USDA Denial FHA Approved House Hack !! Need Suggestions!!

[Chris Torres]

Okay, so here is where I stand as of right now. I was 3 days away from closing on a single family in Newton NJ. The plan was to invest in the area although it was rural their are less expensive multi family and flips than other counties in Jersey that's why I decided to look there. Guess what my mortgage lender sends me an email this morning saying I was denied USDA because of my prior job occupation 2014 and suppose to close this Friday 12/16. USDA said I have student loan debts and my current occupation is less than a year mind you my salary now is much better than the job in 2014 much higher. Anyway, I am approved for FHA and I had to fire my real estate agents she had no knowledge and did not care for me or my family as a client. I found a new agent now through a reference from my wife's friend how she used this agent 4 times for buy and hold flip. Not sure if that's real estate terms lol but what I mean is she brought the house under valued lived for awhile rehabbed the house with her husband and than sold for profit once it appreciated. Now my wife and I decided okay this deal didn't go through let's house hack then. But the agent is saying multi families are ridiculous high on taxes about 14k 11k 12k etc and house hacking might not make sense since you will break even and no cash flow or living for free might barely happen. However, she did send me listings on some multi family 4-5 units that have taxes under 7 grand not much work to be done.(Mind you I am looking back up North where I am originally from Passaic, Union Hudson Co. So, my question is their any one in a house hacking now please advise are their good deals in these counties I mentioned above. I'm not going to stop until I find a deal for my family please advise. Sorry for the long story.

[Mike Wood]

@Chris Torres Are you going to walking away from a bunch of cost to get out of your purchase of the SFH that you are days away from closing? Appraisal costs, inspections, etc? Why can't you simply change your financing to FHA on that property?

Does your "new" agent know that you just pulled out of a SFH deal? Might want to be honest with them now.

If you use FHA, you will be limited to 1-4 family houses (5+ puts you into a commercial loan, which will require big down payments).

Also, unless you find a fourplex, its highly, highly unlikely that you will be able to live for free in a multifamily (2-4) unit house.  Even with a fourplex, its unlikely.

The larger the house, the higher your reserves will need to be. I would suggest getting your financing straight before looking at more houses.