This is going to be a real n00b question but I am new and I always get confused about refinancing. 

The down and dirty is I bought a house for 135k with a VA loan so 0% down payment. 2 years later the house is appraised at 155k. Could I essentially just refi and pull 20k out and it wouldn't affect my loan? Or use that 20k to help pay off my current loan?

Originally posted by @Timothy Casallas :

This is going to be a real n00b question but I am new and I always get confused about refinancing. 

The down and dirty is I bought a house for 135k with a VA loan so 0% down payment. 2 years later the house is appraised at 155k. Could I essentially just refi and pull 20k out and it wouldn't affect my loan? Or use that 20k to help pay off my current loan?

The $20k equity can only be pulled out by doing a cash out refi which would be a new loan. You can also do a HELOC and pull cash out, up to 90% of the value

Thank you @Brie Schmidt for the very quick response. I am about to do some HELOC research here in a minute but while I have you here, would a HELOC be a new loan as well or require me paying the bank back anything even though it is my money? Basically are there any cons to a HELOC?

Originally posted by @Timothy Casallas :

Thank you @Brie Schmidt for the very quick response. I am about to do some HELOC research here in a minute but while I have you here, would a HELOC be a new loan as well or require me paying the bank back anything even though it is my money? Basically are there any cons to a HELOC?

 It is your money when you sell.

A HELOC is a second lien on top of your current loan, so it would be a second loan payment.

90% LTV is $139,500 so you would be able to pull cash on that minus your current loan balance

@Brie Schmidt Thank you again for the info. I schooled myself up as well on HELOCS. did some google searching. I guess what I really want to know is that other than selling the property, how would I be able to pull out the 20k made off of appreciation without having a new loan on it?

Originally posted by @Timothy Casallas :

@Brie Schmidt Thank you again for the info. I schooled myself up as well on HELOCS. did some google searching. I guess what I really want to know is that other than selling the property, how would I be able to pull out the 20k made off of appreciation without having a new loan on it?

You can't. The only 100% LTV loan is a VA loan

@Brie Schmidt Gotcha! Really appreciate the help :)