ARE 203K LOANS/RENNOVATION LOANS WORTH THE STRESS AND HEADACHE??

[Anne Williams]

Hello, 

     I'm looking to buy a condominium in the Springfield Section of Newark New Jersey. I saw two, one is priced kinda high (I've looked at comps and have not been able to find any condos that have gone for that price in the area...they have all been much cheaper).  The other is much lower but is a fixer upper that would probably require work that would bring the total cost to be $140,000 with the addition of the money to do repairs. 

I am so tempted to buy the fixer upper and rehab it but I've heard and seen some horror stories of people who have done renovation loans where their property has been sitting around for months with the work undone. Either that or the workmanship is very poor.

If there is anyone familiar with the 203k loan, can you give me some insight about the process and if it is worth the stress involved? Are there any success stories? Can work actually be completed in 2 months with the right contractor?

Also, the condominium only accepts conventional loans but I'm only familiar with 203k which I believe is FHA...is there a conventional rehab loan alternative?

Should I just suck it up and go after the more expensive condo unit or take a chance with the rehab condo??? (Both units will still need to be updated  by the way)