Using an FHA to purchase a multi-family home in San Francisco

[Travis Knight]

I was looking at MFH's in Texas where I'm from, because I can't afford a home where I live (San Francisco). Then I stumbled across FHA loans (silly I hadn't thought of this before).

So, instead of purchasing a MFH in Texas, I could potentially purchase a MFH in San Francisco, and live in one of the units. It wouldn't produce cash flow, but it should lower what I'm paying in rent (other tenants subsidizing my rent), while *hopefully* building some equity through appreciation.

Is this a crazy strategy? 

[Travis Knight]

Thanks for the pointers everyone. What I'm hearing is that its tough to find a deal in SF, especially at FHA loan levels, which means it would likely be older, and need lots of repairs, which would probably be out of pocket, because there aren't many MFH's generating cash in SF right now, especially if I'm living in one of the units.

@Gabe C. - I do work at Google.  :)