Duplexes, FHA Loans, Section 8, House Hacking, BRRRR

[John Havel]

I'm totally new to real estate investing mostly trying to learn as much as I can at the moment but have been analyzing properties in my area for a few weeks now and have come across a duplex that I think might make a good investment if I could get it for the right price. 

The only way I could afford this duplex is if I were to do a 203k FHA loan. This would mean being an owner occupier which is fine since I'm interested in house hacking. My plan tentatively unless there are some legal issues i'm not aware of is to purchase the duplex with a 3.5% down payment. Rehab the property and live in one unit and rent the other and maybe one of the rooms in my unit to a friend or family member. Based on the numbers I ran this would allow me to live there with minimal if any housing expense. I intend to refinance as soon as I can after the rehab and renting is done. hopefully within the year to cash out my initial money and hopefully a bit more equity for funneling into another deal.

Is this something you can do with FHA loans having their one year occupancy clauses?

If doing this can I rent the second unit under section 8 while on the FHA loan or conventional loan after the refinance?

Are there any considerations I should be aware of when considering renting the unit under section 8?

Based on my preliminary market research I should be able to get around $900-$1000 a month in rent for the units as an average. Under section 8 for my region the FMR for a 3 bedroom is $1266, a full $266/mo more than my market research indicated.

My question would be if I can get that much under section 8 or is there some other valuing metric that they use as well which would result in getting the same amount as what my market research was showing? 

Additionally how do they catagorize bedrooms under section 8 because the units are listed as 3 bedrooms 2  of which would be standard bedrooms and another room which could be used as a bedroom, office, etc?  

Any info or suggestions on all this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.