Can my first house hack be a single family home and my second be a multifamily?

[Jorge Adarraga]

I recently met with a lender and this topic came up. The lender recommended I do not start with a single family home because it will raise questions from lenders when it comes to house hacking my second home. Lenders will be suspicious that I am trying to occupy properties as an investor while paying home owner interest rates (~3.5%), instead of putting 20% minimum down payment as required by investors. Does anyone have any advice or experience house hacking in NYS? 

I really appreciate the input. 

Jorge

[Andrew Freed]

@Jorge Adarraga- Yes, lenders look badly on borrowers moving from a single family to a multifamily. They view it as picking up an investment property where you normally bring 20% down vs. with a low down payment owner occupied loan. When you move from a single family to a multi, in my experience, lenders require a letter of justification on why you are doing this. For instance, moving for a job, getting married and need more square footage etc. 

If you can start with a multifamily and end with a single family once you are done house hacking is ideal. It will raise way less questions and lenders will understand moving from one multi to another, especially if you are moving into a multi with less units, e.g. moving from a 4 to a 3 to a 2... 

I've househacked multiple times and received this feedback each time.

My last piece of advice would be to find a local portfolio lender that does low down payment conventional products on 3 to 4 families. They have more flexibility with these products since they hold them in house and don't sell them on the open market hence don't have to conform to certain rules.