House Hack While Traveling

[Cole Britting]

Hope everyone is doing well!

So I have a question on house hacking, as I am trying to develop my strategy:

I'm going to be traveling around for the next few months (not work related), but also want to get a house hack with an FHA loan. After taking a look at the FHA guidelines, it seems that as long as it is my primary residence, and I am occupying it for the majority of the year, I am not breaking any rules. So if I travel for 182 days, and live in my house hack for 183, I am all set?

To add another layer: What if I want to rent out my room (or if multifamily, my unit) to someone on a short/mid term basis while I am gone. Is this allowed? I'd still be occupying it for majority of the year, but not sure if this crosses some line between investment property and primary residence.

Here is the HUD's definition of principal residence for reference:

A Principal Residence refers to a dwelling where the Borrower maintains or will maintain their
permanent place of abode, and which the Borrower typically occupies or will occupy for the
majority of the calendar year. A person may have only one Principal Residence at any one time.

[Matthew McKee]

Of course, none of this is legal advice. These responses seem to be reasonable. The big take away is what your INTENT is, as long as you intend to occupy the residence for the majority of the year, you're not breaking the guidelines. We're doing this for a client, he has to travel for work often so we manage his place as an STR while he's away so he can afford to keep his house.