House Project: The FHA 203k Streamlined Work!
As I mentioned, we got a special home improvement loan when we bought the house – an FHA 203(k) streamlined loan. This type of loan allows the homeowner to finance up to $35,000 in repairs/improvements/upgrades as part of their mortgage. Schweet, right? Our house has some critical items that need to be fixed (see list below) and this was the best way for us to be able to afford to do it, as soon as possible.
An FHA 203(k) streamlined loan requires quite a bit of work on the homeowner’s side. It’s the homeowner’s responsibility to find the 203(k) approved contractor, and to develop the scope of work with them. The homeowner has to get a construction estimate and a bunch of FHA 203(k) paperwork from the contractor before the mortgage process can begin (then sometimes, throughout the mortgage process, your close date is delayed by a week because the lender decided that fixing a low pressure faucet needs to be added to the FHA paperwork and then it takes that long to review it again… sometimes that happens). After close, it’s the homeowner’s responsibility to pay the contractor (via checks from the bank) and to oversee the construction, and make sure it’s done in the right amount of time.
Steven and I are really comfortable with overseeing construction – it’s basically what I do for work (well, used to… when I was more involved with that stage). And how exciting that we get to watch our house be transformed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <— yes, I really mean all those exclamation marks.
So here’s what our general contractor will be working on:
- Soffit and fascia repair
- Installing new gutters
- Installing gutter apron flashing
- Attic cleaning and new insulation
- Removing and replacing patio doors
- Remodeling first floor bathroom
- Remodeling coat closet
- Fixing low water pressure on second floor bathroom sink
This list is WAY different than what we thought it would be. Remember I mentioned us almost not buying the house since we can’t get cable internet (we need fast internet since we both work from home)? We were considering installing a tower on our property to get internet. We had a wireless site survey done, and the guy flew a drone and told us we’d need to build a 90′ tower to clear our trees… then we found out the next day* that the county only allows 65′ towers. Crap. Steven and I came to the conclusion we’d use a wireless hotspot, and were excited to have $15,000 back in the budget for other projects (remodeling both bathrooms!!!). Ha, not so fast! The next day*, during the roof inspection, we figured out why there were so many animal droppings in our attic – there are actually openings in the attic, to the outside. Uh, that’s not good. So guess how much it will cost to fix our clay tile roof – that $15,000 we thought we had back. Ha! (Our roof is really neat, but it’s a specialty roof and expensive to work on.)
But! The great thing about all of this is that we mentioned to our general contractor how we can’t build an internet tower, and he got us in touch with a buddy who sells T-Mobile wireless to businesses that work out of the home. We talked to his buddy and got an AMAZING deal on our wireless – 300GB a month PLUS binge on for Netflix/etc for a steal (we got it for the same price we were looking at for 30GB a month!)! All Steven had to do was plug the antenna in on Saturday and the internet was ready to go and works great. YAY for something being so easy!!!
It was too cold to begin the roof repair work this week, so the crew came over and started demolishing the coat closet yesterday.
I’ll explain what’s going on with that when it’s finished!
Data’s spot of choice during the early am wall demolition (he slept on the bench during afternoon demo, ha ha).
There’s lots of stories about each repair item, and I will share those as we go!
*This was the craziest week ever. Black Friday was the previous week (11/27) and Steven was SO busy with work – going in the warehouse EVERY day (because there were so many sales, yay!). Steven was at the new house on 11/30 for an inspection and for the wireless site survey (ha, and I had to go there that night because he accidentally locked his keys in the car). I had to go downtown for work 12/1 and 12/2. We met with a potential contractor at the house on 12/3 (and Steven again on 12/5 in the morning). Steven went to the roof inspection on 12/4. And… we moved in to our rental that Saturday, the 5th. We didn’t get much packing done during the week! All this made me feel much more confident about move #2, since our week was less hectic, going in to it!
Themocracy
Where are the funds for the catio?
Data mentioned something about an Auntie Rachel fund for those? Do you know anything about that? 😉
Hmmmm. Leo and Soxie must be trying to get a hold of my credit card again….
When fresh fish shipments from Alaska start showing up, you’ll know why 😉
So interesting! I’m looking forward to reading about all the repairs and remodels. I didn’t even know that kind of loan existed, either. How did you find out about it?
Thanks! 🙂
I think Steven researched online and found it. 🙂
Oh my goodness, I got nervous just READING about this. I’m so impressed, this is so very much more than I would feel comfortable taking on!! ha! I know so little about construction and remodels. (We ended up buying a different place, thank goodness, that needs NO real reno, just some updates!)
Yay! I am so happy you found a place you are comfortable with! Tell me about it!!! 🙂
Oh my gosh, I had no idea this was going on back in November. I knew you were stressed, but I actually didn’t know about this kind of thing. That “Yay, $15K!” then subsequent “Bye-bye, $15K!” sounds really stressful. I’m glad you and Steven know what you’re doing though; it sounds like you’re the right people to get this kind of loan and do it all correctly.
I kind of shut down and didn’t talk about it much because it was stressing me out and it was SO back and forth – I couldn’t keep people updated even when I tried. And that made me feel like a huge ass. A few months later, people were still asking me what we were doing for wireless and I was like “I didn’t tell you?!” Oops 🙁
But now that it’s all processed or whatever, we’re happy to be working with the contractor 🙂