Buying 2nd house

[Connie Mandani]

Please help! A family friend is offering to sell their house to us. All she wants is to pay the balance of the the loan. It's a fixer upper but based on current market, the balance of the loan is about 60% of the value. Since it's a fixer upper, I would need money to fix it plus 20% down payment. This will drain my emergency fund. The solution I could think of is to obtain a HEL or HELOC for the house I am currently staying right now which we just paid off last month. Is this a good idea? If so, could you point me on how I could make this happen wherein I am protected? The fixer upper is mortgaged with the same bank I plan on getting my HEL/HELOC.