Renovation Loan or Hard Money Loan for Rehab w/ 100% Equity?

[Shirley McLean]

I own a home free and clear but need to do renovations to it before selling it. It is not homesteaded under me b/c I just acquired it and cannot homestead (from what I've been told) til Jan 1st. I want to get it on the market renovated around that time so I don't want to wait for a HELOC or HEL which I believe requires homesteading the house. If I want to get a loan now for renovations (say $20k give or take) without waiting forever, would a renovation loan of some sort or a hard money loan be my best option without paying ridiculous interest rates or tons of fees???? I have good credit so that's not an issue but i'm self employed so taxes show lower income. I have low debt to income though. I owe like $4k for a student loan and that's about it. Monthly payment requirement on that is like $32. Also, I don't want to pay back the loan until I sell the house after the renovation so timeline is like a month or month and a half for renovation then how ever long it takes to sell after the new year. In my area, people are looking for 3 bedrooms under $200k so I don't expect after renovation that it is on the market long.

[Kevin Romines]

Hard money is not going to be a good choice for you due to the loan size. Most hard money lenders have minimum loan sizes starting around 75,000. I would go to a credit union and see if you can get a personal line of credit or a quick lien against the home as far as a 1st mortgage, for the money you need for the renovation?

If that don't work, maybe a credit card? By the time you were to have factored the fees from a hard money and the rates, it would be close to credit card rates anyway? Private money is another choice, do you have a friend that can make the loan and place the lien?