SoCal Primary Residence HELOC options

[Brandon Beaudoin]

Hi BP,

I'm trying to line up a HELOC on our primary residence in SoCal and running into a wall.

We bought in 2018 and end of this month we'll have owned for a year. Since buying we've put a little sweat equity into the place and judging by the neighborhood and recent sales of like models there's been some appreciation, as well.

We reached out to Mission Federal CU and they have some great deals on a primary residence HELOC they offer (2.99% intro for 12 months, as low as 4.75% after that with 10 year draw and 15 year repayment period up to 100% LTV) BUT they have to use the home's purchase price as market value if it's been bought within 2 years. That means we're not getting everything out that we think we can.

We are planning on buying a new place before year's end so we want to capitalize on this opportunity while it's still our primary residence.

Anybody else run into this before and found a way out? Other deals we should consider?

Thanks!