House Hack 4plex with FHA - How to qualify with low income?

[Alex Kouvatsos]

Hi everyone, I'm new to BP and looking to house hack a 4plex in NY. Asking price is $299,000. There are currently existing leases and gross income is $43,200. I'm looking to owner occupy one of the units and purchase with an FHA loan. How can I make sure I qualify? I only make $35K at my job, but I have a side business where I made an additional $25K (Don't have a tax return I can show yet this year) and have a little over $20K saved up in the bank, no debt. 740 credit score. If I do 3.5% down I will only need $12K plus any additional costs. I'm afraid I'm only gonna prequalify for about half of what I would need for this deal if I'm lucky because they will only see I make $35K a year..

1. Would having a co-signer help me qualify? 

2. Would a lender be able to count any of the existing leases as income to help me qualify? 

Any advice would be great! Even if I can't make the numbers work with this deal I just want to be prepared and be pre-qualified before I waste a realtor or seller's time.