Primary Residence Vs Investment Property
I am purchasing a two family house. I qualified for a better loan because i said it was going to be my primary residence. I have now been called away on work. What is my obligation (by law) for how long i need to live there for?
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
I believe that it depends on the state and the loan.
I just purchased a conventional loan on a house in Georgia. The laywer at closing said that I was required to live there for one day. The best advice is to ask a laywer who is knowledable.
If you are working in a ship/or deputed to work in foreign countries etc. ..basically if your only legal US residential address is going to be this property - than you don't need to live there at all. However, if you are simply going to move to another city, and buy a house there again as a primary residence - and if the present lender finds out - than you are in big trouble.
If you like to play safe - simply change the occupancy to investment and accept the worsen rate; alternatively - if you don't lose sleep by deceiving a no-face lender - you are fine (IMO)...make sure that you don't apply to the same lender (or its subsidiaries) for another owner-occupied residence purchase!
to make it simple just look at the closing docs
a lot of loan docs will say that you are exempt from occupying the property if circumstances beyond your control prevent you from doing so. i suggest you have your mail sent there, then have a friend or family member pick it up for you... just because it is your residence, it doesn't mean that you have to be home at all... oh yeah, if you want to add to the effect, put a bed in the bedroom along with some chairs to give the appearance of living there... you usually only have to put on this cherade for the first few months because from my two experiences, neither lender has checked... one reason probably because a lot of lenders sell their loans and big banks probably don't have time to just drop by your house to see if you are home.
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