Investor · Clearwater, FL · Member since 2012 · 11 posts · 3 votes
Hi All,
Thanks in advance for the advice - here is my situation:
Wife and I purchased a townhome here in FL from the bank for 80k cash back in May (2014) and are currently using as our primary residence. We would like to pull out 50k in the form of a HELOC to make improvements to the home if possible.
Unfortunately, we went through a short sale on our previous residence in Feb 2013 which is proving to make it a challenge to refinance our new home. I have spoken with a couple local lenders about options. One told me due to the previous short sale, we'd have to wait a minimum of 4 years following the short sale to be eligible to get any kind of HELOC on our new property. Alternatively, he said we may be eligible for a cash-out refinance within 2 years of the short sale closing.
Our new home is owned free in clear and the title is in both our names. Both of our credit scores are back over 700 following the short sale and we each have solid 2+ years of W2 income records.
What options, if any do we have in terms of refinancing and pulling cash out of our current residence that do not require us waiting on our short sale situation to get cleared up?
Rental Property Investor · Where we are parked · Member since 2013 · 584 posts · 178 votes
12y
Hi Zac,
We feel your pain. My wife is in the mortgage industry and we sold a home that was in her name only in 2012. We were waiting for the 2-year mark in October for her to be able to start buying again. But, as you have found out, they changed the guidelines and now there is a minimum 4-year period.
My advice would be to start calling local community banks and credit unions. By "local" I mean small but you can call outside of your area and even outside of your state. You will get a lot of "No"'s but you'll hopefully eventually get a yes.
Investor · Clearwater, FL · Member since 2012 · 11 posts · 3 votes
12y
Thanks Eric, I appreciate the advice. We will look to seek out help from these smaller 'local' banks and see if any one will be willing to work with us. My wife is a teacher and is going to check into her school credit union to check our option there as well.
I have also heard about 'portfolio lenders' that might be willing to loan, but not sure how they operate or where exactly to look for these guys?
All the best in your endeavors Eric, let me know if you guys have any luck on your end working around the short sale.
Rental Property Investor · Where we are parked · Member since 2013 · 584 posts · 178 votes
12y
Hi Zac,
A "portfolio" lender is basically a small, local bank, meaning they keep all of their loans in-house rather than selling them to another servicer after the loan has closed. They are not always small/local but smaller than the big guys.
I will definitely let you know if we find someone.