All Forum Posts by: Ashley Huff

Yeah, the paperwork and documenting does not scare me off. More so finding a contractor who will work with us and a 203k is the scary part. I'm afraid they will charge a lot more because of the obstacles 203k presents. We just have so many questions about the loan and need to talk to a loan officer so we can get help. We want that person every step of the way so they can straighten us out when we step out of line. I'm sure once we find the right loan officer, we'll get this ball rolling!

My fiance and I are trying to purchase our first home and get in the REI game. We have been on the "funding/financial" step for a solid 3 months now, trying to figure out what we can afford. Our expectation is to do a live-in flip. We've been exploring options from conventional loans to hard money lenders - everything in between and around. The strategy that sticks out the most to us is the 203k loan, and we've been trying to work with a couple of lenders who supposedly offer FHA programs.

Simply put, we're wondering exactly how difficult it is to make a deal with a 203k Loan. Its quite possibly the best option out there for us. We plan to live in the home for more than a year (it will be our primary residence), and we love the idea of this loan because it gives us an ample amount of time to learn about construction and the market all while working on the property. 

However, it seems a lot of lenders who advertise offering FHA loans are put off by the difficulty of finding a contractor(s) willing to work around 203k loan contingencies and guidelines. Lenders seem to be more scared of the loan than the client!

Really, any info would be highly appreciated. We are incredibly tired of being stagnant and we want to move forward (a.k.a. BY A HOUSE). If I need to answer any questions to help clarify or give more depth to this subject, I'd be happy to accommodate.

My fiance and I are new to the real estate world and BP so we're hoping to land some connections and start building new relationships with anyone on BP who was in the same boat as us. Our goal is to invest in our first residential property within the new year, and treat it as a live-in flip. We are currently absorbing as much information as possible and looking for leads, all while working full-time jobs. We have also been shopping around for loans and have considered going the hard money lending/private investor route. So what we're mainly looking for at this point is any advice/information we can get out of you, the community, about the process of hard money loans and personal experience from people who have used this method. We're ready to take our next step towards achieving our first goal in this journey. On top of that though, any other advice would help us out. 

We're thankful for any and all responses, and we are grateful for your time for those who read our post.

P.S. - My fiance will most likely be posting in this thread as well. His name is Tyler Shaulis. Thanks BP community!