Prep Steps for Getting HELOC or Equity Loan Unfinished Property

[Chrissie E Lewis]

So we are brand new to this! 

My husband and I want to use our current equity to buy another residence, either single family home or duplex for a rental. The home we currently live in is an old church turned into a duplex, we purchased it two years ago. We are in the process of renovating it ourselves. We do have people renting the basement unit currently (we renovated that part first). We are wondering if we can go ahead with the bank, which I know requires an appraisal of the current state of the house. My concern is we are still stripping off lead paint from the exterior of the home in sections and then repainting as we go, we will most likely be presenting an unfinished property to appraise. The inside is in good shape its mostly the exterior we are concerned about. Do banks also require Inspections as well? 

Should we wait 6-8 more months (due to weather constraints) to finish the project before trying to get equity for another investment property? Or can we go ahead with everything?

When we bought the property we did put 20% down on it and the market value for homes here in Colorado in our area has gone up quite a lot since we bought it. 

Any help is greatly appreciated! 

Thanks!