House hack. Scaling up and its blockers

[Chris Rojas]

Hey everyone!

For the past 10 months, I've been doing a BRRRR house hack with my multifamily, running a mid-term rental on the second floor.

I’m looking to scale up soon as I’m wrapping up the last few renovations in my unit and will be handing the keys to a lucky tenant (MTR or LTR). Either way, the property will cash flow like crazy once my unit is rented.

I have enough capital to get into a bigger property with low money down and am seriously considering a triplex or fourplex for the next one.

Here’s the issue: My lender (local bank) says I need to be fully moved out and have a lease in place before they’ll proceed with my loan. Apparently, this is a new regulation being enforced across big lenders. Even if I wanted another duplex, this still applies. Crazy.

On top of that, moving down the ladder (duplex → triplex, triplex → fourplex, etc.) is seen as riskier and harder to get approved for. Makes sense, but still frustrating.

How should I handle the move-out part and make my application strong enough to convince the lender?

Would love to hear any advice or experiences!

Thanks, everyone!