One step forward, one step back.
We talked to our loan officer today about what our funding options are. Since our plan is to sell the house soon, a refinance isn't likely to happen, or to be of any real benefit to us. However, we also have the problem that our down payment for the new house, or even to start construction on the new house, is tied up in our old house. It has to be sold before anything can begin. We suspected this might be the case; unfortunately, with the credit market being what it is (read: completely hosed), there's no real option to get a bridge loan or the like to front us the money to get started.
This brings up an interesting conundrum. Right now, the lot is on a 14-day reservation, held by a $1000 check that we get back at the end of 14 days. If we want to have the lot held for an additional 75 days, we have to put down an additional $750; that total ($1750) is non-refundable, but gets rolled into the initial cost of the house. However, our savings are tapped out at the moment, and if we want to do any repairs (like the bathtub that needs to be fixed in the next month or so), then that means we can't afford to put down the $1750. Further more, we're not likely to find any additional funding for the home repairs. We're just at the 80% value barrier for a home equity loan, and beyond that, there's not much available.
The plan is looking more and more like the following: take back the deposit on the lot. Talk with the realtor on Thursday about the steps to getting our house listed. Get selected home repairs done as we can. Get house sold eventually (and it's a good market to do so, especially for starter homes like ours). Then, move into rental property and get work started on the house. The downside is, that might put our house into construction over the winter - not a likely time to build/move in.
We still need to talk to the realtor. We also need to call the developer and let him know our situation. He might be able to find a way to help us out - we want to be in the new house, and they want to put us there. It's just figuring out the funding and the repair/remodeling situations in the meantime that's proving to be a challenge. I hope it'll work out. I don't know if it will, but I will try.
This brings up an interesting conundrum. Right now, the lot is on a 14-day reservation, held by a $1000 check that we get back at the end of 14 days. If we want to have the lot held for an additional 75 days, we have to put down an additional $750; that total ($1750) is non-refundable, but gets rolled into the initial cost of the house. However, our savings are tapped out at the moment, and if we want to do any repairs (like the bathtub that needs to be fixed in the next month or so), then that means we can't afford to put down the $1750. Further more, we're not likely to find any additional funding for the home repairs. We're just at the 80% value barrier for a home equity loan, and beyond that, there's not much available.
The plan is looking more and more like the following: take back the deposit on the lot. Talk with the realtor on Thursday about the steps to getting our house listed. Get selected home repairs done as we can. Get house sold eventually (and it's a good market to do so, especially for starter homes like ours). Then, move into rental property and get work started on the house. The downside is, that might put our house into construction over the winter - not a likely time to build/move in.
We still need to talk to the realtor. We also need to call the developer and let him know our situation. He might be able to find a way to help us out - we want to be in the new house, and they want to put us there. It's just figuring out the funding and the repair/remodeling situations in the meantime that's proving to be a challenge. I hope it'll work out. I don't know if it will, but I will try.