), so this is not a substitute for review by a Texas-licensed title company or attorney. Consult a licensed mortgage professional for your exact borrowing capacity.

How to Use the Home Equity Calculator

To begin, simply enter your current home value (you can use a Zestimate or dig for some recently closed sales comps in your neighborhood on Redfin or Zillow).

This is essentially an estimate of what your home is worth today, though it likely won't match what a lender comes up with.

You might want to lowball this value to set realistic expectations, especially if home prices are currently flat or expected to decline in the near future

Next enter the remaining loan balance on your first mortgage assuming you have a mortgage. And do the same for any existing second mortgages.

The following section covers the occupancy (primary, second home, or investment) and property type (single-family home, condo, multi-unit).

[Searching for a home loan? See your options with dozens of lenders fast.]

These details matter because the more you’ve got going on, the less lenders will let you borrow.

As a rule of thumb, a primary single-family home will enjoy the highest borrowing limits.

Conversely, a 4-unit investment property might cap what you borrow at a very low LTV, such as 70% or less.

Also note that the home equity calculator will gray out any combinations that aren’t acceptable, such as a cash-out refinance on a second home or investment property that has FHA or VA financing.

Once you enter in all these key property details, you’ll see what’s available from the “Borrowing Purpose” drop-down list.

And you’ll see the maximum LTV/CLTV limit, which is an estimation of how much you can borrow based on the details provided.

Note that these limits can vary by lender and also by things like your credit score. Again, aim for a higher credit score to maximize how much you can borrow.

Lastly, if the property is located in the state of Texas, special rules apply and you’re limited to a maximum LTV/CLTV of 80%.

In addition, you can only have one home equity loan per homestead in Texas, so if the first loan was a cash-out refinance, you can’t get a HELOC or home equity loan behind it.

How Much Home Equity Can I Borrow?

Now you might be wondering how much you can borrow against your home.

As noted, this is a tappable equity calculator that determines your available home equity to see if you can pull cash out of your property. And how much.

Tappable equity does not equal total equity.

Lenders these days typically want a buffer between what you owe and what your property is worth.

This means your current home value multiplied by the maximum CLTV allowed minus any outstanding loans.

So if your home is currently valued at $500,000 and you have a $400,000 outstanding loan amount, they might let you borrow an additional $50,000.

That would put your loan-to-value ratio (LTV) at 90%, leaving a 10% cushion in case you need to sell the property. Or if home values happen to drift lower.

The only option to borrow up to 100% combined loan-to-value ratio (CLTV) tends to be the VA cash out refinance.

But even then, lender overlays may limit this amount of borrowing to 90% or less depending on their risk appetite.

In general, you should expect a buffer when attempting to tap equity, so aim a little lower between what you owe and what the property is worth.

Also note that an appraisal will be conducted and the property might be worth less than you think it is.

So using our prior example, pretend the lender says the property is only worth $475,000.

Now you can only borrow $27,500, which combined with your $400,000 first mortgage, is 90% of $475,000.

On top of that, there might be closing costs that further eat into this total amount you can borrow.

For example, there might be a loan origination fee and other closing costs, which are often just pulled from the cash out funds.

So you might actually only walk away with $25,000 or less when all is said and done.

Colin Robertson
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