owner occupied triplex with 10% down?

[Josh Dillingham]

Just placed my first offer today. It's a triplex in a short-sale. The asking price is 15% less than the assessed value and I offered 5% less than that, so it is like the bank won't go for it, but we'll see. My agent has me a little worried about the down payment. He seems to be under the impression that because it is a multifamily I will be required to put at least 25% down, and he doesn't think that it matters if it is owner occupied or the number of units. While we were at his office he asked another agent who is also under the same impression. I've been hanging around bigger pockets for a few months now and have been doing a lot of research on my own and everything I've come across points to the fact that if the property is owner-occupied and 4 units or less, then the mortgage requirements aren't necessarily any different then a single family, am I missing something here, or is the agent misinformed? I was pre approved for a loan with a 10% down payment with the understanding that it would be owner occupied (there was no discussion of single vs multifamily in the pre approval process) and I'm under the impression that I may even be able to qualify for an FHA loan which would allow for an even lower down payment? I live in Vermont if that makes any difference.

[Nicole Carey]

You should try to get preapproved for an FHA loan. With fha it is 3.5% down payment and as long as you owner occupy you can get a multifamily up to 4 units. We are doing the same thing right now in Vermont. Did you go to a bank to get preapproved? You may need to go to a mortgage broker for fha. Also, they should be able to account for 70-80% of the rental income toward your mortgage so you could afford more. Hope this helps.