Refinancing an unfinished home

[Joel Harrison]

I’d like to get in on these low mortgage rates and do a partial cash-out refinance so I can get this ball really moving. However, this house I’m in is only partially finished, and I don’t have the finances to get everything done in a short amount of time. The kitchen is virtually untouched, and the master bath is almost completely demoed right now.

I have some money that I was planning on using to do the kitchen last year, but the pandemic made me hold out on spending as I lost my main source of income. I had to dip into those savings a little bit, but have recently brought it back up to my pre-pandemic numbers. My “new” job pays about half of what my “old” job did, so I’m a little bit nervous about spending all of that money.

Should I basically YOLO the cash into my house and do the refi, or keep the slow boat moving and do things incrementally as I had been? I REALLY don’t want to miss out on these low rates.

[Colleen F.]

@Joel Harrison  different lenders can be more lenient and if they are not entering the interior it  could be easier (e.g. a drive by appraisal).  I have had lenders create a problem over absent floor coverings. I haven't tried when under construction.  

It may be one thing if you have more then one bathroom and one is under construction. Different if it is the only bathroom and its gutted they may not be flexible but call around.