While you've been focused on everything else life throws at you, your property has been working behind the scenes. Most people build equity as they pay down their mortgage and property values rise.

At its most basic, “an appraisal is an opinion of value for a home,” said Matthew Sestito, a Philadelphia-based appraiser who works throughout the five-county area for the national company Velox ...

AVM stands for automated valuation model, a computer algorithm that uses available data to estimate a home’s value. Different AVMs might provide different estimates for the exact same home, depending ...

Whether you’re eyeing a home renovation, consolidating debt, or starting a business, borrowing against your home equity can be a viable option. But before you get ready to cash in, there is one step ...