Any way to get around FHA owner occupancy restrictions?
I'm new around here and if you've taken notice of me over the past few days, you'll see that I tend to post some newbie questions. This time I've been able to do a little homework and my question is a little less obtuse. So here's the situation:
I'm a contractor overseas. I work year-round in Saudi Arabia where everything sucks but they pay you lots of money. My target properties are 2-4 unit rentals that I plan to buy and hold, preferably with units already leased. To this end, I want to take advantage of an FHA, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac low down payment loan to get started with rental properties in the 2-4 unit range. Now as all you seasoned investors know, those loans require owner occupancy of the property as a principal residence, which is not really feasible for me because (A) I can't physically be there all the time since I'm overseas and (B) the property in question is meant to generate revenue, so even just taking one of the units off the market will cut my monthly profits down to a pittance.
So, to all of you who are wiser than me, who have plied the tricks of your trade and trod the path less straight and narrow, I ask you, is there some legal way to get around this restriction? Obviously I'm not out to commit fraud or anything, but one example idea I had was finding someone I trust and who needs a place to stay to be my 'roommate' of sorts, effectively renting the unit while I use it as my physical address. I'd get my mail there and have a cot or a sofabed or something so that in all respects I could technically live there whenever I come home (even if I only get a few weeks home each year). Is that a solution to this problem, or would that constitute some kind of fraud or something? If you guys have another more elegant solution, please enlighten me. Or, you know, tell me I'm barking up the wrong tree or something. I might be completely wrong and there's no way to use these loans as a contractor in my situation.