15-20% down conventional requirement for multi-family?

[Jamie Cianfarani]

Good morning, I'm working on buying a second home (currently 2-unit), and renting out the single family house I purchased last year. The mortgage broker found that just recently, maybe around the end of March '23, that you can no longer put only 5% down on a multi-family using a conventional mortgage, and I'm required to use FHA, which also requires having a renter in place before I moved, letter of explanation, etc.

Is anyone else running into this?  I'm planning to occupy the entire house, both units, so I wonder if I could buy it as a single family?  Thank you

[Tanner Pile]

@Jamie Cianfarani

You can buy 2-units as a SFH but it will need to be zoned as a SFH and the county assesor must have it listed as a SFH.

Why would you look to buy a multi-family property and convert it into a SFH?