What does a HML consider a “Renovation Expense”?

[Liam Rosenberg]

I’m buying my very first house in North Miami. I’m just starting the process of searching for a property, but I’m trying to figure out my budget. I will have $30K in cash. So my plan is to put 10% down and have a hard money lender cover the rest including renovations.

My question is, do I need to set aside money to pay my monthly interest payments or can I count it as a “renovation expense” and pay the payments using the lenders money?

Thanks in advance!

Liam