Single Family w/ in-law OR 2 Units?

[Lee Lansford]

What physical criteria determines if a detached dwelling has 2 units or is a single unit w/ an in-law suite?? 1) The house is in R-1 which is single family dwellings. 2) Most of the utilites are separate except for the furnace which supplies heating to both units. 3) The additional unit (not main dwelling) occupies about 30-35% of the total dwelling space above grade. 4) The additional unit is located on the 1st floor only, it basically splits the 1st floor in half - side by side)...while the 2nd and 3rd floor which are smaller than the 1st floor....belong soley to the larger unit. Your help is very much appreciated!!!!

Just a thought:

Have you enquired of the zoning administrator as to the legally permissible use of the property?

This is always a good place to begin.

 

[Riick]

FANNIE XI, 404.01: Zoning (01/31/06).............We will not purchase or securitize a mortgage secured by a three-family to four-family property that includes an illegal accessory apartment

Hummm.. But in 2004/05/06/07 I know at least one Lender by the name of Indym** that routinely financed two or three legal + 1 illegal unit properties.
They sold the paper on Wall Street - probably ended up in some little old lady's portfolio -- in Australia.
Chief appraiser there insisted that the extra unit made the loan safer since there was more income.

:new_2gunsfiring_v1: Yes..... The were "forced" to give mortgages on these properties due to those nasty CRA provisions.
The 8% interest rate, 5 front-end points, and 3-year prepayment penalty had nothing to do with it.

Move along folks, move along, nothing to see here except trashed guidelines.
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