Investor / Lender · Seattle, WA · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 730 votes
It has almost been 6 months, and I want to put a HELOC on my personal residence for rehab funds. Most of the banks I've talked to won't consider the appraised value until a year afterwards, but I've heard it's possible. Can you recommend a bank that will allow me to do a HELOC in Washington state after 6 months of ownership?
I'm also looking for a bank that will allow for a HELOC on an investment property up to $500,000. PenFed has been the closest, offering 80% LTV up to $400k on investment properties.
I also saw mentions of the following banks while searching through several of the other forums: - TD Bank - Talmer Bank - Washington Federal - BECU
Their website doesn't post too much details, so I'll have to call and ask in the morning.
I'm currently working with Banner on another financing strategy, and they appear to be more flexible than any institution I've worked with thus far. They might be able to point you in the right direction at the very least.
I've also heard from other local REI's that BECU and Umpqua are "investor friendly", but have no experience dealing with them directly.
Sorry it took me so long to reply; my day job took priority over the last few days. But I did manage to make some calls today. Here are the results:
MECU, TD Bank, and Talmer Bank do not lend in Washington State.
BECU can do a HELOC on investment properties, 70% LTV, up to $500k. They can also do a loan right after 6 months. But the bad part is that debt-to-income has to be 43% and they can't count rental income until after 2 years. I'd still talk to BECU for all of your needs first because they're simply the best customer service I have ever received. I asked them to route me to their commercial/business lending department to see if I can get some kind of loan using the property as collateral. I should get a response in 1-3 days.
Washington Federal does have products for investment properties, and they can do things with only 6 months of seasoning, and they consider rental income right away. But they weren't able to do the loan I need, but they're pretty investor-friendly and only do portfolio loans, so you don't have to deal with ridiculous Fannie Mae rules. You might want to call them for your specific situation.
I also tried contacting some hard/private money companies for their mid- to long-term loan products. But their LTV and debt-to-income consideration was actually worse than a conventional mortgage. The good thing is that they're able to lend on LLCs.
@Lance Lvovsky There's also State Department Federal Credit Union. They lend up to 125% LTV up to $100k. If you want more than $100k, they'll lend up to 95% up to $300k. They're pretty awesome for primary residences, not so much for investment properties.
@Scott B. I'm looking for a good HELOC and I'm wondering, did you end up going with SDFCU?
If you did go with them, I wonder if you could give an idea of what your DTI ratio was when they approved you? I've read that they'll do up to 50% but they wouldn't give me a hard # on the phone.
I'm trying to do the math to make sure I'll qualify before refinancing my primary residence... Thanks!
@Sean McCluskey I could not go with SDFCU because apparently I am ineligible. Never did pursue with them and did go with BECU for our rental property. LTV was 75% and interest rate is about 6.75%
Not sure about DTI, but maybe it is similar to mortgage underwriting, ~41% or so