Low down payment, Quadplex, no debt servicing requirement

[Kevin Bailey]

Hi all, I think I may be stuck. I have been at this real estate game for half a year. For a bit of background I would like to do a house hack for my first property. Thankfully there are many triplex's and quadplex's in my area (which would make an awesome house hack!). For job related reasons (as well as personal reasons) I can't search that far outside of where I live now (at least not for my first property) and I need to move out of where I am now ASAP (again for personal reasons). I have a pretty decent W2 job and I've been able to save up a decent chunk of money (Listening to the bigger pockets podcasts I could buy many of the deals discussed with cash). However this amount of money would barely allow me to finance a property with 3.5% down with an FHA loan around my area. And then there is the debt servicing requirement FHA has. In the best cases I would need to triple my cash down payment to make any reasonable offer on any of these properties. I have spent years saving what I have, there's just no way to triple what I have. Are there any financing options out there that don't have this debt servicing requirement?

Things I've tried:

1. Looking for duplex's. I know duplex's don't have a debt servicing requirement on FHA, but for the life of me I can't find any duplex's in my area within the lending limits of FHA. Also looking out for ADU's too, but just can't seem to find any.
2. Finding partners. I am aggressively networking every day but it is SO hard to find someone to partner with...
3. Home Possible. My income is slightly too high to qualify for this.
4. VA. I am not a veteran.

Am I stuck? Should I give up? Should I quit my job and just move somewhere more affordable? Should I just suck it up and continue my current living situation and invest farther away?