With the right power tools, you can turn your humble cottage into a castle. But if you don't know what you're doing, you could end up with a pile of sawdust where your living room used to be.

Just when it seemed every offbeat variation of home loan had hit the market, along comes this: Lenders are now offering to finance your house with just an equity line of credit.

Adjustable rate mortgages are thriving these days, even though interest rates remain low and flat. Almost 28% of home loan applicants last week opted for adjustable interest rates, double the proportion last July.