Need house hacking advice

[Allen McGlashing]

Hey guys, Here’s my situation, I had bought a 3-family home last year, lived in one of the apartments for a year and now moved back in with my father to get that extra income from the 3rd unit which is basically house hacking. Now I just applied to try to get another 2-4 unit home, owner occupy it again. The lender just called and said they will not accept the rental income from my current home unless the next home I buy is 100 miles away; so that makes my Debt to Income ratio at 53% and far to high to qualify for any mortgage. The lender said the only way they would accept the rental income is on a conventional loan that I MUST have 20% down payment. I don’t understand why they cant use my rental income as income. What I’ve read and researched was you could have a down payment between 3-5% as long as it’s owner occupied. Looking for much needed advice I’d appreciate it. Trying to get out of the rat race.