Help! FHA Loan with a Zoning Variance?

[Lindsay Wilcox]

Help! I'm under contract to buy a triplex in Indianapolis' Fountain Square neighborhood, but I'm running into zoning problems with FHA. It will be my first property purchase, and I will be living in one of the units and renting out the other two. I love that part of Indy, and I hate watching this seem like it's falling apart!

The problem I'm running into is that the property is now zoned to be a single-family or duplex, but not a triplex. It DOES have a legal variance, so it IS legally operated as a triplex (and I have that documentation from the seller). But what the banks are telling me is that they won't be able to sell the mortgage because FHA won't insure the sold loan on a property that, if it were to be more than 2/3 destroyed, could not be built the way it stands now.

Does anybody know anything about this? Or what my options are? Right now, I'm trying to find a lender that will portfolio the loan and not sell it in hopes that they'll be able to do it, but I don't know what my other options may be. Please let me know as soon as you can!