Major Home Repair-Best Way to Pay

[georgina]

Those advocating selling must have not tried to buy a property lately. If OP sells, where are they going to live? Buying a new place is not easy. We had 8 offers in 2 days on our house, all over asking price. The people who bought it waived all inspections, but it was the 11th house they had bid on! We had done the wall anchor thing before putting it on the market (would never have tried to sell with cracks in the cement block foundation). This is very common in the Pittsburgh area with clay soil.

 

[unrequited23]

We were able to refi for $275. in closing cost with a $100 home depot GC so it cost $195. It was with Third Federal.

Thanks for the lead on a lender! We are in NE OH.

 

[nycdisneygal]

Refinance and use savings. See if you can start saving on other things in meantime too. good luck!! Thats a tough situation. I wish you all of the best.

 

[mefordis]

Our home needs major foundation repairs. Two main ways to repair have been presented--interior bracing or excavating the exterior, rebuilding the wall, along with replacing downspouts and any drain tiles not functioning properly. We've chosen the more expensive route after getting four bids. My question is what is the best way to pay for the repair. It would clear out 85% of our savings, leaving about two months living expenses. The best personal loan rate we've found is 5.99%. We have not looked into home equity loans yet...We've lived here for six years and have only reduced our mortgage balance by 18%. Upcoming major expenses include replacing gutters with larger size and some sort of gutter shield, replacing the stamped concrete patio and walkway that will be removed for the foundation repair with probably the most inexpensive option that won't increase hydro-static pressure on the foundation and a partial driveway replacement in a few years. We are working on cutting expenses and increasing income.

Thanks for any advice.

How much is the foundation repair going to cost?

 

[hopemax]

This depends on the size of the payment needed, and how fast you are able to pay it back, but when we had a major home repair we were able to get a "home improvement" type credit card with 0% APR for X months (I don't remember how long it was, maybe 18 months). But the way we treated it was: the credit card was only ever used for this one purchase, and the entire balance would be paid off at the end of X months. We calculated what our monthly payment needed to be to accomplish that, and no matter what the bill said we owed, we used our calculation instead.

I did a quick Google and Chase Freedom Unlimited has a 0% APR for 15 months, so if you do something like pay half from savings, and finance the rest. But the key is the total has to be paid off by the time your 0% ends. If you don't have the discipline to do that, or the total is simply too much to make it viable, then other options may be better.

 

[scrapquitler]

Our home needs major foundation repairs. Two main ways to repair have been presented--interior bracing or excavating the exterior, rebuilding the wall, along with replacing downspouts and any drain tiles not functioning properly. We've chosen the more expensive route after getting four bids. My question is what is the best way to pay for the repair. It would clear out 85% of our savings, leaving about two months living expenses. The best personal loan rate we've found is 5.99%. We have not looked into home equity loans yet...We've lived here for six years and have only reduced our mortgage balance by 18%. Upcoming major expenses include replacing gutters with larger size and some sort of gutter shield, replacing the stamped concrete patio and walkway that will be removed for the foundation repair with probably the most inexpensive option that won't increase hydro-static pressure on the foundation and a partial driveway replacement in a few years. We are working on cutting expenses and increasing income.

Thanks for any advice.

When we had to replace our roof a few years ago, I didn't want to wipe out my savings, and I didn't want to have to pay a lot of interest. At that point, Discover offered me a balance transfer cash out deal at 0% for 18 months. They deposited 10K in my bank account and I paid a fee (It was $150 or $200, I think), and then I just had to pay off the 10K within the 18 months, and there would be no interest.

All of my credit cards used to send me these offers frequently, and I used them a few times for things like the roof, new appliances, etc. I'm not sure if they still do them, I haven't noticed one of these offers in my statement in a while.

 

[LovesTimone]

My parents went through this back in the 80's and it was a complete nightmare and beyond stressful.

My heart goes out to you...

Wishing you the best...