Primary residence

Can someone please explain to me what the qualifications are for claiming primary residence?

I am in the military and travel alot. A couple lendors ive talked to say I have to do an investment loan. But I have also been told some other conflicting info so I dont trust them at this point. I am trying to get approved for a VA or First-time-home-buyer loan. The property I am interested in is a 4-unit, approx. loan of 60k, and located in Ohio.

Thanks for you help,
Chase

You would have to be living in the home to make it owner occ. The fact that it is a 4-unit is why people are telling you that it has to go as investment.

Thanks for you reply Shaun,

I mispoke earlier, you are right it is an invest prop. and the FHA/VA loans are good up to 4-units.

No one has been able to qualify my for a FHA/VA loan yet because they hear I am not stationed in the local area and they write me off. Although I have been doing some reading on this and and the VA states the owner must “occupy or intend to occupy”. Also I have read the residency requirements are met if the property is listed on my drivers liscence or voters registration. I do intend to live in the property and 1 of the units will be used by me.

What I am wondering is this true and what are the requirements of the VA when they say “intend to occupy”? I really want this to work but it seems like when I start asking these questions to lendors they get put off because im not such an easy sell.

Chaser,
Do you currently own another property? If not, you should have no problem qualifying for an owner occupied property. Being in the military would be an asset because you obviously would want to have a place to call home. I have done several VA loans for people who are in the military and have had no problems qualifying. My contact information is below if you need assistance with this issue.

Anyone know?

I found this on the VA web-site.

I want to buy a house with a VA loan. Do I need to occupy the property?

The law requires that you certify that you intend to occupy the property as your home. This requirement is considered satisfied if you actually intend to occupy the property as your home and in fact so occupy it when the loan is closed or within a reasonable time afterward.

I am a single veteran stationed overseas and want to buy a home in my home town. My friends who are married can do this with their spouses occupying the property in their place, but VA says I can’t do this with my parents or other relatives occupying on my behalf. Isn’t this discrimination against single veterans?

The law specifically provides that occupancy by the veteran’s spouse satisfies the personal occupancy requirement. The law makes no provision for occupancy by any other relatives as a substitute for personal occupancy by the veteran.

Hope this helps. You may also be able to provide documentation showing how much longer you will be on active duty. This may help convince your lender that you do intend to occupy the property in a reasonable amount of time.

Chris, your my hero. :smiley:

Thank you for the kind words.