All Forum Posts by: Richard Pina

Hi @Richard Pina yes! You can depart your FHA residence and use your VA loan. You may not have planned it this way, but using your VA loan for a multifamily is better than using FHA for a multifamily. So yeah, go ahead and do it!

If you need a VA loan expert broker in Massachusetts, feel free to send me a DM and I'll give you a recommendation. Also, @Andrew Garcia is likely licensed there.

The reason why a multi for an FHA is cumbersome is because of the "self sufficiency test" that you must meet in order to qualify for both 3 and 4 units (duplexes do not apply).

Again, this is for FHA ONLY.

You first start out with finding the total monthly payment: Principal, Interest, Taxes, Insurance, FHA's Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP), and HOA dues (if any)

Then find out the fair market value of all rents. Either the appraiser will do this for you OR if there are existing lease agreements, those can give you the value.

Then you must multiply the fair market value of all rents by 0.75. Why 0.75? Because you are going to live in one (required owner occupancy), but also because the FHA is accounting for vacancies.

Lastly, you divide the total monthly payment / the fair market value of all rents.

If the value you get by that calculation is < 100%, you will qualify for the loan

If the value you get by that calculation is > 100%, you DO NOT qualify for the loan

The property needs to be able to sustain itself. Again, this is for FHA 3 and 4 units. You can use this when searching for prospective properties prior to reaching out to your lender. Also you can do it yourself in a handy calculator I created. Send me a DM and I'll send it over to you >> it looks like this:

@Richard Pina

Congrats on the first purchase, that's awesome!

I am not a lender so don't have the exact answers but can provide some input.

Yes that is the case that you can only have 1 FHA loan at a time. I have heard of some specific situations where you are able to have 2 but that would probably be difficult to get with most lenders.

For VA loans if you're talking 2-4 multifamily and plan on owner-occupying the building then that should be okay since it sounds like you are past you required owner occupy period for FHA and I don't believe having an FHA loan would affect the VA loan.

Good luck!