Soaring real estate values mean many homeowners are awash in equity — the difference between what they owe and what their homes are worth. The average-priced home is up 42% since the start of the pandemic, and the average homeowner with a mortgage can now tap over $207,000 in equity, according to Black Knight Inc., a mortgage and real estate data analysis company.

Spending that wealth can be tempting. Proceeds from home equity loans or lines of credit can fund home improvements, college tuition, debt consolidation, new cars, vacations — whatever the borrower wants.

But just because something can be done, of course, doesn’t mean it should be done. One risk of such borrowing should be pretty obvious: You’re putting your home at risk. If you can’t make the payments, the lender could foreclose and force you out of your house.

Also, as we learned during the Great Recession of 2008-2009, housing prices can go down as well as up. Borrowers who tapped their home equity were more likely to be “underwater” — or owe more on their houses than they were worth — than those who didn’t have home equity loans or lines of credit, according to a 2011 report by CoreLogic, a real estate data company.

Other risks are less obvious but worth considering.

Many Americans aren’t saving enough for retirement and may need to use their home equity to avoid a sharp drop in their standard of living. Some will do that by selling their homes and downsizing, freeing up money to invest or supplement other retirement income.

Other retirees may turn to reverse mortgages. The most common type of reverse mortgage allows homeowners 62 and up to convert home equity into a lump of cash, a series of monthly payments or a line of credit they can use as needed. The borrower doesn’t have to pay the loan back as long as they live in the home, but the balance must be repaid when the borrower dies, sells or moves out.

Another potential use for home equity is to pay for a nursing home or other long-term care. A semi-private room in a nursing home cost a median $7,908 per month in 2021, according to Genworth, which provides long-term care insurance. Some people who don’t have long-term care insurance instead plan to borrow against their home equity to pay those bills.

Clearly, the more you owe on your home, the less equity you’ll have for other uses. In fact, a big mortgage could preclude you from getting a reverse mortgage at all. To qualify, you either need to own your home outright or have a substantial amount of equity — at least 50% and perhaps more.

Using your home equity to pay off much higher-rate debt, such as credit cards, can seem like a smart move. After all, home equity loans and lines of credit tend to have much lower interest rates.

If you end up filing for bankruptcy, though, your unsecured debts — such as credit cards, personal loans and medical bills — typically would be erased. Debt that’s secured by your home, such as mortgage and home equity borrowing, typically isn’t.

Before you use home equity to consolidate other debts, consider talking to a nonprofit credit counseling agency and to a bankruptcy attorney about your options.

It’s rarely, if ever, a good idea to borrow money for pure consumption, such as vacations or electronics. Ideally, we should only borrow money for purchases that will increase our wealth: a mortgage to buy a home that will appreciate, for example, or a student loan that results in higher lifetime earnings.

If you’re planning to borrow home equity to pay for something that won’t increase in value, at least ensure that you aren’t making payments long after its useful life is over. If you’re using home equity to buy a vehicle, consider limiting the loan term to five years so that you’re not facing big repair bills while still paying down the loan.

Home equity loans typically have fixed interest rates and a fixed repayment term of anywhere from five to 30 years. The typical home equity line of credit, meanwhile, has variable rates and a 30-year term: a 10-year “draw” period, where you can borrow money, followed by a 20-year payback period. You typically are required to pay only interest on your debt during the draw period, which means your payments could jump substantially at the 10-year mark when you start repaying the principal.

This leads to a final piece of advice: With interest rates on the rise, consider using a home equity loan or line of credit only if you can repay the balance fairly quickly. If you need a few years to pay back what you borrow, getting a fixed interest rate with a home equity loan may be the better way to tap equity now.

Bottom line: Don’t quit your day job, but do try these realistic ideas to make an extra buck in an hour.

There are plenty of places to sell clothes online, but it takes time and patience to create a listing and complete the transaction. The fastest way to make money from what you don’t wear anymore is to deal with a thrift store, in person. Try selling your stuff to a small-business shop near you, or to a store with a nationwide presence like Uptown Cheapskate. The company says it’ll pay cash in around 30 minutes if it likes what you’re offering. Got growing kids? Try the Once Upon A Child chain if there’s a store near you. Here, you can get paid cash on the spot for clothes, shoes, toys and even furniture.

Did your music career stall before it ever started? A local pawnshop may purchase your musical instrument, jewelry, electronic device or a range of other gear directly. Alternatively, you can take a pawnshop loan, where the shop lends you money — about $150 on average, according to the National Pawnbrokers Association — and holds your item as collateral until you can pay it back. Pawning an item, as it’s known, comes with fees. Selling it outright is the way to make money in short order, with no strings attached.

You probably have a local jeweler or coin shop nearby that buys gold and other precious metals. Offloading old jewelry can be a quick way to make good money, depending on how many ounces you have. However, making a hasty sale could leave precious money on the table. Before accepting a low offer on a potentially valuable heirloom, it’d be wise to find a professional appraiser, though this may add upfront costs and take longer than an hour.

Technically, this isn’t making money, but who wants to lug around a 10-pound jar of coins or pay for gas with quarters? A coin kiosk is a fast and easy way to trade your nickels and dimes for dollar bills, but it’s not free. Popular option Coinstar charges an 11.9% service fee and a $0.25 transaction fee to get cash. If you’re OK with that, it’s a legit way to get some spending money in an hour. Choosing an eGift card from Coinstar is a fee-free way to cash in your coins. Alternatively, your bank may turn your rolled coins into cash at no charge.

