House hacking by proxy

[Andrew Egerton]

Hi all, I posted this on the general REI forum but then stumbled on this house hacking forum so I'll post it here as well:

I am new to learning about REI and am looking to get some advice on a possible opportunity.

My parents are retiring in a year and are considering selling their house and buying or renting a place close to me and a place close to my siblings who live in another state. I recently started listening to BP podcasts and I got to thinking that I might be able to use their situation to kickstart my REI portfolio while also helping them with their goal of having a small place to live in both states. My thought was that I could buy a multi family near me with my parents as the primary owner/occupant and I would co-sign/finance. They would live in the property for a year such that we could qualify for an FHA loan with a low down payment. Then after a year or two I would buy them out of the loan and rinse and repeat by buying another long distance multi family near my siblings. I guess my first question would be is whether this strategy is allowed or am I missing something? Has anyone on here used a similar strategy?

Curious to hear your thoughts, thanks in advance!
-Andrew