Yes they are available. We are owner builders. We went through a local bank. The first local bank we went to was stupid. This second bank that we ended up going with gave us a good rate, is fair with the draw procedures and is also willing to convert our construction loan to a mortgage when we are done building. Look into a smaller bank that is not part of a national chain or maybe a credit union. Good luck.

We are doing this type of loan on our new build. We will close on the loan up front prior to construction being complete. We pay closing costs one time vs two. On a normal construction loan you would pay closing on the construction loan itself then pay AGAIN when you close on the permanent mortgage once construction is complete. These loans are normally quoted as an ARM (Adjustable Rate Mortgage). In our case, we took the 7 year ARM at 3.27% (non conforming jumbo). The rate remains the same during the construction period and when the house is complete, we can choose to roll-over to a fixed 15, 20 or 30 year mortgage at current market rates or we can elect to remain with the quoted ARM rate for up to 7 years. During that 7 year period we can roll the mortgage over into permanent at any time if the rate becomes more favorable for a small fee (in our case - $250). If we roll-over when construction is complete there is no additional fee to make the loan permanent. With a regular construction loan, we would need to secure a permanent mortgage at the end of the construction phase -- so we run the risk of the rate not being favorable (or as favorable) at that time. We can also re-amoritize the loan at any time during the mortgage lifetime (minimun of $5K) which we plan to do when our current home and a rental condo sells. We felt it the best way to go for our build but obviously rates and terms vary from bank/bank and region/region and credit rating always plays into this so YMMV. Hope this helps. M

Some other important questions to ask ..... Is there a penalty for paying MORE than the minimum scheduled payment? Can paying more than the minimum lower your total long-term costs? How fast are you allowed to pay the amount back without penalties? Getting double what you were looking for would be nice, as that would initially make your payments worry free (since you have twice what you need, just leave a ton of it in the bank) and it also makes for a good safety net in case of minor or possibly major cost overruns ... (wife suddenly decides that she wants to splurge on a nice hardwood floor, which is a good idea in the building stages since it's hard to do it later.... or perhaps you decided to upgrade the siding or fencing or put in a pool in the back yard, ect ...) Even so, being able to make larger payments or extra payments helps to knock down the principle of the loan, so that your interest payments are lowered. The problem for the bank is, that if the interest payments get lowered, they get a LOT less money, so some of them arrange for penalties that you'ld have to pay for making early or extra payments.

The bank holds all the cards. And you have more than 2 weeks left.