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Uninhabitable Home Options Please help!

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NeedHelp

Freshman Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2009
Professional Status
General Public
State
Arizona
I don't know much about this "uninhabitable home" thing. Hoping you guys could shed some light.
(this is a bank owned home)

After months of looking we found our DREAM house! You know, the house where, when you walk in, You KNOW it's the house for you!

I honestly started crying when i went in there because it was EVERYTHING I had wanted in a house! It IS PERFECT!

We saw it today and it needs work but my boyfriend is an engineer and nothing is too major to do (except put in a new HVAC)

This is what needs to be done.

Floor in living room needs to have pergo re-layed. Dog pee stained and has the old boards curling.

Car port that is attached to house has water damage. We were going to rip down the shingles and roofing part of it and replace it when we had the money. Its not needed to live as it's not IN the house In our opinion.

Some water damage in front room probably from a bad seal between the outside wall and carport. After we ripped the carport down we would re-seal the opening, tear out that part of the wall and put in new drywall. EASY!

The kitchen was in the process of a re-model (looks like they ran out of money).

It has some bottom cabinets on one side. These are missing doors. I don't think the sink is in or hooked up.

There are no top cabinets and no cabinets on the other side of the kitchen.

It has NO appliances but its piped for gas stove, fridge, oven, and dish washer all have places.

The bathroom in the master they were re-modeling too. They removed the sink/counter and put a new one on the opposite wall. They had it plumed as well so it works.

The place where the sink was has a pipe sticking out of the wall but looks like they were getting ready to put a garden tub there (which we would continue to do). It has a shower, and a toilet that i believe both work.

Everything else IN the house looks fine.

The only other issue is, the HVAC is missing. On the roof there is a metal box. Looks like sheet metal. The inside of the box is empty. It looks like they just pulled it out.
I called some companies to get an estimate based on square footage and a 5ton AC unit (this is without visiting the property) would be 5-8 grand. That's fine and we can do that over time. We have a place to stay during renovating as well. We don't care about making repairs and have jobs to pay for it.



So here is the problem. Our lending agent (i think that's what he is called. He looks for loans for us) says we probably won't be able to get a loan on the house because it is probably considered uninhabitable.

The house is 2650 sq ft, they're asking 54,900 for it. It's a damn good deal in a good neighborhood near major shopping and roads. We were going to put $10,000 down and finance 40,000.
(offering 50,000 instead of 55,000)

He doesn't think we can get the 40,000 loan we were pre-approved for in our LSR beacuse of the work it needs.


What, from what i listed, would make that house considered uninhabitable?


Someone said just the missing kitchen sink. They said HVAC has nothing to do with being habitable. Lendor guy says due to being in arizona, we have to have a working HVAC unit.


Someone said something about putting in an offer, going for the loan, let them tell you WHY you won't get the loan (IE sink needs to be in, HVAC needs to be in, etc) and fix only the bare minium that the bank says you need to in order to get the loan.

My question is, if we put an offer and try to get the loan, WILL they actually tell us what needs to be done to DEFINITELY get the loan. I mean, we have money set aside for repairs but we don't want to make the repairs if the bank will NOT give us the loan even after the repairs are made.


What are my options. So far tomorrow i will be exploring:

-Getting a personal loan for 40,000-45,000
-Home possible mortgages
-lending agent is doing some research as well


Please give me some info on what to do. This is our dream house and for that price, i'd hate to let it slip right through our finger tips!
 
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Find a lender that can get you a FHA 203K loan. Sounds like the person you are dealing with hasn't heard of this (lives under a rock) or can't do this type of loan.

203K will lend you the money to fix up the house and will lend on this type of home. Use a small local bank. Do not use one of the big national banks.....they will screw you. Get it in writing that the lender will use a local appraiser who knows how to do 203k reports. It is possible the lender will require two reports, one as-is and one as completed.
 
Welcome to the forum.

