Hello everyone....

I have a strange question, and I am not sure if it belongs in "Remodeling", or "Building a Home". My wife and I are looking at buying/building a home. It has been recommended to us by a bank rep that construction loans right now are not really a possibility. To get one requires much better credit(750+), and much more of a down payment then we have. I believe she said that the land would have to be 100% paid off, and we would need 50% of the value of the future home as cash. And that we would do much better buying an existing home. Ok I understand, but am disappointed. There are not many houses that we like in the area we are looking, but there are some nice pieces of property (with homes) available. Some even have houses that are ok, but maybe a little small, or not that style we would like. One in particular is a 1600sf bi-level (split level, split ranch) on 5+ acres. Asking price is within our budget, and would be comfortable with the payments. My question is now... How hard is it to modify a bi-level to something different, say a cape, or farmhouse style. What I would like to do is move the entrance to the ground flood, instead of being in-between floors, like it is now. Has anyone ever considered this? It would require some fairly intense work inside, but is it possible? I have seen complete rebuilds from only 1 wall, but that is rare.

Rusty