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OT: Home Equity Loan and home renovation.

rutalum07

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Oct 22, 2007
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I need to take a large chunk of money out of my home for a big project. What banks have the best rates right now and how far will rates lower in the near future. The project is starting in Feb or March
 
When I did my kitchen 4 years ago, I refinanced my primary loan at a lower rate with the same bank, took it from 12 years left on the note to 10, and took out the HELOC all with the same bank. In the end, I ended up only paying about $200 more a month while taking 2 years off the first mortgage. I was also using a local bank as opposed to a big national.
 
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Prior to COVID, we had plans drawn up for an addition of approximately 1,000 square feet to our home that essentially rearranged most of the ground floor and added a large kitchen and a laundry room onto the back of the existing structure. Second floor above that is a new master bedroom with a walk-in closet and a master bath that is half new construction and the other half adapted what was a very small bedroom. We also added a "foyer" to the front of the house. (You previously walked almost right into the front steps.) I share this just to provide context to the scale of the project.

In 2015, we had refinanced our original 30-year loan into a 15, knocking about ten years off while only adding a couple hundred per month (Rate went from 5.25 to 3). We didn't have enough equity in the house to do the entire project, but I had read about renovation loans through a company called Renofi. We worked with them, and they do a lot of the legwork to match you up with a bank that will fund the project, based on the equity already in your house as well as the projected value once the work is complete. In our case, the addition was completely transformative to a small, older colonial that was only 1,600 square feet to begin with.

Renofi hooked us up with a local credit union that was really good. Now, we began work in late 2021, when, as you'll recall, inflation was soaring AND the supply chain problems were at their worst. So the project wound up costing more than we had anticipated, which is almost always the case anyway. We did lock down the costs by purchasing many things as soon as we could, way before we needed them. I had all the new kitchen appliances and the upstairs bathtub sitting in my garage for about nine months, for example.

The loan was for about $225,000 and the project wound up being closer to $350,000, but we used some from savings, some was pay as you go, and we even hit my parents for an interest-free loan on the last $25,000. It was close!

This is more info than the OP asked for, but the context is, I think, helpful. But check out Renofi - they were great and really made what I thought was not going to happen into a reality without killing us or making us house poor.
 
How much you need matters as well. You’d be surprised how much a banks appraisal will vary. I did what you are about to do 3 years ago. Tried with PNC at first and I was only able to borrow 150k and I went to a small credit union called quorum and was able to borrow 234k. Both were prime plus and the Pnc loan was a little cheaper but I needed the money. Quorum just appraised my house for much more. And honestly the quorum appraisal was way more accurate even being so much higher.

How much you think you need is not enough. I did a gut renovation and it was insanely expensive bc you wind up rationalizing it like well if we don’t do it now then we can never do it later or we’re already paying the labor so why not get the better floors or the nicer cabinets. It all starts to add up.

Also the special trades are so expensive. I shook in fear when the plumbers were there. Still have ptsd from those guys and their bills. My GC was amazing though and we lived in the basement during it. Was pretty wild but awesome to watch the transformation.

My house looks amazing but I’ll be paying for it for years to come and the rates shooting through the roof have hurt so much.

One point to make the progress is going to move like wild fire at first and it’s exciting. Demo, framing etc. then it grinds to the most painful crawl and lingers on with all the detail work and coordinating all the special trades. You just feel like money is bleeding out and you can’t see any meaningful progress. At the end I wound up telling the guys I can finish myself bc to spend another 10k on them painting and spackling and fine tuning everything after spending 550k I had enough. So just keep that whole lingering aspect in mind. Those last 5 yards are painful.
 
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When I did my kitchen 4 years ago, I refinanced my primary loan at a lower rate with the same bank, took it from 12 years left on the note to 10, and took out the HELOC all with the same bank. In the end, I ended up only paying about $200 more a month while taking 2 years off the first mortgage. I was also using a local bank as opposed to a big national.
rates were a lot lower then
 
How much you need matters as well. You’d be surprised how much a banks appraisal will vary. I did what you are about to do 3 years ago. Tried with PNC at first and I was only able to borrow 150k and I went to a small credit union called quorum and was able to borrow 234k. Both were prime plus and the Pnc loan was a little cheaper but I needed the money. Quorum just appraised my house for much more. And honestly the quorum appraisal was way more accurate even being so much higher.

How much you think you need is not enough. I did a gut renovation and it was insanely expensive bc you wind up rationalizing it like well if we don’t do it now then we can never do it later or we’re already paying the labor so why not get the better floors or the nicer cabinets. It all starts to add up.

Also the special trades are so expensive. I shook in fear when the plumbers were there. Still have ptsd from those guys and their bills. My GC was amazing though and we lived in the basement during it. Was pretty wild but awesome to watch the transformation.

My house looks amazing but I’ll be paying for it for years to come and the rates shooting through the roof have hurt so much.

One point to make the progress is going to move like wild fire at first and it’s exciting. Demo, framing etc. then it grinds to the most painful crawl and lingers on with all the detail work and coordinating all the special trades. You just feel like money is bleeding out and you can’t see any meaningful progress. At the end I wound up telling the guys I can finish myself bc to spend another 10k on them painting and spackling and fine tuning everything after spending 550k I had enough. So just keep that whole lingering aspect in mind. Those last 5 yards are painful.
This. Home renovations are brutal !!
Did a one floor renovation a few years back, that included a kitchen remodel, renovated bathroom, flooring , random widows and electric .
The GC was a good friend of mine …had been in my wedding. Price was good as some items fell off the truck and the job turned out fantastic.
But the process was painful and slow. And if you have a spouse that just might add to the stress level :)
I am still good friends with the GC…but it was a close call! Lol
 
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