First, as for what will be required of the property to make it "habitable" will be up to the appraiser and the lender's underwriters, based on local building requirements, appraisal standards and lenders requirements. It sounds like you may be sugar coating it a bit, and the appraiser might "condition" the appraisal on several items being taken care of.

If this property is owned by the Bank, you may have a problem getting them to do mandated repairs, and you certainly wouldn't want to make the repairs yourself, at your expense prior to taking ownership.

Has your loan officer looked into an FHA 203K mortgage? This would allow you to close on the property prior to repairs, and your mortgage could be based on the value after all repairs are made. FHA allows for a huge list repairs and updates to be included. Unless you want to pay cash then also pay to repair also out of pocket, this may be the way you want to go.

Good Luck
 
Find a lender that can get you a FHA 203K loan. Sounds like the person you are dealing with hasn't heard of this (lives under a rock) or can't do this type of loan.

203K will lend you the money to fix up the house and will lend on this type of home. Use a small local bank. Do not use one of the big national banks.....they will screw you. Get it in writing that the lender will use a local appraiser who knows how to do 203k reports. It is possible the lender will require two reports, one as-is and one as completed.

Well Tim, I just posted, and it appears once again that great minds think alike:icon_lol:
 
A 203k sounds like it might be a way for you to go. I just finished a nasty 203K report today. Not only condition issues but a functional issue as well. Lots of paperwork involved but it is a good program. The appraiser will give you two numbers, as-is and as repaired.
 
The FHA 203 K program may be what you are looking for. Other options include personal loans, as you mentioned. or owner financing. You should also check to see if there is an existing mortgage on the property which you could assume or wrap around. If you do anything other than an FHA or conventional loan please contact a local real estate attorney experienced in such transactions.
 
See if the seller will make you a construction loan / purchase loan which can be converted in to a mortgage upon completion. Generally the purchase / construction loan will be for a higher interest rate, with interest only payments and a short duration. One all the work is done they will do an end loan with will be a conventional mortgage. You need to think like a developer/remodeling contractor rather than a homeowner for the short run. I haven't had any direct experience but my loan officer friends have told me that Fannie and Freddie have remodeling / repair loan programs similar to the the HUD 203K program. If nothing else the process of putting down on paper all of the needed repairs and developing a budget will help you figure out if the house is a good deal or not. My advise to investors is, tell me what the house will be worth when you are done making the upgrades, tell me what it is going to cost to make the upgrades, how much profit do you need to make on the deal. Now subtract the profit and the cost from the end value, what ever is left is what you can afford to pay for the house. In case you are wondering, yes even you need to add in the profit factor although it will be less than a re-modeler would calculate because some of the profit for you would derived from the actual use of the property.
 
Whatever you do...do NOT make the repairs yourself prior to closing. There are a thousand (and one) reasons the lender could deny the loan at the last minute after the repairs are done.

More than likely, they will not allow this anyway as there could be potential (and substantial) liability issues for the bank as the property owner if the work is not performed correctly.

Find a way to get it closed PRIOR to spending one cent on the property.

Just my .02...

todd
 
Don't rule out the bank that owns the property as a source of financing. They may be willing to finance to get it off their books. Or at least shift it from one side of the book to the other side of the book.
 
Need Help,

You may want to consider a home inpection from a qaulified home inspector, roughly 3 to 4 hundred bucks which is a small price to pay especially since you state "Water Damage". It's NEVER as you say
put in new drywall. EASY!
I know you stated your hubby is an engineer and sounds as if he's handy however, once you get into, behind, under and start pulling things apart....rarely is it an easy fix.

Many home inspectors have moisture meters, flexible fiber optic scopes to check in between and behind walls, they go into the attic and crawl spaces, they spend roughly 4 to 6 hours checking the place out and will give you a full report. Just make sure you get a highly recommended one.

Your "Dream Home" could become a nightmare really quick. Keep your emotions in check, another perfect house is right around the corner or will become available real soon.

Good luck
 
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