Yeah, I had a car dealership try this approach on me. It was like "you take an 8% loan with us instead of paying cash and at the end you're money ahead cause you still have your cash!!" I told him, "yeah, I still have my cash, but I DID have to pay off your loan from SOMETHING, so I'm NOT money ahead. There's that pesky 8% in there that also has to be paid." He tried to argue with me.
I think Scuba can play the game to her advantage and no, I don't know how to figure when to pay off the Heloc. But playing the game sounds like work to me and that's why I retired. I've admitted to leaving money on the table in lots of ways - not the least of which was retiring early. We all have to play it the way we see it. No "right or wrong" just what works for each of us. I'm betting there's a calculator for Scuba's question - but I'm retired.
Oh, and I'd love to see (well, DW would especially like to see) what a $90K (plus) remodel looks like! We've done a kitchen/bath remodel for about $24K and then a second kitchen/bath remodel for about $40K in another place. Both of these were in Hawaii with the "Paradise tax" included. So what do you get for $90K - enquiring minds (nosy folks
) want to know.