Moving from House to Duplex - TN

[Courtney Wilson]

Hey everyone. First time poster here in Bigger Pockets. I live in Tennessee and have recently decided I'd like to get into the duplex game. I own my current house and would like to continue to own it, so the game plan would be to rent it out, buy a duplex, live in one half, and rent out the other half. I was hoping for an FHA loan to help me get a lower down payment for this plan to make the most sense right now. I was told by a loan officer that because my current house has no rental history, it knocks me out of the FHA. They need at least 12 months of rental history for it to qualify. Does anyone have any thoughts or advice on this? Would renting out a room in my current home count as rental history?