Reach the equity in your home through a HELOC without touching the low mortgage rate you locked in years ago. One application. I place it, and we look at the options together.
Move the sliders or type your numbers. Results update as you go. Nothing you enter is saved or sent anywhere — slide, type, close the tab.
What would it sell for today? Not what you paid, not the assessor's figure.
Everything still owed against the house — the first mortgage plus any existing line or second loan.
This home is my…
You Could Reach Up To
$167,500
Based on 85% combined loan-to-value for a primary residence
Explore any rate — yours is set at placement, not by a webpage.
Slide to the rate you want to test. This page doesn't suggest one.
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Some of the programs I place go higher than the line shown here. Higher combined loan-to-value is available. Whether you should use it is a different question: my default is to keep as much equity in the house as we can, and we go through the pros and cons when the strategy goes on paper.
Start a conversationNo credit impact · No obligation
Estimates only, computed from the numbers and the rate you entered. Your actual rate, terms, and reachable amount are determined at placement for your specific file and property. Second-home and investment-property ceilings change periodically by program; we confirm your actual maximum on the strategy call.
Three very different situations. One thing in common: every one of them kept the first mortgage they were smart enough to lock in, and used the equity sitting behind it. Which one sounds like your house?
These are illustrative examples based on real Colorado funding scenarios.
They loved the block, not the layout. A HELOC funded a garage-to-ADU conversion and cleared the credit-card balance that had crept up during the design phase. Today the ADU pays rent every month — and the first mortgage they locked in years ago never felt a thing.
The down payment on a Colorado Springs rental was sitting inside their own walls the whole time. A HELOC unlocked it, the rental cash-flows, and the original mortgage — the one with the rate everyone envies — stayed exactly where it was.
Sarah needed to buy out her ex’s share of the house and keep her kids in their rooms. On her income alone — with child support properly counted — the HELOC funded quickly, and the house stayed hers. (Full story on our divorce real estate page.)
Yes — that's the entire design. A HELOC is a second lien. Your first mortgage doesn't get refinanced, re-priced, or touched.
For most homeowners it's not the decision — it's not knowing what the options actually look like. Checking costs nothing and doesn't touch your credit.
Before any conversation about what equity could do, you should know what’s actually reachable. Two minutes on the calculator answers it.
With the programs I place, the cost to open is small. Compare that with what a full refinance would cost you — in fees and in the rate you’d give up.
Most owners are working from a number that's years old. Valuation is step two of my process — you'll know before you decide anything.
Renovation, consolidation, an investment property, a business. The homeowners who win with equity are the ones who can answer that question in one sentence. If you can, you're ready.
Structures vary by program — some lines revolve as needs arrive, others fund fully up front with redraw ability — but the destination is the same. Here's where the money actually goes:
The improvement path — and the one use that can keep interest tax-deductible; see the FAQs.
Card balances re-secured at home-loan pricing.
See our mountain markets.
Draw per semester, not per decade.
Funded on your timeline, not a bank's.
A first mortgage priced in an era that isn't coming back — and equity that grew while you weren't looking. The question isn't whether you have it. It's what it should be doing.
A short call, no credit pull, no obligation. What you have, what you want to do.
Value, equity position, and how much of it a lender will advance.
A video call. Your goal, matched to the right structure.
One application; I handle the placement across my lender network.
Clean, complete files move quickly. Primary-residence lines include a short federally required cancellation window before funds release — built into that timeline, not added to it.
| HELOC | Home Equity Loan | Cash-Out Refinance | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Touches your first mortgage? | No | No | Yes — replaces it entirely |
| How you receive funds | Revolving line, draw as needed | Lump sum | Lump sum |
| Interest charged on | Only what you draw | Full amount from day one | Full new mortgage |
| Rate structure | Variable (tied to prime) or fixed-conversion options | Typically fixed | New first-mortgage rate — today's market, not yours |
| Speed | Days | Days to weeks | Typically the slowest — full mortgage process |
| Cash due at signing | Low on the programs I place | Varies | Typically thousands in costs |
| Reusable? | Yes — repay and redraw during the draw period | No | No |
| Fits | Flexible or staged needs | One known fixed amount | Only when replacing the first mortgage actually improves it |
Here's the plain logic: if the rate on your first mortgage is lower than what a comparable new mortgage costs today — and for most Colorado homeowners it is — replacing that mortgage to reach your equity means paying for the money twice. A second lien reaches the equity and leaves the first mortgage alone. That's why, for most situations I see, the HELOC wins.
