We don't like to think of home values declining. But like any investment, there are ups and downs. The truth is that your home can increase in value, and it can decrease.

You may be worried. You don't want your biggest investment to go down the drain. Well, don't get too worked up.

If you can afford your monthly payments and aren't planning on moving soon, you have nothing to fear. You have a roof over your head and it is worth a lot to you.

The equity in your home is something that grows over time. The ideal situation has it grow until you sell, then you use it to help purchase your next home. But it is also there for emergencies if you need it or for improvements. We take comfort in it being there.

If you have a good mortgage, bought at a good time and didn't overspend on your home, you shouldn't have too much to fret about. The biggest fear is that your house will decrease in value so that you owe more than it is worth. Many recent homeowners who bought at the peak of the hot housing market are now facing that situation.

But you don't need to worry about it unless you need to sell. If you can make your payments, you shouldn't have any problems. Just as prices go up and down, they will go up again. By staying in your home, you are able to wait until there is another seller's market to put your home up for sale. By continuing your payments you are countering the decrease in equity by paying off what you owe.

If you have an adjustable rate home equity line of credit and you think interest rates are going to rise and your home value will go down, you might want to go ahead and get that paid off as soon as possible. By paying off what you owe against your equity, you are freeing up yourself to not owe more than the home is worth.

When home values are on the decline in your area, you don't want to borrow against your equity. You may think that you need to take advantage of your equity as it is now and go ahead and take out the line of credit. That makes sense -- you may be able to get more now than you will later. But you will also be putting yourself at risk for owing more than your home is worth. You don't want to have to write a check at closing, just to get your home sold.

If you really want to take advantage of the equity in your home before it goes down any further, you need to sell and move into a cheaper home. That is the only safe way to cash out your equity in a declining market.

This isn't the time to be making improvements to your home or remodeling with the hopes of bringing up the value. If you are doing it for yourself and plan to stay in the home for a while, then by all means, go ahead. But if you are doing it to have a better selling price in the near future, you need to be very careful. You don't want to put more in than you will get back.

A declining market is simple to understand. When interest rates rise, there are fewer people able to afford your home. With an increase of homes on the market, there is more for people to choose from. This means that you may have a harder time selling your home.

If you are facing a negative equity situation on your home, give it time and don't worry. Markets go up as easily as they go down. And not all areas of the country experience the same real estate climate. You could be in an area where prices are going up. If you are, be careful. If you aren't, hang in there.

Martin Lukac, represents RateEmpire.com, a finance web-company specializing in real estate/mortgage market. We specialize in daily updates, rate predictions, mortgage rates and more. Find low home loan mortgage interest rates from hundreds of mortgage companies!