203k lenders for Philadelphia area
Hi all,
Anyone had a good experience with a 203k lender in the Philadelphia region and could recommend him/her to me?
Thanks so much!!
Giang
I didn't go through the 203k process but I did a lot of research into it and I was very impressed with Ray Heller of HomeBridge Financial Services. He worked for Prospect Mortgage when I was looking into the 203k and he said they were the #2 originator of these loans before they were acquired by HomeBridge.
Not sure what's changed since the aquisition but he would be a helpful person to ask. I believe you can also find a list of 203K mortgage companies online and search by state.
Good luck!
Giang Nguyen 👆👆👆I forgot to tag you in the reply.
Thanks @Garrett M. I'll reach out to Ray.
@Giang Nguyen Eric Richman https://www.homebridge.com/loan-originator/eric-ri...
I was going to use him for a 203k; however, I was late to the table and that property was sold before I had the chance. Eric does own some rental properties and understands the business quite well.
@Michael James Thanks Michael. I'll check him out.
Hey @Giang Nguyen, did HomeBridge work out for you? I just submitted a form with one of their agents in a different area but wanted to know if you were able to work with them.
Thanks!
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@Joseph Scorese should be able to point you in the right direction
@Jose Perez : I talked to Ray Heller from Homebridge and he was helpful but ultimately, I backed out of the 203k due to the high monthly payment and fees. Ended up doing a cash-out refinance with AnnieMac and will be using that for a purchase instead.
@Dave Van Horn Thanks for the referral Dave. I did my cash-out refinance before I met Joe and attended DIG events. But I'll have more cash-out refinances in the future and will reach out to Joe for guidance.
@Giang Nguyen interesting. So how did do the renovations? Or what you are saying is that you cashed out of another property and used that money to do the reno?
Sorry to ask so many newbie questions @Giang Nguyen but were the fees with homebridge high? Or is it just that the 203K loan program have high fees anywhere? I ask because I went to the site of AnnieMac and saw that they too do 203K loans and was wondering who has the high fees, the lender or the program. Thanks in advance.
@Jose Perez Sorry for the confusion. The fee of the 203k program is high. I checked in with Homebridge, Anniemac, and Allied Mortgage Group for a 203k loan. Didn't even get prequalified with Anniemac for 203k because they required a letter from me saying that I'd sell my primary residence. The program fee of 203k was comparable between both Homebridge and Allied Mortgage group (~13k for a 115k loan, and my monthly payment would be >$900 including tax/insurance because of the higher interest rate for a 203k loan and the private mortgage insurance that would never go away unless you refinance). I think for a 203k loan, the more important thing is the loan officer because it's just such a complicated process. Fee-wise, I think it's pretty standard across. Interest rates may vary but not significantly.
After I decided to not go with a 203k, someone else from AnnieMac then contacted me about a cash-out refinance on my primary residence and I ended up going with them because they had one of the lower rate/closing costs and my loan officer was super responsive. So I'm using the cash out from my primary residence to buy/rehab the new property.
You're looking around for a 203k or you're checking homebridge for some other loan?
Wow, @Giang Nguyen I had no idea that the program had some many fees. I got preapproved today for a $215k loan ($115K purchase price and $100K reno). The broker got it to me by 7:20pm and said the rest of the details would be sent in the morning. I'm sure I will be floored tomorrow when I get the details 😱. Question: does a regular FHA loan (non-203K) have similar fees? Or they are higher for the 203k program?
I got approved with HomeBridge for a 203K today. So I guess tomorrow I will find out if it will work out. Its for a quad so it might be still worth it.
Thank you so much for answering my questions and sharing your experience! You rock!
FHA loans are expensive in terms of fees. 203K loans are slightly more expensive than regular FHA loans, but not much.
Always look at your APR. That is your interest rate plus any origination fees. That will tell you how much you're really paying for the loan.
@Jose Perez Yep, I just recently learned to look at my APR instead of the interest rate as Michael suggested. FHA fee is expensive compared to conventional loan. For the cash-out refinance, a credit union couldn't qualify me for a conventional loan (not sure why exactly), so the loan mortgage sent over the FHA. The closing cost was >8k, as compared to 2-3k for a conventional one. FHA's interest rate was lower, but the APR was essentially the same. So the FHA didn't make sense to me cause you're just getting less cash up front with very little benefit.
How did your loan closing cost turn out?? Do the numbers still work?
@Giang Nguyen @Jose Perez - FHA loans are more expensive for sure and 203k's are even higher because of the added fees for HUD consultant, inspections, title updates, etc. Those fees while high are actually there to make sure your project is done properly by your contractor and that it gets closed out in a timely fashion. If you build the costs of the loan into your projections than there really is no surprises. In the past I would always work up scenario sheets for my clients who were looking at 203k's and Homestyle's so they understood those costs upfront. Once you have a handle on what those costs are you adjust your offer price accordingly.
Good luck!
Thanks @Jeff Onofrio! Good to know.
@Giang Nguyen let me share with you what I got approved for. They are pretty much charging a point to make it all work. That seems reasonable. I didn't get the property I was looking at but with this pre-approval will continue to look for something that works.
@Jose Perez Thanks so much for posting that!! Sorry you didn't get the property. It seems like the fees appear at a more reasonable % when you're taking out a larger loan. I'll keep that in mind the next time I consider a 203k. Best of luck with the search!!
No worries @Giang Nguyen, the search continues! Thanks for sharing and helping me out! You rock!
@Jose Perez Hi Jose, i'm looking now into a 203K. Have you been able to do one yet?
Kristy has done a few 203K as both an owner and a real estate agent. You could reach out to her https://kphomereno.com/203k/
Quote from @Giang Nguyen:
@Jose Perez Sorry for the confusion. The fee of the 203k program is high. I checked in with Homebridge, Anniemac, and Allied Mortgage Group for a 203k loan. Didn't even get prequalified with Anniemac for 203k because they required a letter from me saying that I'd sell my primary residence. The program fee of 203k was comparable between both Homebridge and Allied Mortgage group (~13k for a 115k loan, and my monthly payment would be >$900 including tax/insurance because of the higher interest rate for a 203k loan and the private mortgage insurance that would never go away unless you refinance). I think for a 203k loan, the more important thing is the loan officer because it's just such a complicated process. Fee-wise, I think it's pretty standard across. Interest rates may vary but not significantly.
After I decided to not go with a 203k, someone else from AnnieMac then contacted me about a cash-out refinance on my primary residence and I ended up going with them because they had one of the lower rate/closing costs and my loan officer was super responsive. So I'm using the cash out from my primary residence to buy/rehab the new property.
You're looking around for a 203k or you're checking homebridge for some other loan?
203k Fees are not inherently high. Some lenders put overlay fees on them because they don't specialize in them and see it as a headache. There are lenders out there that have no overlays on their 203ks, they're the lenders that specialize in renovation lending. You need to shop the origination points. I've seen some go as high as 5-6% which is egregious.
Every branch is different, but look into Cross Country, Guild, Cardinal, & NJ Lenders
