Renovation & Construction

The first step toward a home purchase is getting pre-qualified for a loan. Your Loan Officer will review your financial information and determine how much you are qualified to borrow. As a pre-qualified buyer, your offer on a home is more likely to be accepted.

Loan Preparation Checklist

• Copy of photo ID
• Social Security number
• Copies of checking and savings account statements for the past 3 months
• Most recent pay stubs detailing your last 30 days of employment
• Federal tax returns with W-2s, K-1’s, 1099 for the past 2 years
• Evidence of any other assets such as stocks and bonds
• Contact name and address of someone who can verify your employment

Since everyone’s situation is unique, additional documentation might be required. Your Loan Officer will let you know exactly what is needed.

First, identify a property that needs work that you want to renovate. From there, you will provide the following to your loan officer to prepare preliminary figures and make sure you qualify for this specific property and renovation amount. You will then receive a pre-approval letter and make the offer.

Step 1: The first step in the renovation process will be scheduling an appointment with a licensed consultant off of HUD’s consultant roster; they will help you determine the mandatory items that have to be done to get the home up to the minimum property standards for the appraisal and help you devise the scope of work for your wish-list items (the consultant is only required for the standard versions of the renovation loan programs).

Step 2: Get contractors out to the property to see the property and obtain bids from them on the list of mandatory and desired renovations.

Step 3: Select a contractor/bid and provide them to your loan officer and to your consultant.

Step 4: Your processor will reach out to the contractor to obtain the necessary documentation to ensure they meet the qualifications to do the work.

Step 5: Your consultant will revise his initial report to reflect the contractor’s figures and remove any desired items you have chosen to eliminate and/or add any additional desired and eligible repair items that were not on the initial list.

Step 6: Once you’ve decided the final scope of work that you want to include in the loan, the appraisal can be ordered, and that is done on an after-improved basis, taking into account the work that will be done to the home as part of the loan.

Step 7: Once you have provided all the necessary documentation and are pre-qualified for the loan, which is a percentage of the lesser of the acquisition cost (purchase price + renovations) or the after-improved appraised value, your loan can go to closing.

In the days leading up to settlement, you will be sent final documentation about your loan, including the Closing Disclosure. You must review, sign and return the paperwork a minimum of three days prior to your scheduled closing date.

Your Loan Officer, or a designated employee, will tell you the amount of money you need to close on your home.

What happens on closing day:

• Meet with your settlement agent as well as your Loan Officer, or designated employee.
• Provide funds to the title company to cover your down payment, closing costs, taxes, insurance and other costs.
• You and the seller will execute all closing documents so the settlement agent can properly record the purchase of your home.

During Post Closing, your contractor can begin the work. You will start making payments which works the same as a standard loan unless you’ve financed payments into the loan for when the home will be uninhabitable during the renovation (please speak to your loan officer to determine whether this is possible for your loan).