FHA minimum owner occupancy ratio

[Joseph Novicky]

Hey BP Community,

I am a new Real Estate Investor trying to buy my first property but I keep running into the same problem. Every time I want to make an offer on a condo my realtor says I am not allowed to due to the FHA minimum owner occupancy ratio. This basically means that I cant receive a Loan from a bank if more than 50% of the units in the complex are already being rented out. 

My question is do you guys know a way around this rule? Are there any other loans that I could use to start buying properties that dont meet the FHA minimum owner occupancy ratio? Thanks for the help!

[Tim Herman]

@Joseph Novicky why not buy a small multi 2-4 units. If the are leases on the multi you can use 70% of the income to help qualify less the one you occupy. The upside is you don't have to follow arbitrary rules of the HOA. Every year you can move into a small multi and in 10 years have between 20-40 doors. Only allowed 1 FHA loan but there are 5% down owner occupied loans available.