Can you establish residency, or "intent" to reside and still be meeting the FHA guidlines while renting out the other unit to mitigate holding costs?

Owner didnt want to bother mitigating termites.

If you follow this it should really help you mitigate a lot of issues when you are investing from afar.Don't buy in the roughest neighborhood in the urban core.

But if I earned lets so 200,000 outside of real-estate, then real-estate doesn't help me mitigate taxes?

The only mention of water intrusion by sellers was "Only ever a tenant caused issue and mitigated in full". 

Due diligence and experience help mitigate this risk to an extent. 3.

to mitigate that mortgage payment, AND you learn how to manage a property while deciding who gets to live with you.I house hacked back when I was living in San Diego, but now I help other first time homebuyers and house hackers generate wealth and mitigate the liabilities of owning a house (interest, taxes, insurance, capital expenditures...).

Good lenders will not be ultra low, we need to mitigate risk which can benefit you from getting involved in a bad deal

It's those maniacs that buy homes cash via quit claim deed off of craigslist that really get screwed.Make sure your property manager is a licensed real estate brokerage.Google Clayton Morris and/or Morris Invest for a cautionary tale of what not to do when buying turnkey real estateUnderstand you can not eliminate all risk, only mitigate it.

Like all businesses, their job is to sell their product and mitigate as much of their risk as possible when doing so.