Wells Fargo Purchase & Renovate Loan?

Does anyone have any experience with the WF Purchase & Renovate loan? After a year of househunting, my husband and I have decided to purchase a 2 family townhouse in Brooklyn that we plan to gut renovate and turn into a 1 family townhouse. We already know the contractor and architect (independent of each other) that we would use based on a past, albeit much smaller, renovation project that we... [more]

Does anyone have any experience with the WF Purchase & Renovate loan? After a year of househunting, my husband and I have decided to purchase a 2 family townhouse in Brooklyn that we plan to gut renovate and turn into a 1 family townhouse. We already know the contractor and architect (independent of each other) that we would use based on a past, albeit much smaller, renovation project that we did on our apartment a few years back. We have received quotes/timelines from both. We are not worried about the financing for the townhouse itself as we were pre-approved for a loan that comfortably exceeds what we need to purchase this home. However, in the interest of taking advantage of the low-rate environment and my desire to keep more cash liquid, I have been looking into the idea of mortgage + reno loan in one. I have looked into the 203(k) option, but we would prefer to pay 20% down and avoid PMI. Additionally, the 203(k) option seems like it may have a lot of red tape and restrictions. I'm not sure whether a conventional loan would have the same red tape, and my concern would be causing difficulty in the flexibility of our renovation by adding mounds of paperwork or restrictions. Does anyone have any advice on whether taking a reno loan is possible or recommended? The one I see coming up a lot is Wells Fargo. Should we just do it with cash? Thanks! [less]