What happened to era when your home was considered your nest egg to be used only for life-threatening or life-changing events like paying for a child’s wedding or for a medical emergency? And worst of all, many new homeowners are using their home’s equity as another source for financing new debts.

Think twice before using home equity to pay off credit card balances. If you’re already overspending on your credit cards now, what makes you think anything will be different after you pay them off with a loan or line of credit? Many people just wind up deeper in debt or facing bankruptcy because they couldn’t resist charging their cards up again.

Keep this in mind before tapping your home’s equity - Your loan or HELOC is secured by your home. Default on loan and you could lose your house, even if you declare bankruptcy!

The best use for home equity is to make improvements that add value to your home. Remodeling a kitchen or bathroom, adding an extra room or creating a master suite are just a few of “hot” improvements that can really pay off when it comes time for you to sell.

If your home truly is your nest egg, be smart about how use its equity. Make sure that it fits in with your overall financial plan and golas. Otherwise, you could be left without a nest and just egg!

Despite fact that property is in a hotel setting, a condo-hotel is considered a private residence, and owners are eligible for mortgage interest deductions and all other tax advantages that come from owning a second home. However, most condo-hotels do not allow you to live in unit year round. This is because management company wants to rent out unit when you are not there, so both you and they can profit from that rental income.

Each condo-hotel property has its own residence restrictions that indicate maximum amount of time you can live in property. This is an important piece of information to consider before purchasing a condo-hotel unit. Most owners do not intend to live in their condo year round, so this is not a concern in typical circumstances.

Why not just rent a hotel room? In addition to investment aspect, condo-hotels usually offer more room than a standard hotel room. Most suites are one or two bedrooms, and larger units are available. Condo-hotels typically have cooking facilities and other homey features that hotel rooms do not. This makes it ideal to have family stay with you when they come to visit.

With advantages they offer over time shares, it’s easy to see why so many people looking for a vacation property investment they can also enjoy when they want are now looking at condo-hotels.

For more on finding and buying right condo-hotel, check out Make Your Next Home a Resort, 2005 Guide to Condo-Hotels, Fractional Shares and Resort Residences. You can download Guide as a pdf file at http://www.InvestingIN.com/realestate/resorts/resort4u.htm