Is a home improvement loan worth it? Goldman Sachs, HouseCanary team to help borrowers decide

Goldman Sachs appears ready to continue growing its personal lending venture, Marcus, and it’s going to use one of the housing industry’s data leaders to do it.

Goldman Sachs launched Marcus in 2016 expanding its lending beyond its traditional business model to include smaller, personal loans. Then, earlier this year, Marcus expanded and began offering home improvement loans.

Now, Goldman Sachs is looking to make it easier for borrowers to determine if taking out a home improvement loan is the right move for them by partnering with HouseCanary to launch a “Home Addition Calculator.”

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The new tool will help homeowners calculate the estimated value of their home if they completed an addition, whether it’s adding a new bedroom or bathroom, putting in a pool, or simply adding on some additional square footage to their home.

Put simply, Marcus’ new Home Addition Calculator will help borrowers figure out if a home addition is worth it or not.

To accomplish this task, the Home Addition Calculator is supported by data from HouseCanary, a housing data analytics and valuation platform.

The tool, which will be free to use, takes public information and market factors, including sales and listing data from MLS and county assessor records, in addition to other factors, to estimate a property’s value after an addition.

From there, the homeowner would simply need to decide if they want to take out the home improvement loan or not.

According to information from Goldman Sachs, Marcus home improvement loans range from $3,500 to $40,000 for periods of three to six years.

The bank said that its home improvement loans provide borrowers with “complete control over how they use their funds without being committed to pre-approved projects or a single contractor.”

The loans also do not require a home appraisal or borrowing against the borrower’s home.

“We are excited to partner with HouseCanary to offer a new resource to consumers who are looking to build an addition to their home,” Abhinav Anand, head of lending for Marcus by Goldman Sachs, said. “Our free Home Addition Calculator provides homeowners an estimate of how much an addition could impact the value of their home and helps them make smarter financial decisions.”

Jeremy Sicklick, co-founder and CEO at HouseCanary, said that the company is looking forward to its partnership with Goldman Sachs.

“Marcus by Goldman Sachs is helping homeowners finance their home improvement dreams using a streamlined technology experience,” Sicklick said. “HouseCanary’s industry-leading data and proprietary analytics provide homeowners with in-depth insights on the current and estimated future values of their homes, and we are excited to partner with Marcus to bring this project to life.”