FHA 203K loans are perfect for those of us who fall in love with a great
house that has this Gosh Awful Shag Carpet! This carpet would give you a headache! How can you buy the house if you don’t have an extra $5000 to update that 1970′s carpet, green countertops, and linoleum? If the property is under the FHA loan limit in your county, you can purchase it with a FHA 203K loan.
Let’s say you negotiate a sales price of $100,000. With a traditional FHA mortgage loan, you would need to put 3.5% of the $100,000 into the downpayment. With this special FHA mortgage program, designed for REHABS, you can add up to $35,000 for “updates.” This means that if you negotiate a price of $100,000 and you need an additional $5000 for the updates… we base the 3.5% downpayment on $105,000!
It’s a GREAT program for folks who need to update a property! The main things to remember are:
- You can add a minimum of $5000 to the purchase price for improvements, including appliances.
- You can not change the “footprint” of the house.
- You can not borrow more than $35,000 for improvements.
- The property must appraise for the improvements plus the purchase price, or “after improvement” value.
- Qualifying is the same as with traditional FHA loans, so you need to have at least 2 credit scores above 600.
- The after improvement value can not exceed the maximum loan amount for your county.
- The checks for improvement will be going directly to the entity doing the work, only in RARE occassions will this be the homebuyer.
- Great loans for folks purchasing foreclosed property!
- FHA is not a loan for Investors, with the exception of those purchasing a HUD foreclosed property – when HUD allows an FHA mortgage as part of the contract.
If you have questions about a 203K loan in NC, please contact Steve and Eleanor Thorne 919-649-5058. Connect With Us on Facebook or on Google Plus!












Too few people are aware of this product, particularly with the abundance of bank-owned properties out there. Many of these can be bought for a reasonable price, but need some TLC. The FHA 203k is the perfect product for such properties.
Great way to give buyers in N.C an option to buy a property that they might not have considered before. Hopefully plenty have seen this post and have contacted you regarding the 203k.