Owner Occupied Loan Question

[Derek Madden]

Question for the legal people here..

I'm a missionary, I do a lot of traveling in and out of country, but I have no place to stay when I am in the states. My hope was to get an FHA loan in my hometown to buy a duplex that would give me the ability to have a home that is being paid for by renting out the other side and at the same time having a place to come home to without having to bunk up with family/friends or pay for hotels and AirBNB's.

The idea behind "occupying" and "living in" seems to be a bit of a gray area around BP, especially with the addition of the phrase "A principal residence is a property that will be occupied by the borrower for the majority of the calendar year" which you see in the actual HUD documents.

So the entire situation is confusing and from my understanding the FHA loan was supposed to benefit those who have a harder time owning a home, it's my opinion that I fall into that. I want to be able to find a home, but I also don't want to go to jail for trying to circumvent the process (which is not at all what I'm trying to do).

So, my main question is are people who travel a ton for work eligible for the FHA process?