If they choose to stop paying rent later they are held accountable for that.

I do want to point out though that Cleveland's population loss has finally stopped.

Just get started, don’t let this stop you. 

I literally laughed through the phone at his suggestion, because I was broke, in debt, and in every way and unqualified borrower, and the lending environment in 2012 was probably stricter than it had been since the invention of the 30yr mortgage.

Have you borrowed any money for the duplex or do you have an investor?

HUD 4000.1 (I believe) is the latest HUD handbook and it goes over all requirements for originating the loan, including but not limited to occupancy requirements and exemptions.FHA occupancy : "At least one Borrower must occupy the Property within 60 Days of signing the security instrument and intend to continue occupancy for at least one year."

Am I borrowing their money and paying them after the deal is closed?

Otherwise, nothing to stop them from taking 5 showers a day and running 10 loads of laundry.

Have you ever stopped to think about how much wealth you’ve built up just from being a homeowner?

Hey @Brad Roche - We do a significant amount of renovation loans (both Fannie May & FHA) here in Chicago and prefer the Homestyle loan only because it's less stringent on the borrow about what they have to repair, and they provide the general contractor a material draw at closing which helps the project start on the right foot.I thought the minimum down payment was 5%.