FHA Self Sufficient Test

[Daniel Tineo]

Hello All,

Is it possible to by pass the self sufficient test when buying a 3 or 4 unit property? I was approved for an 800k FHA loan based on my income alone. Rental income was not included when calculating buying power. I know I'm going to have a hard time finding a property that passes the self sufficient test in the NYC/NJ area.

If I was to add a family member as a co signer or co borrower to the application and have them live in one of the units, would that allow me to bypass the self sufficient test since 2 of the 4 units are owner occupied?

[John Warren]

@Daniel Tineo you can't really bypass self sufficiency. The way to get around it is to put down 20-25% and go conventional. It definitely makes it harder to purchase in areas like where you live and here in Chicago where I live. When you plug in the higher taxes and the higher purchase prices it can be tough to make the numbers work with FHA.