Boston MA Home Equity Line, Commercial

[Chan K.]

Hi Commercial RE Investors,

I have a question regarding home equity line of credit or HELOC.

Here is the scenario:

I went to a local bank asking for a line of credit on my 6-Unit. The lender would offer me an 80% LTV of the appraisal value. I really like the 80% part, so I proceed with them. I want the appraisal to be by income instead of comp, so he said that the fee will be a bit higher than comp ,$1200. FYI: typical fee is $750-$1000. Long story short, the credit line took about two months to close. The closing cost came out to be about $3k. The line is revolving for 1-year and be reviewed annually.

My question is:

1) Does it usually take this long to close on a credit line? For God sake, it usually only takes me about 1 month ish to close on a house, in which is a lot faster.

2) Does the closing fee usually costs this much, $3k?

3) Is the 1-year revolving and being reviewed annually are typical term is typical?

4) Does the 80% LTV easy to find? I thought this 80% and the income evaluation method are the only good things that came out of my whole process. Most lenders would only do 75% or less.

5) Why does a lot of lenders still appraise by comp when it is a 6-unit? I could never understand this. I thought that anything more than 4-unit is automatically be appraised by income.

Thanks ahead for sharing your input.

-Chan-