i am haveing a CRA training for my loan officers but can't find a "workable" definition of Multi-Family. Heres what I have: "Non-Farm properties with 5 or more dwelling units in structures used to primarily accommodate households on a more or less permanent basis. A Dwelling with five or more families. A multi-family loan is one that is secured by property that contains 5 or more units.
Examples are - Apartment Buildings, apartment hotel.

I'd leave off at the more or less permanent basis description (first sentence). The rest leaves a lender room to play. For instance, A dwelling with five or more families...so I have a single family residence with 3 generations of two families living in it (happens in some cultures so don't shake your head). That's multi-family under your description.

Keep it simple and say any residential realestate secured loan with more than five attached units used to accomodate households on a more or less permanent basis. Example: Apartment building

Exclude structures used for transient purposes or other business purposes that do not include permanet occupancy. Example, Hotel, Motel, Dormatories, Homeless shelters.

dawnie - what about the 5 or more part? is that five or more families or units?

Units. You can have six million families living in a single family residence and it wouldn't count as a multi-family structure. (But the plumbing would be experiencing MAJOR failures)

Here's an explanation I gave in a previous post. Maybe it will help. If it further confuses the issue, I apologize.

A 1-4 family dwelling is any residential dwelling with less than 5 units. 5 or more units make a multi-family unit. The units do not have to be owner occupied. And if you have 5 families living in a 10 bedroom house, it is not a multi-family unit, it is a 1-4 family unit. 1-4 and multi refers to the design of the unit. Was it designed for 1 family to live in or was it designed for multiple families to live in?

Condos and cooperatives are individual 1-4 family units under one roof, each unit has its own deed and individual owners. When you make a loan to someone for a condo you do not have a lien on the whole condo complex, just the individual unit that the person is buying or refinancing.

Take a 50 apartment complex. If the owner of the complex “rents” each apartment then it is a multi-family unit. If the owner decides to make the “apartment” complex a “condo” complex and starts “selling” and deeding the individual “apartments”, they now become 1-4 family units.

I'm glad we tricked Dan into the CRA threads He's the king when it comes to this stuff!!!