3 ways I got lucky with my recent purchase (No more FHA loan, WHAT?!?)

Recently I purchased a duplex and I just wanted to share some of the reasons that I believe I got a great deal with this property.

1. It was listed on the MLS as a single family home. 

I had started my house search in January 2013 and had no idea what type of house I wanted at the time. I started my search for properties by creating a profile on Trulia.com. I was looking for single family houses and originally the plan was to rent a room or two to college friends. The duplex that I bought was one of the properties that I saved as a single family home, but upon reading the description, actually found out it was multi-family. I actually witnessed a few families coming to view the house while it was on the market, believing that it was a single family and getting annoyed when they realized that they were wasting their time.

2. I inherited tenants

This one could easily swing to the "unlucky side" very quickly, but I was very grateful that I did not have to do a tenant search and all the overhead for that immediately after making my first purchase. So far so good! But when I ultimately do have to find a new tenant, I will be using Tenant Screening - The Ultimate Guide by Brandon Turner. 

3. I got FHA loan terms without the PMI!

Yeah, you read that right, and you're probably wondering how I was able to put only 3.5% down towards the loan and the PMI AND my original upfront PMI charge was waived. This was not the original plan and I don't think the bank would have given a loan like this ever. First, I was able to get an FHA loan because I'm owner-occupying. Then, I got a letter in the mail two months after closing stating that the bank was unable to service my loan to the secondary FHA loan market. Because of this, they rolled the money that I payed for the upfront PMI into the loan principal and removed the $75/mo PMI charge. If I were to never refinance, that saves me $27,000 (!!!) over the life of the loan. I'm still waiting to hear exactly why the loan couldn't  be serviced. It might be something that comes back to bite me at some point, so I need to figure that out soon.