All Forum Posts by: Amy Turnbull

Hi, Marc

Thanks for responding. I'm looking for a better rate! I bought the house for my retirement. In the meantime, it has a pretty good rental history. I want to build a guest house on the property. I can either do a commercial refi construction loan, which comes with a hefty interest rate, or relocate now and apply for a Homestyle loan for the same kind of loan. Building now will raise the value of my house--I may not be able to refinance it on a fixed income in a few, short years. The downside of applying for a loan as owner-occupied is, of course, I loose the income to help me qualify. It's a conundrum! And then, of course, there's the issue of income. Changing jobs is not ideal when applying to buy a house--thanks for your thought-provoking questions!

Wayne

I need to live somewhere! My idea is to occupy the guest house which I will build using a refi construction loan. 

Sorry about your losses in Butte County. Thanks for replying here. I live in Los Angeles. The property is in New England--Western Massachusetts. 

To buy my own investment property, I understand I will have to live at the property for at least a year. Here's the problem: qualifying could be tricky. I live and work in California, where I have a solid work history. How will lenders interpret using my current job to qualify for the loan but having to leave that job to occupy the house?

Rumor has it the Homestyle loan will accept detached ADUs--no longer necessitating the charade of "addition." Still, the requirement for an investment property to only have one unit continues to be a conundrum. It's almost like Fanniemae got this wrong when they went to print: you can have an owner-occupied 1-4 unit, but only a one unit investment property? Anyone in New England have a Homestyle lender to recommend who can help me?

Thanks for the replies here. I'm still hot on the trail of trying to find the most creative way to finance my ADU. Language in the Homestyle documents says I can do any kind of renovation as long as it is fixed to the property. So I think it will come down to whether an ADU is a renovation or new construction. Then there's the "one unit" thing. I believe an ADU or an addition (which is probably what I'll call it since that is a familiar term to lenders) is classified as a single unit.

If you have any familiarity with this type of loan, please weigh in here! Thanks!

Thanks, I've been over it and over it. So many variables i.e. will I have to have reserves? Think I'll just have to take the plunge!

I have had the property for only a year so I need the after repair value appraisal to fund the project. So many questions about this loan!

I own a property in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. I will be building a separate living space and connecting it to the primary dwelling. Officially, it will be deemed an "attached accessory dwelling unit." I'm considering the standard Homestyle loan and am wondering if anyone has had experience using this loan to build either an attached ADU or an addition.