Multifamily FHA loans not available in California?

[Paul Christopher]

Hi All,

I'm new to Bigger Pockets and loving all the information and sense of community and enthusiasm here. Thank you all for sharing your insights and knowledge!

I'm in Los Angeles and have been trying to figure out a way to do a house hack with a multi family property, 2 to 4 units, here. Finding a property here is a huge challenge, but my question today is actually about the financing. I'd like to go with an FHA loan in order to keep my down payment low, but it looks to me like the FHA loans here in California are only for SFR's. Here's the outline of the CalFHA program. Page 5 has the property eligibility requirements and states "Must be zoned for Single Family Occupancy; Cannot be zoned for 2-4 units". 

I've seen people on the BP boards posting in the last few weeks that FHA loans are available for 1-4 unit properties, and the HUD website says the same: "FHA might be just what you need. Your down payment can be as low as 3.5% of the purchase price. Available on 1-4 unit properties."

So does California just add an extra constraint to the FHA program in the state here? Is this a new rule? Kind of maddening if that's the case. I'm hoping I'm just missing something; can anyone point me to a resource that can settle this question, or has anyone done a multifamily FHA loan recently in California?

Thanks all!

Paul

[Hector Bastida]

@Lucas Allmon how was your experience with the FHA lenders in Los Angeles? I'm also interesting in going this route here in LA. Any tips for which lenders to go with? thanks!