Are rehab loans still available, or are they a thing of the past? If they are still available to investors, what lenders are people using? Has anyone heard of or used HomePath Renovation Mortgage Financing? If so, is it a good product? What are the pros and cons?
Rehab loans through traditional lender have all but gone the way of the dinosaur. I’m sure someone, somewhere, out of all the thousands of banks in the US, MIGHT be doing them, but I’m not aware of any.
Your best bet is going to be HML; the typical HML does rehab loans.
As for HomePath, just look a few posts down as someone else recently asked about it as well.
WellsFargo has a rehab loan product. I was not able to go with it as I am planning to do the work myself. They require estimates on all work to be done to be submitted by a contractor, as well as looking at the home’s value when all work is complete. They then issue funds on a periodic basis to the contractor, not the homeowner.
From Fannie Mae website:
(altered slightly to answer question and not advertise.)
HomePath® Renovation Mortgage Financing
This special financing is available only on homes you make your primary residence.
One good feature about the HomePath mortgage it appears is that you can buy investment properties with 10% down…you are limited though in selection of the properties. Plus their credit score limits are lower…min 540. No appraisal is need and some other benefits. It does seem like a good way to go to get into a property with little money down. Would be interesting to hear from any investors that have used this program and how the financing side of the transaction went.
If you can figure out where to get teh purchase money, c couple of the banks here do “home improvement” loans, but the interest rate is totally unreasonable. You’re better off to do the repairs with your credit card (unless you are one of those guys with the 25% credit cards)