All Forum Posts by: Jen Sprague

@Chris Mason

I’m sorry, could you explain a little by what you mean by “in contract?”

Sorry, I realize I forgot to add specifics.

We are in Chicago.

The building is $375,000.

It was built in 1897, we believe it was originally a brewery.

There are currently two paying tenants, one vacant unit, and the storefront is vacant.

Just from the two occupied units, his mortgage would be covered. It’s not necessary for him to lease out the store front to afford the mortgage payments.

I hope this covers it!

Hello there!

My boyfriend is currently in a bit of a quagmire, and I’m hoping we can get some excellent advice here.

He has found a property that he absolutely wants to purchase. This is a mixed-use building with 3 residential units and 1 commercial unit. According to our understanding of the VA home loan guidelines, a property can be up to 4 units, and mix use is allowed so long as the property will be the buyer's primary residence and the the commercial use is subordinate to the residential use comprising no more than 25% of the property space.

My boyfriend has his certificate of eligibility for a VA home loan, and the building meets these requirements exactly. However, he has been turned by multiple lenders who are telling him that although the VA allows for circumstances such as these, most banks will not approve these kinds of loans.

That being said, "most" does not necessarily mean "all." He wants to fight for this property and secure it with the VA loan that he earned. Does anyone have any advice on finding a lender that would be willing to give him a VA loan for this property?