When you're just starting out and buying your first home, where do you get the cash to fix it up if it's not already in great condition?
Lots of first-time homebuyers find themselves in this situation: They're ready to own and they have enough income and savings to qualify for a mortgage, but they can barely afford the type of home and/or neighborhood they want to live in, and the home might need lots of improvements and renovations to fix deferred maintenance and outdated finishes.
If you watch House Hunters on HGTV, you've probably seen lots of homebuyers in this scenario. Something that's always bugged me is that the show doesn't explain how a cash-strapped young buyer can afford to renovate a fixer upper.
Finally, last night, I saw an episode called "22-Year-Old Seeks Victorian Fixer-Upper in Pittsburgh" that addressed this issue. The young woman said she had secured an FHA 203(k) loan so she could buy a fixer-upper. She had qualified to borrow $150,000, a sum that would have to both cover the purchase price and the renovations. She ended up buying a $70,000 home, which gave her plenty of funds to improve an old Victorian in an up-and-coming neighborhood.
The episode still didn't get into the details of how the 203(k) program works, so if you'd like to learn about a loan that can help you buy and renovate a fixer-upper, check out my recent Interest.com article, "How to Finance a Fixer-Upper."