If you delay the sale of your former residence unit until it has been more than 3 years since you vacated, your former primary residence becomes an investment rental and you no longer qualify for the §121 capital gains exclusion on the sale of a primary resdence.You can use a 1031 exchange to defer capital gains taxes on the sale of the investment rental unit since you are planning to use some of the sale proceeds to invest in another rental.  

@Jim Brandt , Unfortunately, a house that is in your name and used for personal purposes for more than 14 days during the year, or more than 10% of the number of rental days if greater, is considered to be a residence (not a primary residence).You are deemed to have used a property for personal purposes when it is used by: Anyone who rents the property for a price that is less than fair rental value.So the house will not qualify for rental property or investment property. 

The poster already stated they did not qualify for a HELOC with their bank due to income.

I think it could go either way if I list it as an "as is" property but was really trying to make it qualify for an FHA loan. 

Then you do another credit check on the husband and let him qualify by himself.

A qualified deal team working in concert to help extract this information is the best way to extract all you need to get the best answer.

PM will give you a great baseline of practical skills for real estate investing i.e. handling leases, landlord tenant law, utility structures, maintenance, improvements, maximizing property value, keeping books, marketing, conflict management, working with contractors and vendors and a whole host of other skills and knowledge.

They technically could be used assuming the property is habitable and can qualify for conventional.I don't know your market but here in mine you would lose every deal to cash and HML guys though.

To me that still qualifies as owning. 

The 6 month thing might be important....so if you bought that home with cash less than 6 months ago let me know....otherwise talk to some lenders, make sure they can use your rental income to qualify you, treat you fair, and can work quickly.