Rehabbing my personal residence then selling

[Jason Young]

Hi all,

Not 100% certain this post is in the right spot but here goes anyway. I bought a forclosed house about 5 years ago with the intent to fix it up and live in for a significant amount of time. Maybe even rent out a couple of the 4 bedrooms to "house hack." Well, after getting married and having a kid w/ a second on the way the remodel still isn't finished and we are wanting to move to east TN. I had an idea of getting a 203k loan and just hiring out the rest of the remodel. I am guessing the house will need about 30-35k to finish up 20k of which is outside the house.

I bought the house w/ equity already and have paid down my current mortgage plus i have some cash so i don't think the down payment will be an issue. I also have good credit, no debt but the mortgage and wife's student loans, and 51k income so i don't think qualifying for the loan should be a problem. My only hang up is not knowing if it would be wise to do that kind of loan now. If things work out like i plan we could be moving in as little as a few month all the way up to a couple years depending on the job situation. We just want the house done and ready to put out a for sale sign asap just in case a job offer comes along. What say you BP?

BTW, bought the house for 122k.  Appraised for ~130k Oct 2012. Currently have USDA loan w/ about 112 left on principle. Bought on low end of my neighborhood so upgrades should push value pretty well. I paid $55.86/sq ft. Comps were between $65-72 sq. ft.