All Forum Posts by: Scott Bridgehouse

@Jay Hurst

You (and the rest of the folks here) really just made my Friday. Thank you so much for the advice and clarity. I just got off the phone with my mom who also just bought her first investment property not too long ago and said "You HAVE to try to the forums, the people are incredibly helpful."

Thanks again everyone!

Of course, I am still open to any and all tips and tricks surround this topic if others come by this thread and want to throw their hat in the ring.

@Jay Hurst

Very good insights. So is it a fair statement for me to make that I have a better chance of passing the self-sufficiency test on a 3-4 property with an FHA loan the higher percentage of down payment I make (so as to reduce the overall monthly payment)?

When calculating the total rent from which they take 75%, do they include only the units I'm renting out? Or would they include the unit I plan to occupy as well?

Thanks for sharing the wisdom - was losing sleep over this last night. Turns out this is the "real time knowledge" that you just take in from doing it, no matter how many books you read.

@Brett Merrill

Thanks for doubling down on the push to shop with different lenders. While I did shoot a "Sorry I was wrong" email over to my current loan officer, I did imply that I am still interested in other options, whether that be what she could offer with her company or somewhere else.

Any "must-do" tips when calling around and trying to learn what lenders can offer? I will of course be consulting all the BiggerPockets books I own, but would love to hear if something immediately jumps out at you when hearing that question.

@Jay Hurst

Super helpful. Really helped assuage my concern that she might just be trying to pull a fast one on me. I wonder why I was so confident that, so long as I was living in the property, I could do lower numbers, especially as a first-time buyer. It seems like many people on the forums seeking go about this strategy have been confused in the same way. I wonder if something comes to mind that we all might be thinking of instead?

@Paul De Luca

Hugely appreciated yet again. Its amazing how much better I feel hearing just someone else speak to it. This lender was referred to me by my realtor, and even he said, when seeing the down payment requirements, "I don't think she knows you're going to live in the property." I'm wondering if maybe he would have any sway for me. 

I'd imagine though that that's not something I could negotiate though?

I know I'm milking this for all it's worth.. but if you have the time to talk through that (or someone else reviewing the post!), that would be huge as I go into a meeting with my realtor this evening.

@Paul De Luca 

Really appreciate your reply. I've done some digging on other posts since I posted mine above and it doesn't seem entirely uncommon for lenders to have these requirements in place, house-hacking or not. Which is a relief to an extent. And I hear you on the cash-flow after moving too, so I'm glad my mentality was aligned with yours as I considered FHA instead if I have to go that route.

Quick follow-up, if you'd indulge me: the attractiveness of my offer. Isn't it common for conventional loans to be viewed more favorably than FHA? Maybe I'm making it a bigger deal than its worth, but with the housing market as volatile and competitive as it is, I want to be going in from as strong a position as possible.

Curious your thoughts on that and whether I'm being overly conservative/ pessimistic about my prospects if I ultimately go FHA.

BiggerPockets Community! I am so happy to be posting my first ever question on the forums. Long-time listener, first-time poster.

As the title suggests, I'm gearing up to buy my first ever property. I have a realtor, a location mapped, savings in the bank, and got prequalified earlier this year. I received a raise, and so I went back to my loan officer who did my first pre-approval so she could give me new figures. During this discussion, she said "by the way, for a conventional loan, we require 15% down on a 2-unit, 25% down on a 3-4 unit." I asked her how that could be considering this is my first-ever property, I wouldn't be exceeding 4 units (staying residential not going commercial), and I would be living in one of the units for at least a year (owner occupied, primary residence). She has not yet responded back to me.

Is this a universal rule with conventional loans? Or is this specific to Guild Mortgage? Of course I could go the FHA route, but I'm trying to avoid the life-long insurance until refinancing aspect of it if I can. I just always thought FHA was better suited for those with lower incomes/ credit scores (I have a stable six figure salary, roughly 750 credit score) - maybe I'm totally missing something here. Maybe I'm not. Should I be shopping for a different mortgage company?

Any help keeping my head straight with what I thought I could do with a conventional loan while house-hacking as a first-time homebuyer planning to owner-occupy would be immensely helpful as I kick off my real estate investing journey!