Hi BP'ers!

My wife and I are new investors and we've come across a unique question that we haven't yet been able to find the answer to on the forums.

The question:

If we house hack a duplex that doesn't need rehab'd and pay for it with an FHA loan with 3.5% down, what happens to the loan downpayment when we move in 1-2 years?

Example:

We buy duplex A for $100,000 with a 3.5% down FHA loan.

We live in the duplex for 1-2 years, then decide to buy another duplex, duplex B, using another FHA loan for 3.5% down.

Since we cannot have two FHA loans at one time, what happens to the loan on house A? Does it refinance into a new conventional loan? If so, do we have to come up with 20% down because it is no longer a primary residence?

This was a difficult question for us to answer because usually, investors use FHA loans on properties that need fixing up, which creates equity. Beings that this deal would not create equity because it doesn't need fixing up, we need to know what happens to the original FHA on duplex A.

Thanks everyone!

Hi @Douglas Eicher ,

If you were to refinance out of the FHA loan on duplex A, you'd want to do a cash-out refinance to get your money back out. This is assuming there is good enough equity to qualify for such a loan in the 1st place. You cannot get the FHA loan on duplex B until you sold duplex A or went out, found a lender, and refinanced it first.

If you don't have the requisite equity, then you'd have to bring cash to the transaction to make that deal happen. Your other option would be to do a term and rate refinance where you wouldn't get any money out of the deal, but you'd be able to change the FHA loan into a conventional one if you qualify.

Thank you Bob!

That’s what I figured with the FHA loan but thought it best to get confirmation.

I haven’t heard of them and rate, thank you for the reference!

I appreciate the help.

@Douglas Eicher - I am in the same exact situation as you. I purchased a brand new duplex for 3.5% down and I do plan to move and purchase a new one next year. 

Here is my plan.

Leave the FHA loan outstanding. Purchase the new duplex with a new owner-occupied 5% down conventional loan. There will still be PMI, but it will burn itself off. Once my duplex reaches 20% equity, then I will refinance out to a conventional.

Does that make sense? 

Hey @Craig Curelop ! 

That's funny, I just listened to your podcast The Craig Show with your two guests, Brandon Turner and @Joshua Dorkin .  

Anyways, I hadn't thought of 5% financing with a conventional loan because I have heard they are hard to find. Plus I've heard PMI eats too much into the cashflow. But if the numbers make sense, it wouldn't matter. So yes, I will be trying that in the future, for sure.

Also, I really enjoyed what you had to say about Air BnB. It opened my eyes to more possibilities. 

Thanks!