FHA or Investment Loan for Triplex?? First Timer

[Lake I.]

I am going to be a first time home buyer and first time investor. 

I am between picking an FHA loan or having to borrow outside money to put towards the 25% down payment for an investment mortgage (Triplex going for 79k, my friend owns it). A friend of mine who was a hard money lender suggested a credit union. Well, I just spoke with them and they have some appealing options.

Should I get my mortgage through the credit union for 85% home value and seller finance the remainder? FHA and live in the property and lose the income? Or are there some other solutions I haven't sought out?

[Jaysen Medhurst]

@Lake I., I would try and split the difference and use a low-down payment conventional loan. You'll have to owner occupy, but that was already on the the table. FHA has more paperwork, up-front mortgage insurance, plus PMI for the life of the loan. With a conventional the PMI will drop once you hit 80% LTV.

Owner financing can be great, just talk with the bank ahead of time. They may not like the idea of you basically being 100% leveraged, especially if you don't plan to live there. What kind of terms can you get on the owner financing?

What do the rest of the numbers look like.