Self-Employed and Trying to Buy Duplex (OO)

[R Rowden]

Hello! I just applied for an FHA loan to purchase a duplex that I intend to live in. I thought it wouldn't be a problem, but the loan officer was not too positive. I've been self-employed and living in the same place for 2.5 years, but they want to use 2017 and 2018 tax returns and 2017 is very low (start-up time). Then I find out that because I started my own business this year, as opposed to just my 1099 income (which I'm scaling back on), they can only use my personal bank account and all the income made in my business account won't count as income, only as reserves. AND they don't like it that the deposits from my 1099 work have reduced in size. I have been looking for other ways to fund this, but hard money lenders either won't work with OO units or won't lend more than 80% (I could come up with 15%). I have very good credit. Are there any other options for someone like me?