203k Loan Consultants and Inspectors
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- 1yMatthew PorcaroBusiness MemberLender · Long Island, NY · Member since 2016 · 456 posts · 336 votes
Hey Luke - welcome to the community.
My first property I bought was with a 203k, and I house hacked it as well. It's a great way to start.
As far as looking for contractors, any licensed and insured contractor with experience and some trade lines can qualify.
I grew up in the construction business, and one thing I always tell people when finding good contractors is the referral rule, using the 3 F's. Friends, Family, Facebook.
Just start by asking your friends, family, and post on facebook asking for any reputable contractors that they had good success with.Then, ask them to introduce you to them. A referral goes a long way. The contractors are more likely to respond to you and help you out if one of their previous clients recommends them.
Any General Contractor with a good reputation can do these products. The 203k operates very similarly to commercial work or insurance work.
As for the 203k consultants, you can find them either on the HUD website, or theres another directory called 203khudconsultants.com
Some tips about consultants:-They're not all created equal. Some do a ton of business, others do it sparingly. You want to connect with ones that do a lot of renovation lending work.
-Their HUD ID # is in ascending order, meaning, the lower the number, the longer they've been a HUD consultant. Sometimes it might be worth considering the ones with a little more experience.
- If a consultant requires a contractor bid to do their work write-up, run. It's the job of the consultant (per the guidelines) to create a scope of work and give an unbiased cost estimate based on the scope of work. This is just an estimate, and ultimately your contractors numbers will be the true renovation budget. But if the consultant requires the contractor bids first, it means they don't have experience with understanding work writeups and it'll put you behind the 8 ball.
One more piece of advice I'd give is focus on getting the most qualified 203k lender you can find. An experience renovation loan lender will have relationships with the best consultants in your area. It will make your life a lot easier. If you have a lender already, really nail down how experienced they are at these loans. You want to work with someone that specializes in them, not someone that does them once in a while.
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