I took one out too last year, and had re-financed the year before. There were some costs but they were rolled into the loan. They did a quick value of the property, no walk-through.

I wouldn't go through any loan company I didn't know, I used my credit union.

The great thing about home equity loans is that the interest is tax deductible. I used it for home improvement, but also to pay off my car loan and credit card balances. This lowered the payments, since it was rolled into one sum, and made all my interest payments tax deductible. It's best to have a definite plan in mind and not just take out money because you can, because you are losing equity in your home and giving it to the bank until the loan is paid off.

Also, you sign that you won't do anything to your home that might make the value go down (something I don't think is on mortgate papers, at least not in such severe language). That made me pause because I really want to make my 5 tiny bedroom house into a 3 good sized bedroom house, but going from 5 to 3 bedrooms would lower the value initially so I can't do it until the loan is paid off.

Any bank or loan company will also charge you if you pay off your loan early. My credit union will only charge me $300 if I pay it off within 2 years (it's a 7 year loan), the big banks will charge as much as $500. This is to stop you moving it to another bank with a better deal.