Do you have a way with animals? If so, tell your pet-owning neighbors and friends you’d be happy to help out. Walk a dog or feed a cat and scoop its litter box when the owner can’t, and charge a fee per visit. Tell your client you’d prefer to be paid after each visit, and offer to accept Venmo, Cash App or Zelle to make it easier for them to pay up. Apps like Rover and Wag can help you find clients if word-of-mouth takes more than an hour.

Parents need nights out, and a reliable sitter can give moms and dads precious peace of mind while they hit the town. Babysitting is a classic way for a responsible person to make a quick buck. How much you can earn varies, but according to child care site UrbanSitter, the national average to watch one child is around $20 an hour. Earn a trustworthy reputation and you’ll be booking sitter gigs left and right. Plus, you can expect parents to settle up on the spot.

If you’re up for it and have the right gear, you can get paid to sweat it out in the yard. Scan your neighborhood for houses with a yard in need, and swing by to make your pitch, with lawnmower, rake or garden shovel in tow. A lawn care pro can net between $50 and $210 per yard, depending on the size, according to Angi.com. As a nonprofessional, you should probably expect less.

Money-making apps are definitely a thing, and they can pay off for those who are diligent. The catch? You usually have to spend money to make money. Apps like Ibotta and Rakuten reward shoppers with cash back for buying stuff from affiliated partner stores. With Rakuten, what you earn can show up in the app quickly, but the company only sends payments out every three months, and you need a minimum balance of more than $5 to cash out. No one-hour payday here.

Turns out taking surveys for money isn’t the most efficient way to make money either.

Rideshare services are a good way to earn full-time pay or extra cash, but you need to have a few important things in order to become an Uber driver or Lyft driver. Requirements include a valid U.S. driver’s license, an eligible 4-door vehicle and a background check. So, if you’re just starting the process, that first payday could take a minute, figuratively speaking. But once you’re set up, you can get paid instantly when you use each company’s debit card account.

Want to drive food or packages instead of people? Making money with DoorDash and other popular services like Instacart and Amazon Flex takes time upfront to get started, too.

When you think about holiday shopping, your mind probably goes to big-box retailers before your neighborhood bookstore or antique shop. But in a time marked by widespread supply chain disruptions and inflation, underdog small businesses deserve our attention.

Enter Small Business Saturday.

Small Business Saturday is an annual event created by American Express that encourages consumers to shop at small businesses during the busy holiday season. It takes place the Saturday after Thanksgiving, which lands on Nov. 27 this year.

Here’s why you should consider shopping small for the holidays, and what to expect.

The pandemic hit businesses hard. Roughly 200,000 additional establishments — mostly small ones — permanently closed between March 2020 and February 2021, according to a Federal Reserve report. That’s on top of the pre-pandemic rate of roughly 600,000 annual closures. Many surviving businesses are still at risk, due to factors like deferred rent payments and overdue credit card bills. Your patronage could give them a fighting chance.

“I think we have to ask ourselves as consumers, would we be sad if a retailer closed?” says Lauren Beitelspacher, associate professor and chair of the marketing division at Babson College in Massachusetts. “And if the answer is yes, then we have to find ways to shop and support there when we can.”

Shopping and dining on Small Business Saturday is one way to show appreciation for local businesses, especially those we’ve depended on during the pandemic, Beitelspacher adds.

Remember the restaurants you got takeout from during stay-at-home orders? Or the skin care boutique that supplied you with hand sanitizer? They were there for us when we needed them; let’s return the favor.

“By doing their shopping at local small businesses, customers can directly support their neighbors and help benefit their local economies,” said Mark Madrid, associate administrator for the Office of Entrepreneurial Development at the U.S. Small Business Administration, in an email.

Shopping small for the holidays can also be environmentally friendly. When locally owned businesses locally source raw materials or manufactured products, it reduces the distance that goods travel, says Madhav Durbha, vice president of supply chain strategy at Coupa Software, a California-based business spend management platform.

“No shipping from across the globe and less packaging make for a smaller carbon footprint,” Durbha says.

“It’s basic economics, right? The supply is going to be lower, and so the demand is going to be higher, and so the prices are not going to drop like they have in the past. I’m not saying that there won’t be deals, but it might not be deals on the hot-ticket items that we want,” Beitelspacher says.

Flashy doorbuster deals that big-name retailers traditionally flaunt during holiday sales might be harder to come by. Shoppers can expect sold-out items and shipping delays in categories like toys, luxury goods and consumer electronics, Durbha says.

Small Business Saturday shoppers might fare better, depending on what they’re searching for. Shops that sell secondhand goods or items produced in the same community will be shielded from much of the supply chain disruption, Durbha says.

Shopping small for the holidays boasts other advantages, too. Shoppers can receive more personalized service and experience smaller crowds. Many small businesses also entice customers with exclusive discounts, promotions or freebies on Small Business Saturday — so saving money is still on the table.

Shop at Target, Walmart or Best Buy and you’ll find little variation among their product selection.

“If you go to a big brand store, you can find that [inventory] in a thousand stores. But if you go to a small, locally owned business, you can find something very special and very unique for the holiday season,” Durbha says.

Maybe that’s handcrafted jewelry, a print made by a local artist, a vintage record player or a gift card for the best bakery in town. See what interesting, rare or one-of-a-kind gifts you can discover on Small Businesses Saturday.

TIPS FOR SHOPPING SMALL

Check your favorite local retailers’ websites and social media pages for store offerings, hours and event announcements in the days leading up to Small Business Saturday. You can also find participating businesses online using the American Express Shop Small map or by exploring hashtags like #shopsmall and #SmallBusinessSaturday.

Then, start gathering ideas for your gift list. You can get a sense of what might be in stock and within budget when Small Business Saturday arrives.

“Or get a head start on your shopping now,” Madrid said. “It’s never a bad time to support small businesses and to help boost your local economy.”