Lending for a First Live in Home with Large Renovations Needed

[Stanley Tong]

Hi all, I am trying to buy my first home in Dallas as a duplex to live in one half and rent out the other. The house I found will need about 100k in work though, but I want to take advantage of a low 3%-5% down payment by living in it.

Are there any options to lend for this? Is it typical to use a standard mortgage lender for this type of purchase for a first live in home?
I am talking with a lender, but I am not sure if he can lend with the amount of work needed.

[Matthew Porcaro]

@Stanley Tong

Thanks Scott!

Hey Stanley - this situation would be perfect for a 203k loan. I actually did the exact thing you’re trying to do a few years back. It’s what started my investing career.

First thing you need to do is secure an experienced renovation loan lender. There are a few ways to do this. One of them is to lookup the 203k endorsement summary on Google.

Go to the first site (HUD website) and scroll down to the bottom to get the most recent month and year.

This will give you a list of lenders and how many 203k loans they’ve done this month and this year. Scan through to find Dallas and make a list of lenders.

Give them all a call and see who is the head of reno lending in their departments in your city.

That should be enough to get you a good start.

The lender is the quarterback for these loans. One that’s experienced will help you stay the path, as it does have some extra nuance.

But overall, it’s extremely powerful when used correctly.

Let me know if you have any other questions!