House Hack: Conventional or FHA loan?

[Jonathan Jordan]

Hello all,

I have purchased a few properties for investment, but am looking to finally have a primary residence. I have found a quadplex that I plan on house hacking and was originally going to get an FHA loan on the property as that is what I have always heard. In talking to a mortgage lender she was saying that with the insurance FHA charges, and the PMI, it may be better to get a conventional loan as the rates for FHA and conventional are very similar (4.375%, 4.5%). I do have 20% I could put down for the conventional, but wondering if it would be better to save some of that money to put into other deals/investments? In running the numbers through the BP calculators, the conventional gets me better cashflow, but the FHA has better Cash on Cash.

Thoughts?

[John Warren]

@Jonathan Jordan look into whether you can qualify for the 5% down conventional loan. Most of my clients in the Berwyn/Brookfield area here do 5% down conventional loans for their first house hack, and then they do a second one with the 3.5% down FHA. The 5% down conventional loan is one of the biggest "cheat codes" that is out there in my opinion!