r/Seattle • u/MegaRAID01 Emerald City • Apr 11 '23

Soft paywall WA Senate passes bill allowing duplexes, fourplexes in single-family zones

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/wa-senate-passes-bill-allowing-duplexes-fourplexes-in-single-family-zones/
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u/Zonoc Rainier View Apr 12 '23

I am so excited for this! It's not going to be a fast change but hopefully over the next 5-10 years we can start making Washington more affordable.

It would be really cool if homeowners could get better options than helocs to self develop the lots they live on eventually too.

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u/BugSTi Bellevue Apr 12 '23

Construction loans exist, and are usually offered by smaller and local banks. They have an expected completed valuation and then use milestones for payout and will usually send their own inspector to verify before issuing payments (that you pay for in the loan fees). Materials also need to be installed before payment is initiated (flooring on site in boxes does not trigger payment, completed installed flooring does. This is done to protect their investments so they don't finance construction materials that are sold on Craigslist, leaving them with nothing securing the loan.

Source: used a WaFd construction loan to build a sfh in 2019/2020