All Forum Posts by: Edward A.

You can always pay extra per month on your new mortgage to knock down the 30 year term and overall interest. See how the math works out with all of that including the PMI portion. Rates have lowered since your original post as well.

But, if you don't plan on occupying your next property, it may not be worth the trouble. And even if you were occupying, conventional loans are pretty competitive with FHA when it comes to SFRs.

Hope that all helps.

Sounds good Chris. Just curious though, why are you sticking with the current FHA loan? Reason I suggested refinance is because although rates are increasing, they're still relatively low now and they're only going to get higher (most likely). Freeing up your FHA now to allow for future use would seem like a good bet.

Also depends what type of properties you're buying and living in. If you wanted a 4-unit, having that FHA free to use would be nice. If you're looking at just SFRs to occupy, FHA isn't as important.

Refinance. 

With FHA through my lender, I'm allowed to refinance 6 months in. Caveat of course is I'd need 25% equity whether I'm still an owner occupant or not.

Might be worth calling around different lenders and learning their guidelines. 

 Check with others. 

Think of the commercial unit as just the store itself, with the livable units as the residential units. It doesn't matter how it's physically connected. But if the commercial store space is greater sq footage than all of the residential units combined, then you wouldn't qualify for FHA.

If the residential units consist of 51+% sq footage of the property, you should qualify for FHA.

Are the duplex and commercial space separate buildings? You reference living above the commercial building which sounds confusing unless everything is attached. 

The county records would have to indicate it as 4 units. I wouldn’t expect the seller to jump through hoops to convert it.

If you're using FHA, you would have to live in the property within 60 days of purchase.

Yes I would go with the FHA route. She'd only need 3.5% down and can get a property up to 4 units! Maybe have her get a multi-family and you help her manage it, then she'd refinance out of FHA (still as an owner occupant) after a year or so, and afterwards you assume the loan when she decides she wants to move out?

All that is easier said than done of course, but you have an opportunity to get a little creative it looks like. So think about that.