Will anyone finance a bus conversion I own outright?

[belfert]

I have found a house with a 3800 square foot outbuilding that would be perfect for me and my bus.  It is half the price or less of my current home.

I would need to come up with well over $10,000 that I don't have in order to sell my house.  Is there any bank/credit union/whatever that would allow me to take out a loan on my bus that I own outright?  The main issue I see is a lot of banks won't make loans on vehicles one already owns outright.  The matter of if they would even make a loan on my vehicle is secondary.

My finances would be a whole lot better if I sold my house and bought this one.  I think part of the reason this house is so cheap is because folks don't want to commute that far in this day of $4 gas.

[jbnewman]

You might try the locally owned banks and credit unions. They are less apt to have a formula and more apt to take your specific vehicle into account.

-jbn

[technomadia]

Seconding checking out a local credit union or bank.   Before the credit meltdown, some banks had no problem giving a loan on a vehicle that was owned outright (providing it was new enough). I don't know how easy that is to do these days and if it was ever possible with a bus conversion or not.

Another option is taking out an unsecured personal loan.  A friend of mine sold his house a couple years back and was upside down in the mortgage. To pay it off, he took out both a loan on a vehicle he owned AND took out a personal loan.


Best wishes!
- Cherie

[Joe Camper]

Make out a sales contract to your wife and have her apply for the money just as if she were buying it from anywhere. 

[bevans6]

Is it that you need the $10K for expenses related to the sale, or that you expect to come out of the old house with $10K negative equity (loss) to get clear?

I agree on the credit union.  They will need a survey of the bus, probably.  I would probably start by doing a business plan and going to the current mortgage lender and whoever you might try to use for the mortgage on the new house.  something like "here's my equity, here is what I will end up with after the old house is sold and the new house is bought, here's the amount I'm paying for the new house, getting for the old house, what the new house is worth, here's the gap, finance me"

Brian

[belfert]

It turns out this house won't work for me.  I had gone out and taken a quick look at the place and thought the outbuilding would be tall enough, but it turns out the ceilings are only 12 feet high.  Not going to work when my bus is at 12 foot 9 inches.

I guess trying to come up with cash is a moot point now.

[artvonne]

  Brian, we lived west of the cities. When gas hit $4 gallon the town basically died, and its still dead. The town was forcast to hit 30K on the census, but its actually down from where it was 10 years ago at barely 10K. It was 12K on the sign (2000 census), and they figured population was 25K around 2008. Today so many homes are empty, foreclosed, and dozens of new ones got bulldozed. Its the same story in all the bedroom communities surrounding the metro area that grew from people commuting into the metro for work.

 Your best bet would be rural property nowhere near any town. As far as financing your Bus, with the current market I would think that would be a real longshot. But you wont know til you ask. Youll likely have to be to show actual and recent sales figures of comparable Buses to prove its value to them, its doubtful they will do that work for you.

[belfert]

I need to live within driving distance of downtown Minneapolis.  I can't keep my job and live in a rural area.  The place I thought would work is in Bethel, MN about a 38 mile drive from downtown.  I didn't actually schedule a showing, but I did drive out there and take a quick look at the place.  By eye I thought the wall height was tall enough, but I learned it is not.

The house is about 5 years old and all on one level so it would be good far into the future for me.  I'll have to keep looking I guess.  My original plan was to sell my house and build a new house and bus barn, but it would cost me twice what a place like this is currently selling for.

[neverlearn]

Is the construction of the garage (and does the zoning permit) such that you can jack up the garage to increase the height?
My Dad was able to jack up his garage, pour a concrete floor under it, and install a three-cinder-clock high foundation wall for the garage to sit on.  He needed to re-do the electric feed and install a new garage door - but everything else was ok.

[happycamperbrat]

If you are in the market I read something last night and I would wait just a bit more. Apparently there is a bunch of foreclosures going to hit the market at the turn of 2012. The banks did not do all their paperwork correctly and had to redo many foreclosures, but the timelines will expire and they are set to be on the market around the first of the year.

[belfert]

The building is 48x80.  Anything is possible, but I expect jacking up a building that large by two feet and then putting in a block wall would not be inexpensive.  It would likely be possible to replace the rafters with ones that have a taller space in the center, but again the cost would be steep.

The price is low enough that the outbuilding is almost free, but if the outbuilding won't meet my needs free can be too expensive.  It would a perfect location for the guy with lots of hobbies that need indoor space.

[Lonnie time to go]

Raise the roof on the barn if everything else is what you want .

you would be surprised how cheap and easy it is

Or just add another out building just for your  bus

[rv_safetyman]

Brian, if the building has a dirt floor, and if the landscaping is favorable, could you drop the floor a bit over a foot? You would not need to do the whole floor.  Might even be able to sneak in a pit if the county folks are not looking.

Jim

[belfert]

The building has a concrete floor as far as I can tell.  I haven't seen anything but the exterior of the building so I really don't know much about how it is built.  I had planned to get a showing as soon as I could before I learned the ceiling is only 12 feet.

Financially this would be a huge stretch up front, but long term it would help my finances tremendously.  There isn't any guarantee I could even sell my house and buy this one before my house sells though it has been on the market a while.  My house should be an easier sell because it is right in the core of the metro area.

The listing for the house is at http://www.edinarealty.com/MN/Bethel/55005/homes-for-sale/502-237th-Avenue-NW-59873634.

[Tikvah]

IMHO raising the roof on that barn would be easier than raising the roof on your coach.  Really, not that big of a deal.  Two guys, a couple hammers and a saw, and one weekend.  Don't the 12' stop you.  If the place is all you want it to be, and the price is right... buy it and raise the roof.

Dave