In an ideal world my house in Charlotte would have
all ready sold or I would have a solid offer on it. If
that had happened I wouldn't even be looking at
financing the Va house. In a perfect world....a cash offer trumps financing a house any day of the week.
But to make sure I don't lose the house I have to finance it, then pay it off when the Charlotte house sells. This house needs a major remodel; it hasn't been touched since it was built. The original red carpet, maroon walls, pink kitchen and linoleum tile has to go.
Uncle Sam has this wonderful program called 203K funding, provided by HUD. With that funding source, I can fund a major portion of the remodel and roll it into the 30 year mortgage. That gives me a chance to remodel the house now, then pay it off when the Charlotte property sales.
There are some drawbacks to taking advantage of this program I've never heard of. It's an education process. First, just because I made an offer on the house and it's been accepted, I don't own this house. I won't own this house for at least 60 days after the bank accepts my offer. During that 60 days I have to provide piece after piece of paperwork to the loan officer. Second, there are a large list of financial requirements that I have to meet.
The list of paperwork needed by the loan people is huge. Tax returns, insurance documents, credit card info, payroll information, pension information. The frustrating thing is that the list isn't something that the loan people can hand you at the beginning of the process. The requirements get revealed via phone calls and emails. If you knew the requirements at the beginning of the loan application you could have all the information at the beginning and save days of time. Maybe that 60 days to closing would drop to say, 45.
Because the 203K program includes the remodel of the house you have to find a contractor that is approved by the HUD program. To help with selecting a contractor the loan officer put me in contact with 'the HUDguy'. He specializes in managing this program, locating a contractor, writing an estimate for a remodel and getting the permits. All things I know absolutely nothing about.
So I meet with Frank, the HUDguy. He's a cool guy, been doing this a lot of years and has lots of ideas and knowledge to share. I'm also meeting with Lowe's to design kitchen, great room, select cabinets, appliances, etc. At first Lowe's blows my budget completely out the water, designing a kitchen for $35K. I about cried over that. Frank assures me that the people he can use will stay within my budget and still accomplish everything I want to do. But nothing can be done until after I close on the house, which doesn't happen until the end of May. Before I can close on the house, an appraisal has to be done and an appraisal can't happen until the estimate for the remodel is submitted to the loan officer and approved. So I'm waiting. The frustration level grows.
all ready sold or I would have a solid offer on it. Ifthat had happened I wouldn't even be looking at
financing the Va house. In a perfect world....a cash offer trumps financing a house any day of the week.
But to make sure I don't lose the house I have to finance it, then pay it off when the Charlotte house sells. This house needs a major remodel; it hasn't been touched since it was built. The original red carpet, maroon walls, pink kitchen and linoleum tile has to go.
Uncle Sam has this wonderful program called 203K funding, provided by HUD. With that funding source, I can fund a major portion of the remodel and roll it into the 30 year mortgage. That gives me a chance to remodel the house now, then pay it off when the Charlotte property sales.
There are some drawbacks to taking advantage of this program I've never heard of. It's an education process. First, just because I made an offer on the house and it's been accepted, I don't own this house. I won't own this house for at least 60 days after the bank accepts my offer. During that 60 days I have to provide piece after piece of paperwork to the loan officer. Second, there are a large list of financial requirements that I have to meet. The list of paperwork needed by the loan people is huge. Tax returns, insurance documents, credit card info, payroll information, pension information. The frustrating thing is that the list isn't something that the loan people can hand you at the beginning of the process. The requirements get revealed via phone calls and emails. If you knew the requirements at the beginning of the loan application you could have all the information at the beginning and save days of time. Maybe that 60 days to closing would drop to say, 45.
Because the 203K program includes the remodel of the house you have to find a contractor that is approved by the HUD program. To help with selecting a contractor the loan officer put me in contact with 'the HUDguy'. He specializes in managing this program, locating a contractor, writing an estimate for a remodel and getting the permits. All things I know absolutely nothing about.So I meet with Frank, the HUDguy. He's a cool guy, been doing this a lot of years and has lots of ideas and knowledge to share. I'm also meeting with Lowe's to design kitchen, great room, select cabinets, appliances, etc. At first Lowe's blows my budget completely out the water, designing a kitchen for $35K. I about cried over that. Frank assures me that the people he can use will stay within my budget and still accomplish everything I want to do. But nothing can be done until after I close on the house, which doesn't happen until the end of May. Before I can close on the house, an appraisal has to be done and an appraisal can't happen until the estimate for the remodel is submitted to the loan officer and approved. So I'm waiting. The frustration level grows.
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