How do you start the process?

My dh and I are looking to do some reno in a few months.

Would you go to the bank and see about loans, etc and see how much we would want to spend/afford and then go to a contractor and say this is hat we want to spend?

Or go talk about options with a contractor, let them give me estimates and then see if we can afford any of the options?

Message edited 4/11/2017 9:40:33 AM.

How do you start the process?

Message edited 4/11/2017 10:00:02 AM.

How do you start the process?

Do you have an idea how much you can spend now? Usually my DH and I have an idea of our budget before a project, but sometimes it is difficult to know how much is realistic until you get a few estimates.

What kind of renovations are you looking to do?

Re: How do you start the process?

That's the thing.. we don't know what we can afford. I should say we know what we can afford monthly, but don't know what that equates to in terms of a loan.

I also don't know how refinancing and home equity loans work and if they can go hand in hand.

Depending on all of that, it can be just adding a beam to take down a wall, new floors and new stairs.

OR

That plus half dormer or dog dormers, new front entrance, driveway and some new windows.

Re: How do you start the process?

I'd start with the bank to see what you can get. I'm guessing you would be looking at home equity line of credit? If that's the case, open most you can and only use what you need. Find out payment structure for x amount and stick to that budget.

That's our plan when we do next renos - which I'm hoping is spring of 2018

ETA: id go to bank first because you mentioned quite a few things you want to do. I wouldnt waste a contractor (or multiple for quotes) time if you won't be able to swing more than 1 or 2 of those projects, kwim?

Message edited 4/11/2017 1:39:41 PM.

How do you start the process?

im a planner. im already planning renovations when DD is out of daycare (in 3 years) and going to use that money to take out a home equity loan. I've already met with my contractor and told him what I wanted to do and he gave me a price. that scraped that idea. so we came up with another plan. im glad i went with the contractor first so i know what i can do. i have an idea how much i can take out based on the equity in my house.

How do you start the process?

we're doing renovations in a few weeks. island federal has the best HELOC rates right now so i would do that. It's 2.49% for 2 years, then prime rate after that, which is around 4% right now

ETA: I think you need to do at least 25k for a HELOC and keep that out for a certain amount of time. You can also make interest-only payments for the first couple of years

Message edited 4/12/2017 2:12:56 PM.

Re: How do you start the process?

We finished our basement a couple years ago. First, we had a few contractors come over for estimates. So at least we had an idea. Most of them were booked with jobs anyway and couldn't have started the job anywhere from 2-6 months later (which was fine by us). After we had an idea of the amount, we talked with Wells Fargo about a Home Equity loan and 6 months later the job began. Good luck!