Using LendingTree's New Home Valuation Tool to Make Smarter Rent/Sell Decisions
Sometimes you outgrow your current dwellings, and the obvious choice is to sell and buy something more suitable. But selling might not be the right option for you. Sometimes renting out your current home is a better choice. Consider all of the different relevant factors before you make this major financial decision. Knowing the value of your home can help you make this important choice successfully, and that's why LendingTree has created its new Home Valuation Tool.
To give members a better user experience, LendingTree created an intuitive intelligence platform with several smart tools, helping to promote healthier and more educated financial decisions. Its latest endeavor is the Home Valuation Tool, which has been met with a lot of positive sentiment. Here’s a closer look at what the tool is all about, what it can do for homeowners, and how to use the home valuation tool to your advantage.
What is the Home Valuation Tool?
Whether you’re deliberating about selling your property or renting it out, wondering whether to sell your current home to buy another property with a new mortgage or perhaps considering refinancing versus renting out with a higher mortgage structure, one thing is vital to know. The value of your home will make a tremendous difference in the decision-making process of whether to buy, rent or sell a property.
Top Features to Take Advantage of With the Home Valuation Tool
The My LendingTree intelligence platform has been developed to give homeowners a fair chance at understanding and maximizing the opportunities available to them, and this home valuation tool is just another step in that direction. Some of the top features (and we'll elaborate more upon each one below) that are bundled into this tool are:
- The home equity check up
- Savings Brain
- Free credit scores, analysis, and reports
- Credit card recommendations
- Mobile application
How the Home Valuation Tool Works
In layman's terms, the tool uses real-time market data and other third-party information to create a realistic picture of the home’s current value and projected value over time. The home valuation tool also includes current mortgage information to give homeowners a better idea of home equity and whether or not there is an opportunity to maximize their financial situation using their home equity.
How You Can Gain From Using LendingTree’s Home Valuation Tool
There are a lot of ways a borrower or homeowner can gain from the home valuation tool. Some of the most significant ways include:
- Home equity
By analyzing real-time data, the My LendingTree tool can show homeowners any untapped equity that they’re sitting on. This equity can then used loans to pay for home improvements that will increase the value of their home, further education, debt consolidation, or more.
- Savings Brain
The Savings Brain keeps tabs on your financial status. It analyzes loan categories, spending patterns, expenses, and more in order to suggest possible areas for savings. Utilizing the data at hand, this feature makes realistic and applicable recommendations for users on how they can save more money or live, more financially sound.
- Alerts via the Savings Brain
My LendingTree alerts are an advantageous financial tool. The system uses the Savings Brain to monitor a user’s credit health and makes a note of any changes in status, credit score, or history. The platform then informs you via alerts when an opportunity for savings arises so you can take advantage of the situation, saving you money.
- Credit checks
Credit monitoring and checks are important if you want to stay on top of your financial situation. The home valuation tool keeps tabs on your credit score and allows you to check on its status periodically, for free. Even more useful though, is the credit analysis feature. This looks at each of the various parts that combine to make up your credit score, analyzes these components, and breaks down why and how each area is affecting your current score. This type of information is valuable if you’re trying to improve your credit score or are looking to make a financial move such as taking out a loan or making a significant purchase in the near future.
- Credit card recommender
The home valuation credit card recommender analyzes your current financial situation and makes suggestions based on this information as to which are the right credit cards for you. For example, if you have a lot of debt, it’s best to avoid taking out multiple credit cards with high APRs because the interest and spread out debt will only damage your credit score further. Additionally, the tool will make recommendations based on the likelihood of getting approved, saving you the time and frustration of being rejected.
- Mobile application
With an ever-growing need to be mobile, our society has become somewhat dependent on our mobile devices and smart gadgets. In response to this growing need, My LendingTree also launched its intelligence platform via a mobile application. The tool is faster and easier to use with mobile capabilities, allowing homeowners access to these valuable bits of information anytime they need or want with the tap of a button. The home valuation tool is available for on iOS and Android.
Renting Out Versus Buying: Not So Simple
The home valuation tool gives homeowners a method for systematically discovering and understanding the value of their homes. This is a detail to consider when deliberating over whether or not to sell or rent out your current abode. Of course, there are other factors to take into consideration as well. For example:
- What does the current real estate market look like? Is it a good time to sell? Will you make a profit? Will your home produce a positive cash flow from selling?
- Where are you looking to buy? How much will the new house cost? Will you require a new mortgage? Will selling your current home cover the monthly mortgage costs?
- What are taxes like in your area? What about federal taxes? Can you use the rental as a tax deduction?
- Are you moving permanently or will you be back?
- What is the current condition of your home? Is it sellable for a good price or are there major repairs that need to be completed before it is suitable for selling?
Additionally, you should consider whether or not you can manage the rental agreement. This requires maintenance availability, being in touch with tenants, and handling the role of landlord.
Once you have all these details sorted out, and questions answered, you can make your own decision based on real data and intelligent calculations. Come to the right decision about renting or selling your home with the smart financial health tools available from My LendingTree.
To learn more about what Lendingtree has to offer, check out LendingTree’s review.