How much equity do I have in my Twin Cities home?

Equity = what your home is worth today − what you still owe on it.

The second half is easy: it is the payoff figure on your mortgage statement, plus any second mortgage, HELOC balance, or lien. Use the payoff, not the balance — they differ by the interest accrued to your closing date.

The first half is where people go wrong. Your assessed value from Hennepin, Ramsey, Anoka or Sherburne County is a tax figure, not a market figure, and the two routinely disagree by a wide margin in both directions. An online estimate is a computer's guess that has never been inside your house and does not know you finished the basement, replaced the roof, or back onto a busy road.

What decides your number is what comparable homes near you have actually closed for recently, adjusted for how yours differs. That is a comparative market analysis, and it is the only figure a buyer's lender will end up caring about too.

Equity on paper is not money in your pocket. Selling has costs, and an honest estimate takes them off the top:

• Agent commission — negotiated, and since the 2024 NAR settlement changes, buyer-side compensation is separately negotiated rather than assumed. Ask any agent to put their number in writing.
• Seller closing costs — title, settlement fees, recording, and Minnesota's state deed tax.
• Prorated property taxes to your closing date.
• Repairs and concessions negotiated after inspection.
• Prep — paint, carpet, landscaping, staging.

Net proceeds, not gross equity, is the number to plan your next purchase around.

Sell and move up. The most common use. Your equity becomes the down payment on the next house — and in a market where rates matter, a bigger down payment is one of the few levers you fully control.

Sell and build. New construction is where a lot of Twin Cities equity goes. The timing question is real: you may need somewhere to live between closing and completion, and builder contracts are not the standard Minnesota purchase agreement. I walk clients through both.

Borrow against it. A HELOC or cash-out refinance leaves you in the house. That is a lender conversation, not an agent one, but it is worth pricing against selling before you decide.

Keep it and rent the house out. Sometimes the right answer, especially on a low fixed rate. It makes you a landlord, with everything that implies.

Equity is local to the block, not the metro. Two houses of the same size in Minnetonka and Elk River do not move together, and inside one suburb the school attendance line, the lake, and the highway all show up in the comps.

New construction nearby cuts both ways: it lifts the perceived ceiling of an area and it competes directly with your resale. If a builder is actively selling a community within a few miles of you, that belongs in your pricing conversation.

Send me your address. I will pull the recent closed comparables around you, adjust for your home's condition and updates, subtract an honest cost-to-sell, and give you a net proceeds range. It is free, it is not an automated estimate, and there is no obligation attached to it.