Are Duplexes considered commerical property

[Daria B.]

Hi BP community!

Thanks for looking at my post....As stated below I am an investor but very new with respect to others that have multiple-multiple-multiple properties and a longer stance of time.

I'm an investor dealing primarily in SF (own a townhouse in MD, 2 SF in FL). I've found a duplex and am looking to add that to my portfolio. I am a buy and hold investor and am looking at duplexes to diversify. My buying experience is purely with SF. The townhouse I used to live in and moved away so it's a grandfather investment.

I've been doing a lot of reading and running numbers to see what it will yield.

The duplex I found I did some research on for the property (taxes, etc) and previous owner deed and mortgage records (public records) and there is a statement in the mortgage papers:

THIS IS COMMERICAL PROPERTY AND IS NOT INTENDED TO BE THE HOMESTEAD OF THE MORTGAGOR HEREIN.

I'm focusing on the "COMMERICAL PROPERTY"......

Up to now I was not thinking that duplexes were considered commercial property....There are triplex units and quads and of course jumping into the 10-20 units and those I though were considered commercial.

I guess if I step back and look at the fact that the dwelling houses multiple tenants, then yes I can see it being classified as commercial.

I can't find anything on the county appraisers web site for the records of this property that indicate "commercial". The deed looks just like the deed for my own SF.

1-Are my assumptions correct, is a duplex classified as commercial?

2-If this is commercial, what else can I expect that would be different than a SF with respect to taxes (I will be running this by my CPA)..., mortgage (I have a meeting with my lender next week and will now have to tell them to find out what I'm up against)....

3-I've never dealt with commercial property. Any advice is welcome, what to look for, what else am I missing....

4-If this is commercial property, what other questions should I be asking and to whom?

Thanks and have great Memorial Day weekend!