Duplex with 5% down, conventional loan?

[Denny Le]

Hi BP!

I was wondering if there are any lenders out there that has a 95% LTV conventional loan for a duplex? I am located in Portland, OR/Vancouer, WA area.

Thanks if anyone can help!

[Albert Bui]

HI Denny,

5% down conventional financing is possible for owner occupied conventional 1 unit only the second you even attempt to go 2 unit you're already at 20% down payment so best bet is to buy using FHA 3.5% down on a duplex that is under market and then refinance into conventional afterwards. If you structure the FHA purchase correctly you can avoid the upfront MI of 1.75% and most of the closing costs through lender rebate or seller paid concessions. You would then wait about 7-8 months post FHA closing and refinance into conventional but in order to do so you would need a min of 20% equity or 80% LTV (loan to value) which is determined by your appraisal at that particular time in the future (7-8 months later). To make this more likely to happen you would need to buy the duplex under current market value.

Example: buy duplex at 150k with 3.5% down or $4250 down payment with loan amount being 145,750 with market value around 182,188 (allow you a 80% LTV) then you can refinance into conventional post closing the FHA.

Hope that helps,