Newbie investment question

[Jory Sturdevant]

Hello I am new to investing but this is something that I feel is better to get involved in while I am "young and dumb." I have been watching properties for the past 6 months while I saved up a cash reserve and almost made a purchase on a single family but pulled out due to safety concerns about the property. My ultimate goal is to have multiple rental properties that I can forget about and use as a passive income for the future (far fetched ideas with a property manager but still the goal.) 

My question is that I have been looking at a duplex in a surrounding area that is being offered at $140,000. I should be able to rent out each unit for $800 a month. I do not currently own a home and do not have equity but I have a small cash reserve of about $30,000 set out for investments. I have been looking at the possibility of applying for an FHA loan since I do not own a home and my credit score is above 720. This would allow me to put down 3.5%-5% initially along with the mortgage insurance I would be in for under $10,000 instead of an initial investment of 15% (as a primary residence) or 20% (as an investment property). I understand that FHA loans have a requirement for a person to have it be their primary residence but I work as a travel nurse and I am not usually at a primary residence since I travel. My idea would to be only rent out one part of the duplex for the first year since I would not want to be doing anything illegal and it would also allow me the opportunity to stay there if I was able to find a contract that would allow me to stay in my "primary residence." Do you believe that this is a good plan or would something else be better to look at? The FHA loan idea is very appealing due to the low money down and would allow for the possibility of an additional investment and/or money to reinvest in the property. Thank you very much for your time