Home possible requirements

[Kevin Wareham]

Hello long time lurker here with a question. I am looking to purchase a triplex/quad within the next year through the home possible program. I’m a 23 year old self employed contractor with a 700 credit score. From 2014-2017 I haven’t shown much income due to write offs. I can of course change that when I file for 2018 but I am planning on making a career change into sales within the next 9-12 months. I was wondering if this will affect me negatively when applying for a job and if I’m better off staying self employed until I find a property and my loan is squared away. I live in a Boston suburb and plan to buy a property in this area in a B class area which I expect to run me 500k+. I plan to buy something that needs work and plan to have 10k set aside for renovation and 30k for a down payment as well as some reserves. I couldn’t find anything regarding employment requirements on the home possible page so I was just wondering what my best move is here. Any input is appreciated. Thank you

[Phillip Fernandez]

Hi Kevin, 

I actually have a triplex that I bought with the Home Possible program two years ago. I know for a fact that rental income can be used to qualify you for the mortgage, at least in my case this was frequently discussed between my mortgage specialist and the underwriters at the bank.

What really attracted me to the home possible program was the ability to cancel PMI without having to refinance (like an FHA). However, I'm currently in a back-and-forth escalating disagreement with my bank that claims I need to reach an LTV of 65% to remove MI versus what I believe the home possible guidelines show on their website, which is 80% for 1-4 unit properties.

As you further dive into this process please make sure to have your bank document the conditions for cancelling MI. And, if you don't mind, please share what you find in case I (and maybe others like myself) can benefit from any clarifying info.