The loan I am currently reviewing is to purchase and improve a rental house and refinance 3 current rental homes – all four homes are being taken as collateral. I know that the “purchase” trumps the home improvement and the refinance, but what property do I use? Under normal circumstances, we use the home with the greatest value, but in this case, that is a house we are refinancing. The one being purchased is the house with the least value. Would I still use the one with the greatest value or would we use the one being purchased?

Thanks!

If you search the Getting It Right Guide on multiple you will find that you can pick one or divide the loan across all four.

I don't usually disagree with Kathleen, but I think in a purchase transaction, if there are multiple properties as collateral, and one of the properties is being purchased, you have to report the purchased property over the rest of the collateral. From the GIR:

2. Property location—multiple
properties (home purchase/refinance
of home purchase). For a home
purchase loan, an institution reports the
property taken as security. If an institution
takes more than one property as
security, the institution reports the location
of the property being purchased if
there is just one. If the loan is to purchase
multiple properties and is secured by
multiple properties, the institution reports
the location of one of the properties or
reports the loan using multiple entries on
its HMDA/LAR (with unique identifiers)
and allocating the loan amount among
the properties

Yes, report the property being purchased. I was focusing on the "refinancing" of the other properties.

That's where I was leaning toward - Report the property that is being purchased since this loan will be reported as purchase.

Thanks!!

I would report the property being purchased.

In the case of several properties being purchased, only one is reported.