Low money down mortgage options

[Corey Bruyere]

I'm looking into other possible low money down loan programs and wanted to gather some investor insight before going any further with lenders. I'm a first time buyer planning on buying a 2-4 unit multi to house hack with low money down. I have good to excellent credit right now so I believe that gives me more leverage when choosing a loan. From the reading I've done each loan carries it's own bad baggage(high MIP, strict qualifications, higher down payment, etc). I was wondering if any other investors have had any experience with any other low money down loans(government backed or conventional). I'm a pretty good saver and believe I could save up to 5% in the near future but I live in Southern California so that can be a steep price, hence the urge to take the low money down route. I was looking into the Fannie Mae HomeReady loan and got this info from a lender "The biggest differences between Home Ready and FHA on a 2-4 unit home purchase are as follows: Home Ready - Requires Income Limits: i.e. LA county 80% of AMI ($67,900) = 54K annual income - 2-3 unit requires 15% down on a Fix; 25% down on an ARM - Non-Occupant Borrower is permitted FHA - Income limits are NOT used to qualify - Minimum 3.5% down available on 2-4 unit - Brwr Occupancy required" I read that Home Ready only requires 3% down but I guess that changes with multi family? tl;dr : I need help finding a good, low down payment loan program for someone with good credit and low to average income who plans on buying multi-family(to both live in and rent) in an expensive market.