FHA owner occupant vs renting for primary residence?

[Ryan Howard]

I found this forum a couple months ago and have been soaking up as much knowledge as possible since then. At first I was eager to get my investing career started with an FHA loan and owner occupy one unit, then rinse and repeat after a refinance was possible. Since then I learned about the extra costs and higher payments due to only putting 3.5% down. I am not focused on purchasing college town rentals about an hour away from when I live. And due to the lower housing costs I would be putting 20% down for every property that I purchase. My question is would it be better to rent my primary residence or start out with a multi unit. One of the main reasons I'm leaning towards renting is to keep my debt to income ratio low so I am able to aquire more properties l will gladly appreciate any help that anyone can give to help me get started out. Thank you in advance.