Lenders conventionally lend on triplex zoned as SF in San Antonio

[Charles Moore]

Hi, all,

Can anyone with experience in this help answer this question:

Will Lenders conventionally lend on a triplex zoned as SF in San Antonio?

Specifically, it’s a duplex with a separate 3rd unit on the property in the LA Heights neighborhood. It’s zoned as R-4 single family.

Would that be an issue if I wanted to get a conventional mortgage on it, or refinance later on if I paid cash for it?

much appreciated!

[Betty Cruz]

@Charles Moore. Hi Charles - it absolutely is an issue. Freddy and Fannie loans prohibit lending on a duplex with a back house. I have been down this path and there are several posts on Airbnb about it. @Andrew Postell is my lender and can definitely confirm this for you. A workaround can be to close the back house and call it storage or a garage or gut it, take out toilet, kitchen etc so it is not considered a living quarter. This will lower the value for lending purposes but it will help assure that it is a duplex. However, your next issue will be that it is a duplex   but zoned single family. This will get stopped most likely when the appraiser comes out. They usually check zoning    (They have in my cases) and won’t want to lend on something not zoned correctly. Commercial or other non Fannie/Freddy loans may not care. Your other option is to challenge the zoning. I have done this successfully. A call or email to the city can tell you if that’s a possibility. Hope this helps. Pm me if you want to connect to discuss this further.