Equity Since You Bought, and Your Loan Today

Updated November 2026 · Rudy Flores

A VA loan often means you bought with little or nothing down, so your equity comes mostly from paying down the loan and from the change in value since. This page estimates both, starting from your price and Zillow's typical values for your ZIP code.

It is useful when you are weighing a sale, a refinance or keeping the home as a rental. Loan questions belong with a lender, and Rudy can confirm the value with recent sales.

This is an estimate for planning, from Zillow's ZIP-wide typical values applied to your purchase price. It is not an appraisal, a broker price opinion, an offer, a loan offer, or tax or legal advice, and Rudy is a real estate agent, not a lender, appraiser or tax professional.

How the estimate works

1. Zillow's typical value for your type of home in your ZIP code is found for the month you closed and for the latest month.
2. Your price moves by that percentage, and the condition you select draws the range.
3. A VA or other purchase loan is paid down on a regular fixed-rate schedule here, starting the month after closing; financed fees are not included.
4. Subtract the balance from the midpoint for equity, and selling costs too for a pre-tax net.
5. Your Prop 13 figure is your price compounded by the Board of Equalization's yearly inflation factors, 2% or less.

Your Prop 13 value and Prop 19

Under Prop 13, your taxable value was set at your purchase price and can climb only 2% a year, so it often trails well behind the market.

If you sell and buy again in California at 55 or older, that taxable value may move to the next home under Proposition 19 when it is bought inside a two-year window (three uses at most); the assessor decides. On the loan side, VA.gov says entitlement can be restored once you have sold the home and paid the VA loan in full.

Looking further ahead, run the downsizing calculator.

Sources and dates

• Zillow Research, Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI) by ZIP code: all homes, single-family and condo; middle tier, smoothed and seasonally adjusted (data through September 2026, files updated Oct 16, 2026)
• FHFA House Price Index for five-digit ZIP codes (annual, developmental index, not seasonally adjusted; 2000 = 100), used only for purchases before Zillow's series begin. Citation: Bogin, Doerner and Larson, Local House Price Dynamics: New Indices and Stylized Facts, FHFA Working Paper 16-01 (annual, through 2025)
• Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS): weekly 30-year and 15-year fixed averages; the page uses the mean for your purchase month (monthly means through October 2026; latest weekly 30-year average 7.24% on Oct 29, 2026)
• California State Board of Equalization, Letter To Assessors No. 2026/002: inflation factors for 1976-77 through 2026-27, with Revenue and Taxation Code section 51 and California Constitution article XIII A, section 2(b) (January 13, 2026)
• California State Board of Equalization, Proposition 19 (checked Oct 30, 2026)
• Assumptions, not sourced figures: the condition range (the same rule of thumb as the home value range tool), 6% selling costs, 20% down, regular payments on a fixed-rate loan starting the month after you bought, and the first inflation factor applying on the first January 1 after your purchase

Questions owners ask

More from Rudy

• Take the Home Strategy Quiz
• Request a Home Value
• Compare My Selling Options
• What Could My Home Sell For?
• Seller Net Proceeds Estimator
• Downsizing Calculator
• Keep or Sell Calculator
• Home Sale Tax Exclusion Estimator
• Buy First or Sell First Planner
• Book a 15-minute call