Each lender, for the most part, is going to have similar rates. it really comes down to communication and their process!

Insurance has been a big issue in our market this year as companies have jacked rates out of control. 

Lending could be an option but with interest rates high 7, I am looking for other creative options.

There's also Jefferson City which is just east of knoxville that has some upside too. college town near a lake which gives some upside for students or short term rentals depending on what you like to do. 

My go-to with smaller value properties is a commercial loan, which usually is based on either 15% or 20% down and my favorite lender locally for this is currently between 5%-6% depending on the rate-lock period (between 3-10 years) and the loan is amortized over 20 years.That's my go-to strategy. 

This town is very small in population (population trend not growing) although has a community college that is less than half mile walking distance from ANY of the properties (community college population is growing at WELL above avg rate(dorm rate 850mth))

I'm in the position to apply(depending on lender DTI requirement) for conventional financing through the builder at <6% interest rate in this current market.

Stephanie - That looks like a great rate to me!

It depends on your remaining entitlement.

That also means that if you had to break contract because of it, you would be in breach, and would forfeit your earnest money.We, as an example, have letters from both our banker and one of our HML (that we use depending on deal size) that states that we do in fact have immediate access to "x" dollars.