What is the best Mortgage to get if you want to Renovate a house?
Me and my girlfriend want to buy and renovate a house. We want to get a mortgage that rolls in an extra 50 to 65 thousand dollars for renovations. Does anyone recommend a specific program or lender? (besides the FHA 203k)
There may be some type of construction loan programs available for you. I have used (re-)construction loan programs where the bank lends the money for acquisition of a property, and based upon a construction/rehab estimate you provide, they escrow funds for construction that you draw upon as needed
In order for this to work, the bank took the renovation estimates (had to be a licensed contractor) and ordered an appraisal where the appraiser gave an "after repair value" of the home. The bank would then lend up to x% (80% in my case) of the after repair value. I used a bank local to my area, which is probably where you will find a program like this if it is even available given the current market climate.
Alternatively, if the numbers make sense, you could try a hard money lender. These are private lenders who loan on buy/rehab/resell or refinance projects all the time. They typically charge higher rates, up front points, and have terms where you pay the full balance within 6mos – 2 years. They often loan up to 60-70% loan-to-value and don’t care as much about credit scores as long as the property values are there, because they can recoup their loss by foreclosing if you default on the loan. These loans could make sense for you, again, if the numbers make sense, and if you can refinance it after the work is done (if you want to stay in the house).
For the program I used on a few occasions:
So, as phase 1 of the rehab completes, you submit a request, and they disburse funding to you, thereby increasing your principal balance by the same amount. Most of these programs are interest-only during the construction phase and the principal balance is due at the end of the construction phase (6mos – 2 yrs, depending), although one program I used converted to permanent financing at the end of the construction phase for smaller fees than refinancing.
A lot of info, but I hope that helped.
Good luck.