Financing

[ray suggs]

What are the foundation requirements when trying to get FHA or conventional financing? Whis ment by permanent foundation? Help!

[rmurray]

The definitions are very different for the different types of lending...

The FHA requires and engineer designed permanent foundation which must be inspected to meet FHA specs by an FHA approved inspector..or engineer..

Now..what exactly is it...depends a little on the inspector..each seem to interpret the regs a little different...ask you dealer in your area for asvice...these foundations take into consideration potential seismic forces...water tables...soil content..wind conditions...so each foundation is slightly different at every location..

As far as conventional finance goes.."permanent" is much less defined...This definition depends on the appraiser...they are the ones to declare the foundation "permanent"...most lenders simply require the home set to the manuals requirements and be set so that local government will allow the home to become part of the real estate...The foundation must be inspected by a local building inspector and meet local code..

In our case...the difference in cost is about $5000....most of that difference is in the skirting...but some is in the cost of the FHA engineer...special water tests...2/10 foundation warranty..termite treatment as opposed to termite inspections..

If you have good enough credit and enough down for conventional..this is by far the best way to go..