House Hack without PMI?

[Mia G.]

Hi Everyone,

I'm in the process of making an offer on a duplex to house hack. I'm looking into a couple different financing options, including partial seller financing or just a straight up FHA loan. I was thinking that if I do part FHA (or would it be considered a conventional loan at that point?) and part seller financing, then I wouldn't be required to pay PMI. However, my lender is telling me that PMI is unavoidable. Is there anyone who can maybe explain this to me or give me some example scenarios on how this could play out?

The numbers still work on this property with or without PMI but if it's possible to save on that expense, then why not.