3% down for SFH and 15% down for Multi-family? Lending Experience

[Brandon Dinsmore]

Hi All,

I am currently looking to acquire my first rental property. I currently own my home and am looking to move out and turn the house I live in right now into a rental. With that being said, all of the lenders I have talked to said they require 3% down on SFH for primary residence, but still 15% down for multi-fam houses (still a primary residence). I am open to FHA or conventional & was just wondering if people have had similar experiences. It's a lot easier saving the 3% vs 15% which is why I've been looking at SFH for my future rental/primary residence, but I would like to buy a multi-family if only 3% is required too.

Thanks in advance!

[Andrew Postell]

@Brandon Dinsmore you can certainly get an FHA loan but there are some depending factors here. If your current loan is an FHA loan...then you would have to move 100 miles or further to get an 2nd FHA loan. If your current loan is NOT an FHA loan, then you would need 25% equity in that property to use the rental income for a FHA loan. Also, FHA loans have loan limits. Meaning, they can't go over a certain amount. So there might be some factors that might affect you using FHA on your next property? But if those factors don't exist then you should be able to get an FHA loan. Hope all of that makes sense but post some more if you need. Thanks!