They will finance an expensive McMansion project built from scratch on an empty lot, but I cannot under any circumstances get a loan to take an old existing house and bring it up to code. That leaves me with about US$70K of leverage out of my own equity to do so. Project would involve lifting the thing (it's basically a double wide trailer) and building a basement. Permits are not an issue because my state isn't communist.

Any of y'all done something like this? I can /diy/ the rest of the project but basically in this economy how much foundation, framing, excavation can I get for $50-70K?