Eligibility

Can You Live There?

Investment property only — with one important exception.

Every program we offer is business-purpose financing for investment property. That rule has a real edge to it, and the edge is worth understanding before you write an offer — because on larger buildings, living on site is often still on the table.

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The Guidelines

Four Rules That Decide the Deal

These are our lending guidelines — the box a file has to fit inside. Local zoning and your own state can be stricter on a specific property, so treat this as the starting point and confirm your scenario with us.

I

1–4 Units: Investment Only

If the property is a single-family home, condo, PUD, or a 2–4 unit building, it must be an investment property. You cannot live in any unit as your primary residence. No house-hacking the duplex, no moving into the back unit of the triplex.

This isn't a preference — owner-occupied 1–4 unit lending is consumer mortgage territory with an entirely different rulebook. Our loans are made to investors and entities for business purposes, so an owner-occupied file simply can't be written here.

II

5+ Units: Most States Allow You to Live There

Once the building reaches five units, most of the states we lend in will allow you to make one of those units your primary home — as long as you don't occupy more than 50% of the building's livable square footage.

Five units, you in one of them, the other four rented: that works in most states.

Stay under half the livable square footage and the loan remains business purpose. Go over it and the building starts to read as your residence, which puts it outside every program we offer.

III

New Jersey: Six Units or More

New Jersey sets a higher bar. There, we require a building of 6 units or greater before a borrower can occupy it as their primary home — including mixed-use buildings.

A five-unit in New Jersey is still perfectly financeable. You just can't live in it. Every other state we lend in follows the standard five-unit guideline in Rule II.

IV

Commercial & Mixed-Use: Run Your Business, Maybe Live There Too

On true commercial property — 5–9 units, 10+ units, mixed-use, office and office condo, retail and retail condo, warehouse and warehouse condo, automotive, and day care — you can operate your own business out of the space. That's still business purpose, and it's one of the most common things our borrowers do.

Mixed-use goes one step further. Outside New Jersey there is no unit-count minimum for this, which means a two-unit mixed-use building can work: your business in the commercial space, you in the residential portion — subject to the same 50% livable square footage guideline and to local zoning. In New Jersey, the six-unit minimum from Rule III still governs.

How to read this page. These are Kings of Capital's underwriting guidelines for business-purpose investment loans, not legal advice and not a summary of state or municipal law. Occupancy, zoning, and permitted-use rules vary by state, county, and town, and they can be stricter than what's written here for any individual property. Guidelines also vary by program and are subject to change. Nothing on this page is a commitment to lend — bring us the specific property and we'll tell you exactly where it lands.
Counsel

Occupancy, Answered

On a 1–4 unit property, no — every program we offer is business-purpose financing for investment property, and you cannot occupy a unit as your primary residence. On a 5+ unit building most states allow you to live there so long as you do not occupy more than 50% of the livable square footage. New Jersey is the exception: there we require 6 units or more.
Not on our loans. House-hacking a duplex, triplex or fourplex as your primary residence falls under consumer mortgage rules, not business-purpose lending. If that's your plan, a conventional or FHA lender is the right door. Keep the 1–4 unit as a pure rental and we can fund it.
In most states you may occupy up to half the livable square footage of the building — stay under 50% and the loan still qualifies as business purpose. Cross that line and the property starts to look like a primary residence, which our programs cannot finance.
In New Jersey we require a building of 6 units or more before a borrower can live in it as their primary home. That applies to mixed-use property too. Every other state we lend in follows the standard 5+ unit guideline instead.
Yes. On true commercial property — 5–9 units, 10+ units, mixed-use, office, office condo, retail, retail condo, warehouse, warehouse condo, automotive and day care — you can operate your own business in the space. That is still a business-purpose loan.
Potentially. Outside New Jersey, a two-unit mixed-use building can work: you run your business out of the commercial space and occupy the residential portion, subject to the same 50% livable square footage guideline and to local zoning. In New Jersey the 6-unit minimum still applies.

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