Establishing Rental History from my condo - Milwaukee WI

[Ryan Dworak]

Hello,

I am "newer" to BiggerPockets and this is now a website I frequent daily.  Loving it!  I was hoping to get some guidance from the BP community on how to establish rental history.

I have a condo in downtown Milwaukee, WI that I have lived in for three years.  Over the course of that time, I have had several renters, mainly friends, living with me and paying me monthly rent.  It has been a fairly loose situation with a rental terms and have had no issues.  Here is what I envision doing in the near future and need some advice on getting there.

My Goal: Move out of downtown and rent out my condo. I would like to purchase a duplex or 4-plex with a FHA loan and house hack as my primary residence.

So in order for me to get another loan on the duplex and rent out the condo, do I need to have 2 years worth rental history in order for that to happen?  Is there criteria about having 30% equity in the property you want to rent?

If someone is paying me rent right now, could I draft a lease agreement and track payments to start a rental history track record?  I am thinking this income would have to be reported and taxed as well.

Any advice or paths to take would be appreciated.  Thanks! -Ryan Dworak