Question about FHA Loans (Newbie Question)

[Lucas Maunier]

Hello, BP community. 

This is my situation: 

I live in Florida with my parents and want to start investing in Real Estate. I have a good credit score and work for a foreign (Latin America) company. 

I want to do an FHA Loan for the low down payment requirements and to acquire my first home and house hack. Is it possible to do the FHA loan if I travel constantly (I am at home one week every month due to work while renting out the other rooms and potentially staying in a small bedroom inside the house.

Please let me know, thanks!

Best.

[Sasha Mohammed]

Hi Lucas, my assumption is your question is pertaining to the occupancy requirement? If yes, i suspect this one will be up for underwriter discretion. General rule is that you must live in it for 51% of the year to call it a primary. But if your work requires you to travel, and this would be your primary source of housing while in the States, its possible an underwriter would find this alright. Sadly, there's no blanket answer here as it technically does not meet guidelines. But i would reach out to a few loan officers and see if they could run it by their underwriting team for clarity and required documentation.  

My followup question to you, is -- are your earnings taxable in the US? 

[Lucas Maunier]

Yes, I report my foreign earnings in the US. Thanks for the insight. 

Best, 

[Ray Hage]

@Lucas Maunier I think realistically it shouldn't be an issue for FHA as this is your primary residence even if you are traveling very often. I like the idea of the house hack as you will only be here in Florida some of the time. Keep the smallest bedroom of the house for yourself and aim for a 4 bedroom house if possible. I recently saw the perfect house in Boca Raton close to FAU that had 4 bedrooms and was being rented to students. This is the type of gem you need to look for.

[Eric Miller]

I have had a few similar clients with this same scenario and the file moved through perfectly fine. Everyone here has made great points. Just remember, if you find an underwriter that does have an issue, there's 1000's of other lenders in this country that can do a FHA loan.

[Konstantin Ginzburg]

That shouldn't be an issue for the occupancy requirement of the FHA loan. If you are traveling frequently for work, that property would still be considered your primary residence so will meet the occupancy requirements. The occupancy requirements only come into effect if you are actively living in another location for a large portion of the year (such as a seasonal home). If you are actively trying to use an FHA loan to buy your first property to house hack, one option you should consider is getting a multifamily property as opposed to renting rooms in a single family home. As long as the multifamily residence is 4 units or less, it still counts as a residential home and the process of qualifying for a 4 unit multifamily is the same as qualifying for a single family home. This will give you the option to maintain quality of life by ensuring you retain your privacy from your tenants as well as being able to rent a full unit will allow you to bring in more rental revenue as opposed to renting a single room.

[Stephanie P.]

Quote from @Lucas Maunier:

Hello, BP community. 

This is my situation: 

I live in Florida with my parents and want to start investing in Real Estate. I have a good credit score and work for a foreign (Latin America) company. 

I want to do an FHA Loan for the low down payment requirements and to acquire my first home and house hack. Is it possible to do the FHA loan if I travel constantly (I am at home one week every month due to work while renting out the other rooms and potentially staying in a small bedroom inside the house.

Please let me know, thanks!

Best.

 This won't be a problem, particularly because you currently live with your parents and don't own any other properties.  If it is, find a different lender.  Just because you travel for work doesn't mean you can't have a "home base".  

If you're just starting out your real estate journey, I'd look at multi-family (4 units and under). FHA is the best way to finance a multi family (even with the upfront and monthly mortgage insurance premium) and you can get rents from the other units instead of having a variety of people in your own space.

[Ryan Thomson]

@Lucas Maunier yes! If you have to travel for work or life and that is your primary home you can certainly do that. 

[Sam Sanders]

Hello Laura,

You need not to worry about hypotheticals are your thoughts on weather would your situation meet FHA GUIDELINES; the answer is yes. Are you a FLA. resident, have you lived here for over 12 months, do you pay Federal Taxes, will this property be Homesteaded in your name? if the answer to these are yes you will not have any problems acquiring a Lone. Never make your situation bigger than what it is, what you do now want be for the rest of your Life, Buy and enjoy your Home!