Financing a 3 Unit Apt. Building, Convert to condos, keep one unit to live in ?

I am trying to think this one through.

My business partner and I are purchasing a 3 unit building. One of the units, he will live in to keep as his residence. We will be immediately converting the units to condominiums but must settle on the building as it is right now…as a 3 unit apartment building.

The question: Will it be a problem to refi since we will have to pay off the $1.5 Million Loan in order to sell the other 2 units. Will lenders do partial releases for a partial value of the loan. We will get approx. $1M when we sell the other 2 units and will be left with a property worth about $700K. I want to avoid having a problem refinancing. To me, it seems like a no-brainer for the bank because if we qualify for the $1.5M loan, we should easily qualify for $500K to $700K loan.

To summarize:
a. Purchase 3 unit apt. building.
b. convert to condos (we have experience in doing this)
c. keep one unit for business partner to keep as his personal residence.
d. question: how to best structure the financing.

Any suggestions…?
Thanks,
Chip

I’ve dealt with larger projects than this and lenders will agree to partial release of lien as you sell units. You have to work with your loan officer to structure the release schedule and numbers.