Any Way to Get Around a Commercial Loan On a 5 Unit Multi?

[David Healey]

Hi All,

We found what seems to be a good deal on a property where 7 units were built, but only 5 are being sold. My wife and I are looking to house-hack, but don't want to pursue a commercial loan. The description says, "Since the ratio of owner users in the property are less than 50/50 the buyer may need to obtain a commercial loan or pay cash,..." It says, "may." Does anyone know of a way around the commercial loan? Ideally, we'd like to try to get in on an FHA. Any and all advise will be helpful.

[Douglas W. Rink]

If they are "Condo" then you should have separate deeded property and you could possibly get residential treatment on each. You should learn to do your own title search and you can find the HUD application on property to separate the units. An easy way to do this is google the county they're in put "GIS" on the end if. You would be able to search the local GIS )Geographic information Service and see if each property has a separate address. If they have only one address, leads me to think these are one unit. Good time to get your hands dirty and do a title search yourself. Take your findings to a local attorney and have them look over your paper work and advise you if you move forward.

I spend a lot of time on the local GIS systems where I work and it tells me just about everything I need to know without having to spend a fortune on legal only to find you can't do what you want.  Good luck.

-dr