FHA financing single family home has 3 units, 1 tenant house hack

[Simone Williams]

Hey everyone! So Im am trying to offer on a property 6bd 4ba (4bds first floor; and two 1bd units on bottom floor of house) that is zoned as single family but is divided into three units. It has one tenant in place already. I have been speaking back and forth with the lender and they stated that FHA would look at the property as investment because there is a tenant and place and if it is not separately metered it would seem as if it would be an investment property. He basically said that the FHA appraisal person would see that there is a single family license on file with the county (Prince George's County, MD) and that would basically say the tenant would be conveying with the property.

The lender stated that if the unit was separately metered it would be considered multifamily and it would be ok for FHA; also if the tenant wasn't in there when I closed it would be ok.

Has anyone else ever heard of this?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts