How long after buying a home will i be able to take out a home equity loan?

Question

I am wanting to buy my first home and the home i found needs work. I want to take a home equity loan out to make the repairs but i dont know what kind of time frame i will be looking at to get one. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

depends on how fast home prices are going up - they are supposed to stay down or flat for at least the next year or two, so I wouldn't count on any decent equity for at least 5-10 yrs

Answer 2

Well the home equity loan is based on how much equity there is in the house and your credit score. If you buy the house and get a loan for lets say 300,000 (put 10% down payment)and and the surrounding houses go up in price your house would increase its value too (your payments usually don't make much of a difference because first years you pay mainly interest on a 30 year fully amortized loan). So if your house becomes around 360,000 from original 330,000 then your loan to value would be 83.3% with good credit you could refinance and get about 20,000 out of your equity.

How long this would take depends on the area you are buying at. Right now there are many places such as California where the house values are actuelly declining.
It is most likely going to take about 2 years.

Answer 3

Well, let's see - A Home Equity Loan is a loan on the equity you have in your home. After you buy your home, you have no equity in your home because you have just started paying it off. So you have to wait until you have paid in enough money to actually have some equity!! A better move would be to convince a mortgage lender that by improving the property, you would increase its value so the lender agrees to put money in the mortgage loan under certain conditions to cover repairs and improvements. We had a whole historic neighborhood recovered because a local bank was willing to take a huge house with a sale price of $40,000 and loan $75,000 on it for professional repairs. Because of the rising market at that time and the quality of the homes, the results were homes valued at $200,000 or more, now worth $750,000 plus. Of course, it really helps to have a rising market which we don't right now.

Answer 4

You should be able to close a home equity loan within 2 to 3 weeks after the application. However there are many factors that can affect the time it takes to close your home equity loan, and each loan is different. The following factors help keep the closing time frame short:

(a) you have excellent credit score

(b) you provide your loan officer with all the information and documentation he needs honestly and quickly

(c) your loan officer is efficient

(d) the lender has efficient procedures and technology

If you apply for the additional loan you need from your first mortgage lender, you should be able to get the money very quickly since the first mortgage lender already has all the necessary information.

Answer 5

You won't get an 'equity loan' until you actually have equity in the property. If you take a higher LTV mortgage, your equity will be close to zilch. Lenders are not going to give equity loans when there is next to no equity. I suggest that you contact your local banker to see if you can arrange for a 'construction loan' after you purchase the property. Bear in mind that, after you are done with the needed repairs, the value of the house may not meet what you have borrowed against it.

Unless you get a really hot deal on the original purchase, count on being 'upside down' for a few years down the road.

Answer 6

As I understand it, a home equity loan is based on the amount of equity in your home, therefore, if you have only just bought the property presumably there won't be any equity?

The bank will anyway take into account whether a further loan is affordable.