Financing three rental properties

[Scott Campbell]

I have not had a mortgage yet, and don't have any experience with this, but was wondering if it is possible to finance three houses with one mortgage? Say I want to buy three houses at 33k each, could I get a single 99k loan from a bank to cover the purchase? Would an FHA loan or traditional mortgage work that way, or would I need to get a portfolio loan or other creative financing?

[Account Closed]

I tried to do the same thing and the only option to do that with a mortgage is if one of the houses is worth the amount you are looking for. Otherwise you have to take out a mortgage on each property separately. The cheaper way I was able to work around that was to get a HELOC out on my primary residence, the rate was lower than a mortgage and the bank i went with only required payment to cover the interest. Ex $80,000 HELOC @ 2.89% minimum payment would be $192.66/mon for 10yrs and after you will have 20yrs to pay the remaining balance. That helps in case you are in a situation where you have no tenants or some other fiscal emergency. Otherwise you can pay as much as you want towards it. In that sense you can keep doing the shuffle and take out a HELOC against your rentals and go around and around and around ;). Get the cash flow rolling before you go buck crazy though. Speaking from Ohio here.