<prompt> Human: So my boyfriend is now the owner of a small 1 bedroom house built in the 20s that is in complete shambles. There is no bathroom, the floors are caving in, the walls are in deterioration. The property value including the house now is 50k it is in a nice part of town with high property value. We are excited to basically start from scratch and build it into our first home... However, it is going to cost about 20k to make it livable. We are currently in another lease until July, when we hope to move into the new house. He was planning to be able to take a loan out against the house, but has been told he needs to live in the house for 6 months before he can refinance, and until then can only get a loan for what he paid for it...Which was 5. Are there any other options? He has good credit but currently no job that he can provide proof of income from handymancontractunion work. Please help, we want to get the ball rolling ASAP!Assistant: Can you get a professional appraisal done and get a loan against that?I dont agree with loaning money being bad in this case. Loaning money against an appreciating object can be a good investment strategy.Human: What type of financial establishment would you suggest? The property will only continue to appreciate.. the area is very up and coming, and Pinewood movie studios were just built within miles of it GA.This was a rather unexpected gift and we are going into it pretty much blind...Owning a home was a distant dream 6 months ago. Its a little overwhelming...We are Chase Bank members and after they told us no loan for at least 6 months its back to square zero pretty much.  <response>: Since you mention coming from a family of contractors has anyone done any new home construction? If so ask them what bank they have used for a their loan. It seems as if one could use the land as collateral and get a construction loan, although the bank would probably want to lend more than 20K. You may want to borrow more and not need it, ie, only take 2 draws instead of the usual 4 draws and then once house is livable convert to a 30 or 15 year conventional mortgage. 