Your home is an investment. And like any investment, it is worth money. More specifically, your home has equity. Second mortgage home equity loans can open the financial door for you to cash in on the money that you have accrued so far. You can then take this money and use it for a number of well deserved things. You can pay off some of your debts and get your credit back on track. If you are already struggling with finances, this is your best option as it can get many creditors off your back and off your telephone.You are also free to use this money on a long awaited family vacation. Use the second mortgage home equity loan to do some home improvements and further enhance the value of your investment. The bottom line is that getting a second mortgage home equity loan can widen the financial gap between a tight budget and a lenient one.If this is your first time looking into home equity, then you might be asking yourself “What is equity?”. Equity is basically a portion of ownership. You see, when you first get your home you got a mortgage loan from a lender. This lender owns the home because you used their money to pay for it. However, as the months and years go on, you make payments on your mortgage loan. Each payment raises how much you have invested into the value of your home. The market value also rises as the years go on, and each year you own more of your home. As you own more, the lender owns less.Now take a look at your current mortgage. How much money is left to be paid? That number is the equity. What we are talking about is taking out a second mortgage home equity loan and taking full advantage of the value that you have built up over the years.Now when you take out a second mortgage home equity loan, the money that results from this is yours. That is right, the money is yours. So you can go ahead and do with it as you please, but there are a few common things people use this money for. Doing types of home improvements is the biggest common use. Now you have the money to do those expensive ideas or repairs that you have been wanting to do for quite some time now. Repair that roof so next winter is not as bad. By doing this you are adding to the value of your home. And what happens when you increase the value of your home? You raise the equity in your home.As mentioned earlier, you might want to take that money and get rid of your debts. Or better yet, consolidate your debts to decrease your monthly payments, and then set a portion of that equity money aside to pay for a few months of these new, less expensive payments. Then you can use the remaining amount to pay for whatever else you want.And lastly, the family vacation. These days it is pretty expensive to take the whole family out on a real vacation. Take the kids to Disney, or go for a week long camping trip. Fly out to Las Vegas and get pampered in the hotels and have fun with a night on the town.