Want to owner-occupy a fourplex, no income! Kiddie condo loan?

[Christian Carson]

I've been going back and forth with banks for the last few weeks trying to find one who will underwrite me. Here's the plan: I want to buy a fourplex for about $140k and give myself a place to live. It's a steal of a deal and I want to get into it. I am not too concerned about the down payment as cash is not an issue, but I want to finance this place and I would like to know my optimal route for doing so.

Here's the thing: I am one year out of school and have about 11 months of income history. I am a self-employed attorney but I get paid bi-weekly by my main client for full-time contract work. My income is high, I don't have much debt (low student loans and no credit card debt), and my credit score is 791. Everyone tells me I need three years of tax returns.

My mother said she would be willing to cosign with me. She's got a very high credit score and good continuous income history and would probably qualify for anything.

Here were my thoughts on how to do this:

1. Kiddie condo loan - I was initially hoping that I could get an FHA non-occupant co-borrower loan ("Kiddie Condo" loan) but two banks have called me back and said "we don't do this." Is there a bank that does?

2. Conventional mortgage with cosigner -- If a bank isn't going to write me an FHA loan, I don't see why they would do a private mortgage, either.

3. Buy with cash now and refinance later -- I can get ahold of the cash in the form of a bridge loan from my mother, but she doesn't really want to write me a long term mortgage (she wants that cash to invest in other things). If I refinanced, is it easier to qualify with a co-signer? Do I have to wait 12 months to do it?

4. Have mother buy the building with an investment loan -- If the interest rate is going to be 6% or higher, I don't really see why she wouldn't just write me a mortgage, though maybe I'm just being picky about this. In any case, this building still returns 13% cash-on-cash with a 25% down loan at 6%, which isn't the best but still pays the bills.

Can anyone suggest what they think is the most prudent course of action? I am not about to wait three years to own my own building just because the bank needs tax returns. I think I can do some great things to add value to this building so I don't want to lose this opportunity just because I can't get the bank to play nice.