New Member in New Orleans

[Demi Diaz]

Hi everyone,

A huge blessing to have found this platform!

My name is Demi, 27 years old, first generation originally from New York now residing in New Orleans (almost 3 years!)

I've been working all year to lower my debt to income ratio to finally make the move on buying my first home. I'm leaning more towards buying a multifamily first: I recently learned you can use a FHA loan on a multifamily, and again on a single family home but not the other way around.

Are any you familiar with first homebuyer programs/grants here? Trying to find the best resources and make this first purchase as smooth as it could potentially be.

Any tips/advice will be appreciated!

[Scott Villa]

Very exciting to make your first home purchase, so congrats on working towards your goal.

The benefit of fha for multi-family homes cannot be overstated. As advice, the more units the better from an income producing perspective. If I were to redo my first home purchase, I would be aiming for a triplex or 4-plex. This will give you a better opportunity to not only live for free but also potentially earn additional income. You can always keep the multi family for continued income once you decide to move.

Rates are still great, and the increased cost of the pmi (mortgage insurance) is not significant. Also, you can request the seller of a property to include a certain amount of the closing costs in your offer (you offer 110k, and they give you 10k in closing costs, for example).

You can shop around in Nola for a bank, I wouldn't make a decision until you get fha offers from at least 3 banks. I personally know Iberia has a decent FHA package.

I’ve got a few multifamily houses in the city, so happy to answer additional questions.