25% Down Payment Required for Multi-Families? New Fannie/Freddie Rule?

[Tyler Bain]

I'm currently in on the hunt to purchase my first Multi-Family property and am going through all my pre-approvals with lenders so I can put an offer in on a Tri-Plex. I plan to "House Hack" and live in one of the units and rent out the others. 

My plan WAS to put 5% down and use a conventional mortgage HOWEVER I'm just now finding out that Fannie & Freddie now require a minimum of 25% down for 3 and 4 unit properties.

Have any of you ran across this same problem recently? When was this "rule" changed?

25% vs 5% is a significant difference that makes me re-evaluate if this is a good decision for me or not. I asked if this was specific to the Omaha, Nebraska area and was informed by several lenders that it was a national Fannie / Freddie stipulation. 

Any advice here would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,

Tyler Bain

[Lee G.]

Tyler,

I am currently under contract for a 4 unit property and I'm able to get 20% down.  I spoke to several lenders and only 1 of 5 I talked to was willing to allow a 20% down payment.  Based on the lenders I spoke to, I felt fortunate to only put 20% for 4 units.  I also notified the bank that I would live in one of the units.  If you want to do better than 20%, you may need to shop around and expect a high rejection rate.