Best option for financing owner-occupied?

[Nicholas Duncan]

Hello everyone,

I'm currently a student going into my final year of college, and I've been looking at buying an owner-occupied multifamily home as soon as possible. The area I'm in has quite a few options that are within my price range and would both cashflow and save me a good amount of money in comparison to continuing to rent the apartment I'm currently living in.

Being a student and only having held student positions, it limits my options a bit. I've spoken with people at several different banks about fha loans and credit unions for low down payment mortgages, and the most definite answers (responses other than "submit a pre-qualification request") have suggested that I need to build my credit more by taking a small personal loan and paying on that for a year, and another said that for part time positions they typically like to see a 2 year history to be able to average the income. Unfortunately, I've only been in my current position for about 2 months now, although I haven't been unemployed for about 3 years now between various positions.

Obviously my work history isn't exactly what banks are looking for, but I'm making enough now to easily be able to afford homes I'm looking at, even without including rental income. I've had a credit card for ~6 years, been making maintenance payments on student loans for ~4 years and have never been late on a rent payment for over 3 years. It's definitely financially smarter for me to purchase a multifamily right now, but I'm struggling a bit to figure out my best option with a relatively low down payment.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!