Cash out refinance on un-permitted work.

[Tim Robbins]

Hi.  I have a rental property that I paid cash for about 8 months ago. I remodeled it and have it rented out now. I would like to do a cash out refinance, but I'm nervous about the process. I didn't expect to refinance it, but I want to so I can work on another. Anyway, it was originally a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom. There were two "living rooms" so I converted the smaller of the two into a 3rd bedroom with a 3/4 bathroom. Now it's rented as a 3 bedroom 1 and 3/4 bathroom. No square footage was added, so I didn't pull any permits. I do remodeling work, so everything is well done, but I'm nervous the refinance could get denied because of the changed space. Would this be a problem? I'm in St louis, but the house is just across the river in Illinois.

I've spoken directly to a few brokers. So far I've heard:

"Why not get it permitted retroactively?"

I have a great couple in the house as tenants and I don't want to involve them in this. Especially since we've all heard of horror stories involving tearing everything apart to have it inspected, and re done.

The other thing I have heard is "it will only be valued as a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom" even though the appraiser will physically see a 3rd bedroom and an additional 3/4 bathroom.

Thanks for reading