Using FHA for more than one purchase in a year?

[Donna R.]

Hi, Thanks for taking the time to read a starting out post! We currently live in Hawaii although will eventually move back to Montana where my in-laws are and we can enjoy a lower cost of living. We are both self employed and my husband has some contracts that are just too good to give up and so he would come back to Hawaii 3-4 times a year to take care of these. I have been itching to get into the real estate market here and so I'm trying to figure out how to do this. I was thinking about purchasing a condo that we can rent out and we can stay in when we come back for work/visiting. However, we want to purchase a home in MT also. Is it possible for us to do 2 FHA mortgages in one year? I don't think we would have enough to put 20% down for both places (probably closer to 10%). If we moved out of the condo after living there for a bit and obtained a signed lease, would that count toward our income? I've read that we would have to have 2 years of income from the rental for it to be considered income to qualify for our next mortgage. I know people do some creative financing but I'm just not sure which way to go. It seems like we should be able to do this... Thanks in advance for any input.