Bought a multi-family house in a hot housing market using an FHA loan. Yeah, you do have to intend to live in it. But FHA will make it possible to purchase a 2

Bought a multi-family house in a hot housing market using an FHA loan. Yeah, you do have to intend to live in it. But FHA will make it possible to purchase a 2,3 or 4 family rental property with little down (as low as 3.5% but really depending on loan limits, which vary by county, here it's about 800k,1m,1.2m respectively). Once I acquired the property (no easy feat since sellers favor cash buyers here in NYC), I waited a few months and refinanced out of the FHA into a traditional loan, since my property went up in value. The 15% I put into it, plus the equity, gave me the 20% figure I needed to refinance. That shaved 25% off my total monthly cost, saving me $900 a month. I have a tenant in one unit, and now I pay less for a duplex with a backyard and land in the second most expensive city in America, than my neighbors pay for a 1 bedroom apartment. Soon I plan to fix up one floor of the duplex and AirBNB it, so I will have literally 0 monthly housing expenses. Passive? Mostly! But I also have a tax shelter (mortgage interest for one part, and repairs for another part), build equity and go long on a hard asset. And I pay less for a whole house including taxes than my buddies who bought condos do for single apartments. The passive income will scale with inflation since it's rent, while the mortgage will stay flat for 30 years.