Can FHA Loans Be Used for an Investment Property? (2024)

Low down payments and low credit score requirements make Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans an attractive option for homebuyers who might not qualify for a traditional mortgage. While this may be good news for some homeowners, real estate investors looking to take advantage of the benefits of an FHA loan may need to look elsewhere. That’s because the conditions of these loans restrict those who qualify.

There are, however, ways in which some homeowners may be able to use an FHA loan for a property that also (or eventually) yields income.

What Are FHA Loans?

During the Great Depression, homeowners had a difficult time buying and maintaining payments on their properties. They were limited to loans worth 50% of a property’s market value, and mortgage terms were generally very short. Many loans ended with very large balloon payments, which most people couldn’t afford to make. This led to a massive amount of default and pushed up the foreclosure rate. In 1934, the U.S. Congress decided to form the FHA in an effort to promote affordable homeownership.

The FHA, which is part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is the largest mortgage insurer in the world and has more than $1.3 trillion in its portfolio. Loans insured by the FHA have lower downpayment requirements and more liberal underwriting standards than most conventional mortgages.

As of 2022, for example, homeowners only need a credit score of 580 (or higher) to qualify. Approved applicants can finance as much as 96.5%, meaning they only need to put down 3.5%. Those with credit scores from 500 to 579 can still qualify, but they need to put down a little more—10%.

For the most part, FHA loans are restricted to buyers who intend to use the home that they purchase as a primary residence. This means that an FHA loan cannot be used to finance a second home, a rental home, a vacation home, or an investment property. However, there are a few exceptions and a few ways to get around this general rule.

FHA Occupancy Requirement

Under FHA rules and guidelines, the property being financed must be occupied by the owner. This means that rental and seasonal properties do not apply. The FHA uses this rule to prevent investors from benefiting from the program.

The borrower must take possession of the home within 60 days after the mortgage closes, and they must live in the home for the majority of the year. The property must be used as a principal residence for at least one year. If there is more than one borrower listed on the mortgage, the FHA requires that at least one of them must satisfy the occupancy requirement.

Finance a Multiunit Property with an FHA Loan

One way to use an FHA loan to buy an income property is to purchase a multiunit dwelling. The FHA allows homeowners to buy a property with up to four units, provided that one is occupied by the owner. There is no upper limit to the size of the lot. In this way, an owner is able to live in one unit, making it an owner-occupied property and FHA-eligible. The owner can rent out the other unit(s) for income.

A savvy investor in a hot rental market sometimes earns enough income using this method to live in the home for free. As noted above, the FHA lends up to 96.5% of the appraised value, meaning the purchaser can put down as little as 3.5%.

Some Exceptions

The FHA has special provisions that may allow you to earn rental income from your home. If your job requires you to relocate and you need a second home—or if your home is too small for your expanding family—then you may be able to rent out your first home after you’ve satisfied the one-year occupancy requirement. If you are off work because you’re otherwise incapacitated, you may be able to rent out rooms in your home to boarders to make up for lost wages.

Of course, you can always pay off the mortgage early. The FHA doesn’t charge any prepayment penalties, so if you can eliminate the loan in its entirety, then you are free to do whatever you wish with the property.

Refinancing an Existing FHA Loan

Suppose someone uses an FHA loan to finance the purchase of a primary residence. Let’s say the owner then moves out of the home for one of the reasons listed above, but continues to own it and rent it out for income. In other words, the house becomes an investment property. Suppose also that interest rates drop, and the owner wants to refinance through the FHA for a better deal.

Even though the homeowner no longer lives in the house, FHA rules allow them to refinance into another FHA loan. An FHA-to-FHA refinance is also known as an FHA streamline refinance. There are several requirements to qualify for refinancing including:

• A minimum of 210 days must have passed since you closed your original home loan.
• You must have made at least six on time monthly payments on your FHA-issued mortgage.
• Payments for all mortgages on the property for the past 6 months before receiving a FHA case number must have been paid within the month they were due
• You may not have more than one 30-day late payment within the last six months for all mortgages on the property.
• The refinance must lower your monthly principal and interest payments, which is often described as a net tangible benefit. The qualifications to meet a net tangible benefit depends on the type of mortgage you are refinancing to and from, such as a fixed rate to an adjustable rate mortgage or vice versa. Refinancing into a mortgage with a shorter term also qualifies as a net tangible benefit.

If a homeowner meets the criteria above, FHA streamline refinances are quite possibly the easiest loans to close. They require no employment or income verification, no credit score verification, and no home appraisal. The main thing that matters is that the homeowner has made their existing FHA loan payments on time.

The Bottom Line

An FHA loan must be used to purchase a primary residence. It cannot be used to finance a second home, a rental home, a vacation home, or an investment property. That said, there are some exceptions. You can use an FHA loan to purchase up to a four-unit dwelling, as long as you live in one unit as your primary residence. Then you can rent out the other units for income. You can also rent out rooms in a single-family home if you are unemployed because of being incapacitated.

If your job requires you to relocate, or if your home becomes too small for your growing family, you may rent out your first home after purchasing a second one if you have met the one-year residency requirement. You can also refinance that initial home mortgage with an FHA streamline refinance.