You get a choice most borrowers never hear about: fixed or variable. Fixed locks your payment from day one. Variable follows the market — both directions. Either way, your first mortgage never enters the transaction.
A HELOC is a credit line secured by your home — a second lien that sits behind your existing mortgage without disturbing it. Program structures vary more than most borrowers expect: some lines revolve, letting you draw as needs arrive; others fund fully at signing with the ability to redraw as you repay. Draw periods, repayment schedules, and interest-only availability all differ by program too. None of that is a problem — it's the menu. Matching the structure to what you're actually funding is the placement work, and it happens before the application, not after.
The rate, plainly: HELOCs come in two forms — fixed and variable, both available outright. A fixed line locks your payment certainty in from the start. A variable line is priced as an index plus a margin: the index (usually the prime rate) moves with the Federal Reserve, in both directions, while your margin is set at placement and stays put. Which form fits depends on how long you'll carry the balance and what payment certainty is worth to your plan — that's part of the strategy call, not something you should have to guess at.
Terms run from ten to thirty years across my lender network, each with its own draw-period rules; longer terms trade speed of payoff for lower payments. The right term follows from what you're funding — a staged renovation and a one-time buyout shouldn't be on the same clock.
One more mechanic worth knowing: on a primary residence, federal law gives you a three-business-day window to cancel after you sign — funds release when it ends. It’s a consumer protection, and it’s already inside the funding timeline. (Second homes and investment properties skip this window; see the FAQs.) Calculate your equity.
640 minimum for the programs I place; 680+ opens stronger terms and higher-CLTV options. Checking your options never touches your score.
Combined loans up to a higher share of your home's value (CLTV) than most banks allow on a primary residence. The calculator shows your reachable range in two minutes.
Debt-to-income limits on many programs run higher than a bank’s, and rental or support income often counts when it’s documented right. This is where placement matters.
Proof of income, hazard insurance (lender-required — see below), and a valuation. Most files need less paperwork than a refinance, which is part of why they move faster. And one thing said plainly, because it belongs in writing: like your first mortgage, a HELOC is secured by your home — which is why every file I place starts with a plan, not a maybe.
Every variable HELOC quote is an index plus a margin. The index — almost always the prime rate — is the same for everyone and moves with Federal Reserve policy. The margin is personal: it’s priced from your credit profile, your equity cushion, and the property itself, and it’s set for the life of the line. Fixed-rate programs price the same ingredients into one locked number instead. Either way, you can’t control the Fed — but you can absolutely control which lender’s pricing you end up with, and that’s a placement decision, not a luck decision.
Stronger credit and a thicker equity cushion earn tighter margins — that’s the plain mechanics of it, and it’s why the same house on paper can be quoted very different margins depending on whose desk the file lands on. It’s also why I place your file across a lender network instead of sending you to whichever bank has the nearest branch.
Waiting for a perfect rate environment usually costs more than it saves: a variable line opened today rides every future Fed move automatically — cuts and raises both — a fixed line locks its number and never looks back, and either way the project you postponed gets more expensive on its own schedule. Position beats prediction.
Every HELOC requires hazard coverage, and Colorado is a hard market: hail drives premiums, wildfire has made whole foothills areas hard to place, and a policy that hasn't been re-quoted in a few years is usually priced for a market that no longer exists. Our insurance partner compares your policy in one pass.
A first conversation about what's going on and what the equity could do. No presentation, no numbers yet. No change to your first mortgage.
HELOC terms, limits, and eligibility vary by program and property. Nothing on this page is a commitment to lend.
Colorado HELOCs placed by Bobby Friel, licensed mortgage broker and licensed real estate broker, based in Edwards and serving homeowners and buyers across Colorado. Insurance through our insurance partner. 42 five-star Google reviews. (720) 799-2202 · info@cohomeequity.com.
Bobby Friel · NMLS# 332039 · Friel-Good Mortgage, Inc. · NMLS# 1901977 · Edwards, Colorado
