Portfolio loan vs individual mortgages??

Question

I’m looking at buying a 5 property package in Philadelphia.  One is $210K and the other 4 are between 50-75K. Having trouble finding lender for the cheaper houses. This includes two duplexes so 7 total units. I assumed looking for portfolio lender/blanket mortgage would be the way to go but as I read through forums, I’m wondering if it would make sense to just finance each one thru conventional mortgages.  I have 3 other invest properties with mortgages so I figured the asset based loan that doesn’t report to credit would be the way to go as I look to ramp up the rental units.  Thoughts?

Ross Olson · Answer

About a year ago I went through a similar deal.  I had a package of 3 houses and a triplex so 6 units total.  I had to originally do a commercial loan to purchase since the seller was doing a 1031 exchange.  After that I did refinance into separate loans for each property for two reasons.  One was I could lock in the rate for 30 years and not worry about a ballon on a commercial, also if I decided to sell any one of the properties I could sell individually.  Under a commercial loan the bank would have wanted the loan satisfied if I would sell any of the properties.  So to answer your question what is your intention with the properties?  I personally liked the flexibility of selling independently which is easier getting a higher priced and the 30 year term I was able to get individually vs. the 20 year term offered on a commercial loan.