. - for me, I just got a "resident manager" and traded free rent in exchange for him looking after the normal maintenance and other small tasks.

Michele Fischer Thanks for the welcome, glad to hear another WA resident on the route of multi-fam units.

If I were to find a quad with one empty unit, finance it with an FHA loan and keep at least one unit at a time as my residence on the weekends (probably just to do work on the place), would I be committing mortgage fraud?

Yet, he has not owned his personal residence and has not owned one since 1982.

Welcome Carter Catlett Thats interesting, according FNMA's sellers guide "If the mortgage being delivered to Fannie Mae is secured by the borrower’s principal residence,there are no limitations on the number of properties that the borrower can currently be financing"

I want to start with single family residences and work my way up to apartment buildings.

Brian PorterYou should seek legal counsel.In our area they have up to the age of 21 yrs to sue,& based on case history (up here) they sue everyone who owned the property during their residency.

I own a condo as my primary residence and I have lived in the condo for 5 years.

My real estate experience is limited my own personal transactions, I bought/sold a condo in NY and am having a home built on LI to live as a permanent residence which is currently wrapping up.

I figured that the process is still the same since technically the residents of the home are still the owners.