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I’d go the personal loan route. House is paid and done, let it be forever that way.

If you have a paid for vehicle consider refinancing it, interest rate would be lower than a personal loan

This is good advice if it’s an option to you or your wife.

Our house is paid off.

We’ve got a $100K home equity line of credit with our bank. It’s worked well for us. We used it to remodel the kitchen and master bath. If we choose, minimum payment is interest only.

In Texas, there is no cost to you. Closing or otherwise.

It expired after 10 years. I had to renew it this year. That was a pain, but it got done.

I recommend it.

Jimmy

Compare their total cost of no interest loan to paying cash. I bet it is a faux no interest loan.

This!

HELOC is good if temporary. I have a credit union contact that can still do it for little to no closing costs. Last time I tried to do one with the local bank without closing costs, they laughed and me and said it would be $15k closing costs and I went and found someone else. But the rates are too high on a HELOC to keep the financing very long. I have used mine to buy rentals and fix them up before I refinanced after 6 months, but that's about it. About to use it to build a commercial retail strip and then will refi into a traditional business mortgage. Rates currently are around 10% so definitely don't consider it any kind of long term option.

Is a 401k loan an option? I'd consider that before either of the things you originally listed. You pay interest, but it just goes to you.

I have a profit sharing plan that I can't borrow against, but my wife has one that we probably can. I'll look into that, thanks.

Check out the Texas Veterans Land Board as another option.

Home Improvement Loan base rate 5.48%; discounted rate 4.98%

Depending on the difference in the interest rate, I would do a home equity loan. But only if your wife can afford the payment if something were to happen to your income.

They typically max out at $50k on the loan (or 50% of the value of the 401k, whichever is less), so I'm not sure if that's adequate for what you're wanting to do or not, but something to be aware of in the planning phases.

And risk foreclosure if something goes south. Once the house is paid for you don’t want to borrow against it again.

I'd go the zero percent credit card route. Not sure what's out there, but you might be able to get 18 months. Hopefully you can cash flow a big bite out of it during that time period. Take out a personal loan for whatever is left on the balance after 18 months. You might be able to get 9-10% on that loan, but at least it will be on a much smaller starting balance.

Congrats on paying off your house. That is huge!

Are repairs an option rather than replacement? You'd be amazed at how big a hole in your tub a good fiberglass job can fix. Also, there are fence companies that will re-frame your fence and re-use your existing slats. If you can do these repair jobs for 25-50% the price of replacements, then it may allow you to do the financing in a more favorable way.