Refinancing Land Contract

[Patrick Durham]

Last year I started working on purchasing a house that had been vacant for 15 years. The owners passed and it was part of an estate. Due to the condition of the house and some back taxes I had to purchase it with a land contract. The contract was made official and filed with the county in February 2013.

Now I would like to refinance, pay of the rest of the taxes, and get some cash out for some more remodeling. I only owe $45,000 (including taxes) and would like my loan to be around $60,000. The property is now worth $156,000 (appraised the end of June). I have had some trouble obtaining financing because the contract has not "seasoned" for 12 months. Any suggestions on how I can get this financing through? Thanks for the input.

*This seems like the appropriate place for this, I apologize if it is not.

[Patrick Durham]

It has been a while, I thought I'd give an update. I spoke with around 20 banks before I found one that would work with my situation. They gave me a HELOC which paid off the land contract. It also gave me a little extra to do renovations. After I owned the home for a year (based on the land contract closing) I was able to refinance the HELOC into a conventional 15 year mortgage. My last appraisal was $250,000. However houses in my neighborhood (comparable to mine) are selling upwards of $300,000. Overall it turned into a great investment.