Looking for HELOC Advice

[Erica Calella]

Hi all,

I recently purchased an investment property as part of a 1031 exchange in Western North Carolina. The house needs repairs and various upgrading that I will need to address. It's also a STR so getting these improvements taken care of is really important to me. My lender packaged and sold my mortgage, and when I called the new servicer to inquire about a HELOC/ Home Equity Loan they told me I wasn't eligible because of my short ownership duration.

I am planning to pay for most of the improvements with cash I have on hand from my W2 job, but I want to get something set up in case of an emergency repair/ use towards other investment opportunities. I currently have about $180K of equity in the home, but would only look to set up a line of credit of ~$30-$50K. Any suggestions here? Are Rocket Mortgage and Lending Tree reputable and if I were to go that route, what would the process look like?

[Casey Hansen]

Hi Erica - I'm on the Outer Banks where we have a lot of STR. In my experience, the best rates and terms for home equity products are from credit unions. Generally, the terms are better and they will go to higher LTV's. Tower FCU may be worth exploring and possibly Signature FCU. Both of whom I've used personally. Feel free to message me and I can point you in the direction of a few other options.