You have spent the last 3 months dreaming of buying your new home. You have been saving for a year for the down payment and you are ready. You have your dream home in your mind. You want that 2 story, 3 bedrooms/ 2 bathrooms home that fits the needs of your family. You want that nice yard for the kids so they can play. You start working with a Realtor to help you find this new home and you consult with an experienced loan officer to see what you can afford.

You are excited because this is going to be a new adventure.

You spend the next couple weeks searching the internet and working with your real estate professional to see what homes you are going to walk through. You start walking through some of these homes and you are finding out that the homes in your price range don't look like that dream home that you pictured in your head. What do you do next? Do you except that you aren't going to find that perfect home, do you settle for what you can find or do you increase your price to maybe find something better?

I am sure 95% of the people searching for a home have gone through this in one way or another.

Well here is the good news...

HUD developed a renovation program called FHA 203(k) back in 1978. This programs objective was to promote and facilitate the restoration and preservation of the Nation's existing housing stock. What the heck did that mean??? With an FHA 203k loan you can purchase a home and get extra money to make improvements. This loan allows you to purchase and updated a home with only one loan, one closing and just one monthly payment.

According to the Minneapolis Association of Realtors, 40% of homes that are currently for sale in the Minneapolis metro are foreclosed homes or short sales. You can purchase a foreclosed home, short sale or an outdated property at a steep discount and you can fix it up to meet your expectation of that dream home. You can have your cake and eat it too with the 203k loan.

Here are the eligible repairs

• Remodel kitchens and baths
• Flooring, tiling and carpeting
• Roofing, gutters and downspouts
• Room addition or garage
• Update appliances
• Interior or exterior painting
• Energy conservation improvements
• Improvement for accessibility
• Modernize electrical systems, AC, plumbing and heating
• Decks

Here are the ineligible repairs

• Luxury improvements that do not become a permanent part of the real property
• No Swimming Pools
• No Hot Tubs
• No Saunas
• No Trees, Shrubs, Flowers
• Home Theatre Systems

Don't let people tell you that these loans aren't available or are too difficult to do. They are routine loans for any borrower that qualifies using industry accepted FHA guidelines. You don't need to be some kind of special or unique borrower. To be fair though, you'll need a special and unique loan officer and Realtor.

There are a lot of nooks and crannies to this product. Too many to include in this post but please contact me. I'd love to show you how to use this tool to open doors of opportunity in this unique market.

- Ken Graczak - NMLS - 184394 - [email protected] - www.KenGraczak.com - 612-516-5626