I actually live Pinellas County.  

I used to have a two bedroom apartment that I lived in and I would rent out the second room on Airbnb and one time I got a guest and she would leave her windows open.

After 25 months, If they can prove that they lived in the property for two of the past five years, they can sell it as an owner-occupied residence.

I did 7 deals last year from out of state living in Austin Texas.

Now you see how expensive dining and living rooms are that could be converted. 

,I have sold and been managing properties that are near the MIA and haven't had any complaints from residents who are living in them.

I agree with the others here that say you need to have some skin in the game, if you are going to live there yourself, get an FHA loan rather than owner financing, you can get a 3.5% down loan, personally I do not love these as they require  PMI which is an additional expense, and you also need  bring additional funds for closing at least for taxes, title, attorney and transfer fees . borrowing from anyone else for the down payment, to include a personal loan from the bank is not a good idea, those again will be higher int. rate.

@Luis Cerwin as others have stated, Nov - Jan is the worst time of year to have a vacancy.Majority of tenants live paycheck-to-paycheck, so all their income goes to Holiday spending starting with Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then xmas, then NYE.January is also historically the worst month for rent payments due to Holiday Hangover Spending.

Sure for most occupant home owners with no money in the stock market and cash tight perhaps (just my views mind you) use of their HELOC to have a house they live in paid off sooner makes perfect sense. 

I live in Portland  Maine , I am new to real estate investing and looking to connect with any local investor.. thank you.