Commentary Now that holiday gifts and toys are in the past and you’ve probably stepped on your last stray Lego piece, it’s time to start thinking about financial resolutions. If you’re a homeowner, the terrific price appreciation that you’ve seen recently means there’s a good chance that you’re sitting on a nice chunk of home equity. Equity is the difference between how much your home is worth and your mortgage owed. If your home is worth $600,000 and you have a $400,000 mortgage loan balance, this means that you have $200,000 in home equity. Think of equity as your “skin in the game.” CoreLogic reports that in the third quarter of 2021, the average U.S. homeowner gained approximately $56,700 in equity during the past year. They now enjoy a new national record of $294,000 in home equity. This is astounding when you realize this was 2015’s level of national median …