Financing a teardown - who to use?

[Anonymous]

After looking into renovating our small house and being completely shocked by the prices, we are considering tearing down and starting fresh. It's a small older home with low ceilings, small windows and outdated systems. Several contractors who visited suggested that we were probably better off tearing down and building new. We like the neighborhood. We owe 400K on a house that's worth 1.1 as is; new construction in our area is going for just under 2M. Our lot alone is assessed around 700K.

Seeking recommendations for construction lenders, especially if you've had a good experience with one. We would probably want to use our lot as equity and minimize cash out of pocket to the best of our ability. Also is there any way to keep our existing 2% loan for the 400K?

[Anonymous]

Op I’m sorry I can’t answer your question. If you don’t mind sharing, though, I’m curious what you were quoted to renovate your house. It must have been an insane amount if you are considering a teardown as an alternative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op I’m sorry I can’t answer your question. If you don’t mind sharing, though, I’m curious what you were quoted to renovate your house. It must have been an insane amount if you are considering a teardown as an alternative.

Not OP but I was quoted $800K ish give or take $50K depending on the firm for a full gut reno on 2200ish square feet. This is in N Arlington and in 2025.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op I’m sorry I can’t answer your question. If you don’t mind sharing, though, I’m curious what you were quoted to renovate your house. It must have been an insane amount if you are considering a teardown as an alternative.

Not OP but I was quoted $800K ish give or take $50K depending on the firm for a full gut reno on 2200ish square feet. This is in N Arlington and in 2025.

Thank you. And wow!!

[Anonymous]

Sell and buy a new house. The whole process is horrible and you should definitely not do it if you need loans. And no, you won’t be keeping your current rate.

[Anonymous]

I don't have any specific recommendations but we had a construction loan that turned into a mortgage once the house received its CO.

Any good bank should be able to help you with the construction loan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't have any specific recommendations but we had a construction loan that turned into a mortgage once the house received its CO.

Any good bank should be able to help you with the construction loan.

This is what we did. It’s a stressful experience though. We only did because the area was really expensive and building a new place made sense

[Anonymous]

We used TD bank, not really recommending them per se, but it worked. We also talked to Bank of America, but their rate was slightly higher.

There was no way to keep our old mortgage- we asked, but none of the banks said it was an option

We moved out and rented for a year nearby and it really was not as awful as pp was describing. Our old house would have required major renovation, which would have also required moving out. The hardest thing was seeing our old home be torn down. We had lived there a long time and all of us were sad about it- but especially my kids.

I do think we used a little cash- for the initial deposit to the builder and also for some other small amount- I can’t remember what. Otherwise, it was all equity that was the basis of the “down payment” on the loan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We used TD bank, not really recommending them per se, but it worked. We also talked to Bank of America, but their rate was slightly higher.

There was no way to keep our old mortgage- we asked, but none of the banks said it was an option

We moved out and rented for a year nearby and it really was not as awful as pp was describing. Our old house would have required major renovation, which would have also required moving out. The hardest thing was seeing our old home be torn down. We had lived there a long time and all of us were sad about it- but especially my kids.

I do think we used a little cash- for the initial deposit to the builder and also for some other small amount- I can’t remember what. Otherwise, it was all equity that was the basis of the “down payment” on the loan.

We used citizens but also talked to us bank and negotiated btwn the two. Both options did financing pulls throughout the construction process and we paid interest only on that amount. Once we had the COO, the loan converted to a traditional mortgage at the rate we agreed to at start of the construction loan but had the ability to float down if the rate had decreased.

[Anonymous]

How old are your kids? Are you sure this is worth it? Sounds nuts.

[Anonymous]

United Bank did our construction loan.

[Anonymous]

Try US Bank

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op I’m sorry I can’t answer your question. If you don’t mind sharing, though, I’m curious what you were quoted to renovate your house. It must have been an insane amount if you are considering a teardown as an alternative.

Not OP but I was quoted $800K ish give or take $50K depending on the firm for a full gut reno on 2200ish square feet. This is in N Arlington and in 2025.

Thank you. And wow!!

This is probably for one of those fancy “design build” firms with an expensive reputation. Hiring contractors yourself for each separate part of the job and price shopping would be significantly less. But some people are lazy and impatient - hence the impulse to tear down your entire house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op I’m sorry I can’t answer your question. If you don’t mind sharing, though, I’m curious what you were quoted to renovate your house. It must have been an insane amount if you are considering a teardown as an alternative.

Not OP but I was quoted $800K ish give or take $50K depending on the firm for a full gut reno on 2200ish square feet. This is in N Arlington and in 2025.

Thank you. And wow!!

This is probably for one of those fancy “design build” firms with an expensive reputation. Hiring contractors yourself for each separate part of the job and price shopping would be significantly less. But some people are lazy and impatient - hence the impulse to tear down your entire house.

Agreed. I popped up just as pandemic started, but even considering “pre-pandemic “ pricing it was no where near 800k. You can also go with an architect then contractor route, but you will be managing those people to get the job done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op I’m sorry I can’t answer your question. If you don’t mind sharing, though, I’m curious what you were quoted to renovate your house. It must have been an insane amount if you are considering a teardown as an alternative.

Not OP but I was quoted $800K ish give or take $50K depending on the firm for a full gut reno on 2200ish square feet. This is in N Arlington and in 2025.

Thank you. And wow!!

This is probably for one of those fancy “design build” firms with an expensive reputation. Hiring contractors yourself for each separate part of the job and price shopping would be significantly less. But some people are lazy and impatient - hence the impulse to tear down your entire house.

Agreed. I popped up just as pandemic started, but even considering “pre-pandemic “ pricing it was no where near 800k. You can also go with an architect then contractor route, but you will be managing those people to get the job done.

Who did you use that was significantly less?