Advice on Cash-Out Refi with unique property

[Daniel Boone]

Hello! My wife and I just finished building an STR property in Northern Arkansas. Its our second STR but the first we have built. It is a studio style tiny home on 5 acres, designed as a high-end couples retreat in the woods. We've been live for a few months and its doing far better than we expected.

We recently had the opportunity to purchase the five acres next to our current lot, and are now looking to build again, but need funding. We funded the first build with a combination of cash and a HELOC on our primary residence. Our goal is to try to do a cash-out refi on the first property, use that to pay off the HELOC, and then use the HELOC to fund the second build.

Because the unit is tiny though, (200sqft) and its only been renting for a few months, I'm not sure what the best way to pull money out of that property is, or if maybe I'm out of luck until we have some proven income. Hoping someone can point me in the right direction!

[Patrick Roberts]

Youre going to have to do a lot of lender shopping on this. The combination of rural, unique, and tiny (sub 400sqft) is going to make this hard to finance. I would start with local credit unions and banks for a CRE loan. The lenders search feature here on BP may help, but I would be clear and upfront about the property characteristics. Most lenders sell their loans to the same handful of secondary market investors, most of whom will not fund with this kind of property.