Should my fiancé and I both get separate FHA loans to acquire 2 properties or go with a private lender?

[Taylor Grabus]

Good morning,

I am a rookie REI located in Essex County in Massachusetts. I am currently researching and creating a long term plan for my real estate investment. I was wondering what people thoughts were about my spouse and I acquiring 2 multifamily homes through government FHA loans?

I have plans to jump in and make my first investment purchase mid 2015 through utilizing an FHA loan. I could scrap up a normal 20% down payment for one property instead of using the FHA loan but my fiancé and I thought it might be a better to instead purchase two separate homes individually using the govt. loan prior to getting married. We are not due to get married for another 2 summers and we would space the purchases out so that we can live in the homes for the 1 year minimum requirement.

Now I do understand that the FHA loans come with high PMI's but my thought is that the cash on cash return will still be higher due to us acquiring two investments.

Any thoughts?

Taylor