My wife and I are jumping into REI by hacking our own house. We have a two-story (2200 sq ft above grade, with a small unfinished (600 sq/ft) basement in the burbs of West Omaha. Planning to add a kitchen upstairs/enlarge our bathroom on the main floor/finish the basement (including adding a small kitchenette)/add dedicated entries for each unit, etc. Our family (myself, wife and 2 kids) will live on the main floor and rent the upstairs and basement. Any recommendations for how to finance the remodel (we're leaning toward a HELOC) and/or a good contractor that you've worked well with in the Omaha area would be GREATLY appreciated! (And any other recommendations/things to watch out for/avoid)...

@Jed Burkey Welcome to BiggerPockets! Truly nice to meet you. Good luck going forward! 😁 I would suggest talking with a lender and CPA for best options. And I have heard the local credit union are better.

@Anthoney Hanks , thanks for the response! I’ll have to look into to rates at some credit unions to compare too. Thanks again!