The company had secured bridge financing and an equity line of credit, but those were contingent on a stock price that stayed above $1 a share.

Moreover, he said, all people who jointly own real estate should be exceedingly careful about taking out "equity lines of credit" on the property.

An equity line of credit can often be opened without actually taking out the money immediately and thus incurring heavy financing charges.

Once opened, bankers say, an equity line of credit cannot, under the new Federal regulations, be terminated or curtailed arbitrarily.

After the supporting company's equity line dried up, the operations came to a halt in 2002.

But what if you want to keep an equity line open?

So if you want to keep an equity line open, find out what the fee is and factor this into your refinancing math.

You may also be able to deduct interest you pay on any home equity lines of credit linked to your properties.

We had taken out a mortgage, and also an equity line, which we used for business purposes.

And the rate of interest and the equity line were higher than what the market was offering for a new mortgage.