Using current equity to buying & rehab new primary residence

[Peter Kehr]

Hello bigger pockets! I need your help figuring out if I can leverage equity in my current home to buy and fix my next primary residence for as little money down as possible.

Here's my situation: I currently live in a condo in Atlanta with ~130k in equity, 30k in savings. I am single but I am engaged and about to get married.

My plan was to take a HELOC out on my equity and use the ~110k line of credit to rehab my next primary. I would pay the 5% down using my savings and draw from the HELOC during the rehab process while still living in the condo. Once the rehab was complete, I would sell the condo (my area is very hot and have been told by realtors I wouldn't even need to list it) and pay back the HELOC, then move into my newly rehabbed home with hopefully more equity in it than I had in my condo. So essentially I'm leveraging condo equity to get more equity in my next home. (and then cash out re-financing that home to invest in rentals, but that is besides the point)

Problems I'm now realizing:

- A bank won't give me a traditional home loan with 5% down because I'm still living in the condo while closing on what will honestly be my new primary residence. Don't have enough for 20%. 

- A bank won't give me a loan because the house is in disrepair/needs 50-100k in rehab.

Possible solutions that may come with their own set of problems:

- My fiance buys the new primary in her name. This would be her first home purchase. But - would a bank loan her the money since the new home is still seen as being "in disrepair"? Would the bank recognize the 110k HELOC as security for the new home's rehab (in her name) even though that money is secured by my condo in my name?

Anyone out there with any creative solutions or loan options I'm not thinking about? Very new to real estate investing so any and all advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks all!