Lending Tree now offering online home equity calculator

Do we really need another Zillow Zestimate-style online gizmo to tell us what a computer model says our homes are worth? Probably not. There already are scads of websites that offer some type of automated home valuation feature.

So why would a well-known company venture out with a version so late in the game? Lending Tree, the popular mortgage site, which debuted its own valuation model last month, can tell you why: Because none of the others calculate your home equity.

Is that important? Maybe, maybe not.

Your equity is your home’s worth minus the debt against it. You can tap some of it to turn into spendable cash, whether for home improvements, kids’ college tuition or some other worthy purpose.

This is where Lending Tree believes it has an edge: Once you indicate that you’d like to check rates and terms on home equity lines of credit or loans, you’ll get preliminary offers from “up to five” lenders from the company’s network of 40 banks, said Charles Battle, Lending Tree’s director of product management.

If you’re not ready to move ahead but instead prefer to track your equity, credit and mortgage situation on a regular basis, you can sign up for a more comprehensive “My Lending Tree” service, for which there is no charge. It provides monthly updates plus periodic “alerts” on your home equity movement. An alert comes when there’s “an actionable opportunity” for you to tap into your equity on favorable terms, based on “real-time market data,” changes in your credit files and equity levels, according to the website.

There’s no requirement that you take any action.

“You can ignore it,” says Battle, but it’s designed “to tell you when you can save money.”