Financing for new gutted primary home

[Julia Lockhause]

Hello! My husband & I have an opportunity to buy a small gutted home in a touristy/outdoor recreation town near us for a good price. We haven't put in our offer yet or gotten an inspection, but were excited when we toured it yesterday and found it was in generally good condition and there were no visible or olfactory signs of water damage.

My original thought was we could get a conventional primary home loan for the purchase price of the house and then use cash to finish it out. We'd do some work ourselves and hire out some work to manage the budget & go at our own pace, and we'd live in our RV during that time. But our lender is only offering us a renovation or construction loan, which I can understand.

So my questions are: should we put down as much as possible to lower the monthly payment of the reno or construction loan? & then we could refi once the reno is complete? Or do you recommend other options to explore? TIA!