Refinancing your assets to renovate a property is a significant decision that will hopefully improve your standard of living or add substantial value to your property.

Refinancing isn’t as straightforward as you might expect. The type of renovation proposed goes a long way to dictating the loan required. If the wrong loan is chosen, you could be left with a pile of unexpected debt.

Also known as an equity loan, to be eligible, one must be looking to make upgrades to the cosmetic domain of their property.

Installing a new bathroom or kitchen, painting the interior or exterior of the house and other basic construction falls under a line of credit loan.

These renovations, more often than not, do not supersede the costs of structural changes, so homeowners can call on up to 80 per cent of their Loan-to-Value Ratio (LVR).

A line of credit loan is a “revolving door” of credit that combines your home loan, daily spending and savings into one loan.

If you choose a line of credit home loan, it essentially works as a large credit card. You can use it to purchase cars, cosmetic renovations and other investments. However, the interest-only charge starts when the equity is drawn down.

Construction loans are suitable for structural work in your home, for example, if you’re adding a new room or making changes to the roof.

Construction loans give homeowners the opportunity to access larger sums of money, with the amount dependent upon the expected value of the property after renovations are completed.

The advantage of a construction loan is that the interest is calculated on the outstanding amount, not the maximum amount borrowed. This means you have more money available in your kitty, but only pay interest on the money you choose to spend. For this reason, the broker may recommend that you apply for just one loan, but leave some leeway in your borrowed kitty.

When applying for a construction loan, council approval and a fixed price-building contract are required,  MFAA finance broker may be able to assist to reduce the paperwork and stress.

Your lender will appoint an assessor to value your construction at each stage of the renovation. This will happen before you pay your installment. When construction is complete, speak to your mortgage broker as you may be able to refinance back to the loan of your choice.

When looking at both these loans, the broker says consumers can call on other property they own to boost their overall borrowing amount if they wish.

“Depending on the client, they can use other property to get a line of credit and a construction loan. Or they might get a typical construction loan if there is going to be an extensive framework change on the building,” the broker says.