The lowest-down-payment way to buy your first rental: move into it.

Buying a small multifamily property (2–4 units) as your primary residence, living in one unit, and renting out the others. The tenant rent offsets your mortgage, and because the loan is owner-occupied, you get access to low-down-payment programs that pure investment loans don’t allow.

Yes. Owner-occupied loans require you to move in, typically within 60 days, and live there as your primary residence for at least a year. Claiming occupancy you don’t intend to keep is mortgage fraud — Tiaira will walk you through what the commitment actually means.

Typically yes. Lenders generally count a percentage of the projected rent (often 75%) from the units you won’t occupy, documented by leases or the appraiser’s rent schedule. On 3–4 unit FHA loans the property also has to pass a self-sufficiency test where net rent covers the full payment.

Many investors do: live in a duplex for a year, move into the next one, and keep the first as a rental. Each new purchase has to be a legitimate primary residence, and lenders look closely at the reasoning when you move from a bigger home to a smaller one.

FHA allows a lower down payment and more flexible credit but carries mortgage insurance for the life of the loan in most cases. Conventional 5%-down on 2–4 units has PMI that can drop off later. Tiaira prices both against your scenario.