My partner and I have been saving up to buy a multi-family house in the Hudson Valley. The idea is to buy something with at least one rental unit so that we can transition to a life with lower monthly costs over time, and eventually even buy another investment property.

We currently reside in NYC. Until about a month ago we were both employed and saving rapidly for a down payment on a house, but then I was laid off. Our mortgage lender now says we only qualify for houses up to 160K with our reduced income of 90K annually, and that we are not eligible for FHA or any other program because we want to buy a house that would not function as our primary residence. She also says that self-employment income would not count towards our qualification, should I go back to being a real estate agent (which is what I did before my last job which was salaried.)

Our plan has always been to buy a house first and then slowly transition to live full time in our future house contingent on our finding new jobs in the area. It doesn't seem right to me that we are being penalized for wanting to buy a house in the place we would like to live, but do not yet live because of our jobs. Is there a way around this? Are there other ways to qualify for a mortgage? It also doesn't seem right that self-employment income would not count towards our qualifications.

Ideally we would do FHA on a multi-family but it doesn't seem like this is possible since it would not technically be our primary residence. Is this correct information or should I reach out to other mortgage lenders?

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