Vacation duplex with an FHA

[Ben Rice]

Hey BP,

Wanted to bounce a scenario off the community to see if something was possible.

So the scenario is investing in a vacation rental (duplex). Rent out one side and "live" in the other. I'll be there often but my job is in another city. So my primary residence would be the vacation duplex but I would technically be crashing at my family's house in the city where I work a good chunk of the time. And working remotely from the vacation house part of the time. And would be aiming to use an FHA loan. Wouldn't be renting another place and wouldn't own another primary residence.

1) Is the above scenario legit?

2) Is it still legit if I also list my side of the duplex on AirBnB/VRBO during the times when I am not there?

Thanks!

[Andrew Johnson]

@Ben Rice As soon as you have to use "air quotes" to describe your plan I think we've hit on good ol' fashioned mortgage fraud ;-) You're committing to make that your primary residence (for a period of time) and that's the intent of the FHA program. I guess you can gamble that you can get away with it but that's at your peril. If you do get caught with Occupancy Fraud and get dumped into SARs, good luck getting another mortgage later in life. And you just laid out your idea in a public forum...online...with your first and last name... ;-)