Fannie Mae Homestyle vs. Conventional Loan

[Kyle Houlahan]

Hello everybody,

I'm planning on purchasing a primary residence within the next 30-60 days. I'm located in the Tampa market and the best deals on SFR's are typically older properties that need some work. For this reason, I'm looking into utilizing a Fannie Mae Homestyle loan to purchase the property. This will allow me to put down as little as 3%, as well as finance the rehab costs in the loan. However, I've heard these loans can take a while to close, require a lot of extra documentation, and will make you jump through hoops in order to have the funds disbursed to the contractor performing the work.

Can anyone provide their experience with the Homestyle loan? Also, what is the minimum holding time of the property when using a Homestyle loan. For instance, say I want to relocate to a different area, or simply just want to move back to an apartment. What are the repercussions of selling a property prior to the minimum holding time.

Any benefits of using a conventional loan and funding the rehab myself, in terms of minimum holding time, time needed to close, documentation requirements, etc?