Duplex: Owner Occupied

[Ryan Stirling]

I have been talking with a possible partner and we were talking about the idea of owning a duplex and living in one unit while we rent out the other. We figured with this setup, you could be eligible for OO financing and lower down payment and better terms. As far as I know this is something that you can do, but please share your thoughts or opinions on this.

The one thing we didn't like was the idea that the tenant would know who owned the house. We have no problem finding a good property manager, but we didn't want to create a situation where the tenant knew we owned the place and lived right upstairs. We were thinking of work arounds for this. One idea was doing a partnership with a legal name and then that name would be on all the documents and the tenant wouldn't know who the owner was. Is this correct?

Also, I know someone on here actually does this (I think his name is Tim), but I couldn't find him when I searched through old threads. Can anyone who has done or is currently doing a duplex where they live in 1 unit and rent out the other, I would love to talk to you. Thanks.

[Norma LaFonte]

I do not get why you would not want to claim ownership - and the willingness to jump through hoops to hide it. I am a landlord/property manager to 22 properties - and my tenants love us. When there is a personal connection - they take better care of their units, they call us immediately when there is a problem (before it becomes a disaster), and refer other good people to us to rent houses. I think you should re-think this strategy.