FHA restrictions on house hacks

[Brad Sicoli]

I have a few 2-4 plexes that I like in my area. I'd like to do 3.5% fha. There is a 4 plex I wanted to make an offer on but my mortgage broker told me I can't do fha on it because the leases are locked up through Jan 2018 and there is no vacancy. It can't be my primary residence. When looking at listings it seems very uncommon for agents to list whether or not a property has vacancy because that would be a negative for most investors but it's actually a positive for first time home buyers. It seems like the only way to find out is to call the agent for each listing that might work; a tedious task. Is there a quicker or easier way to search for vacant properties that I could do as fha?

[Chris Mason]

Originally posted by @Brad Sicoli:

I have a few 2-4 plexes that I like in my area. I'd like to do 3.5% fha. There is a 4 plex I wanted to make an offer on but my mortgage broker told me I can't do fha on it because the leases are locked up through Jan 2018 and there is no vacancy. It can't be my primary residence.

When looking at listings it seems very uncommon for agents to list whether or not a property has vacancy because that would be a negative for most investors but it's actually a positive for first time home buyers. It seems like the only way to find out is to call the agent for each listing that might work; a tedious task.

Is there a quicker or easier way to search for vacant properties that I could do as fha?

 Familiarize yourself with local eviction rules, and retain the services of an eviction attorney. 

For example in Oakland you can do an owner move in eviction if it's a triplex or less. If none of the leases will accommodate your owner occupancy deadline (60 days), you show underwriting the notice to GTFO that the lawyer will have delivered to the unlucky tenant the day after you own the property, and get said lawyer to confirm in writing that she will do exactly that. Being that I am not a lawyer, I'm certain there are pertinent details I left out ("notice to GTFO" probably isn't the right term), but that should get you barking up the right tree at least.