Article: Home-equity loans going through the roof // The secret - willing lenders, borrowers

Home prices here may be flattening, the commercial real estate market may be going down the drain and banks may be writing off loans by the bushel, but one form of real estate lending is still going like gangbusters - home-equity loans.

The reasons aren't hard to find.

From the banks' point of view, home-equity loans have almost everything - they rarely default, and if they do they are fully secured; they carry a high-ish rate of interest; and in many cases that rate can be adjusted readily, so the lender has little risk of being left with a below-market loan if prevailing rates rise.

From the homeowners' point of view, home-equity loans offer easy credit, usually at a better rate ...

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