Down Payments.....How much????

When you say multi-family, do you mean 2-3 or 4 or more? The latter are treated as commercial loans with very different requirements, so knowing how many units is critical.

Speak to your bank or mortgage broker. We keep hearing that it's tough to get a mortgage on a 1-3 family right now, even with 20% down.
Tina
(Brooklyn broker)

lit, the only way you can get a mortgage for a multi-family with 10-15% down is through FHA. sunny_hong@countrywide.com

with FHA, you only need 3.5% down. However, you might need to put down more than that because there is a limit to how much you can borrow.

I am talking about 2-3 family homes...What exactly is FHA???

FHA is a government loan. They allow as little as 3.5% down. The loan limits are as follows for 2009:

1 family - $729,750
2 family - $934,500
3 family - $1,129,250
4 family - $1,403,400

There are some flexibilties compared to your conventional loan. Rates are usually relatively low and very comparable to your conventional conforming rates. They allow 96.5% financing, more lenient on credit and reserves, can have multiple borrowers, etc.
But you also must know that there is an upfront MI charge of 1.75%, which you can finance. And you pay MI whether youre putting down 5% or 50% (except of 15 year fixed mortgages which dont require MI with a 20% down payment).

FHA is more prevalent in the outer boroughs and outside the NYC market where there are single and multi family homes. Rarely will you find an FHA approved condo or coop. Mainly because FHA has very strict rules when it comes to condos and coops, for example, any language of right of first refusal will deny FHA approval.

Hey, sunny, can you update us on rates? 30-yr conforming, 30-yr super-conforming, 30-yr jumbo, 5/1 for the three types too? Thanks!

Thanks Shong, your post was very informative. Is that a one shot charge of 1.75% on the loan? Also - are there income requirements?

crescent - please email me and I will give you all the rates you want.
lit - yes it is a one time charge that you can pay upfront or include into your loan. And income documents are required.