Can you House-Hack multiple times in 1 year?

Question

Hello All,

If you buy a property to house-hack in one state, can you turn around and do it again in another state if you’ve moved?

Scenario:

Purchased Duplex (A) using conventional loan in Charlotte, NC. Occupied for 3 months then moved to new city with intention of purchasing Duplex (B) to house hack as well.

Would banks still offer conventional loan in this situation or would they look at you as an investor?

Sarah Brown · Answer

Talk to a lender.  Discuss your situation.  You can be flagged for mortgage fraud.  It will require a little additional work, but doable.

Lien Vuong · Answer

That's a change of life circumstance so you would have a high chance of getting approval for that loan. You have to be min 50 miles outside the original property and have some sort of life altering event such as job change, familial status change, etc.

Kyle Bambu · Answer

I believe your answer comes down to "intent." I have asked this question to a couple of the bigger banks when I first started looking at mortgages, and it seems like there is a loosely enforced 1 year mark between owner occupied. If getting owner occupied comes down to "intent" it gets a little tricky. You could say 'yeah I'll live there' then go live there for a day and rent it -- although that would probably fall under mortgage fraud because you never really 'intended' to stay there.

In your example, moving cities seems like a pretty good excuse to get two owner occupied mortgages within a couple months of each other. It's probably best to consult the lender because they might have specific guidelines, but I would expect their response to be very vague otherwise investors looking to house hack would go get another owner occupied after x months.

Sam Albert · Answer

Seems like everyone missed your keyword: Conventional..

The simple answer is: if you're buying conventional, YES. You can do this. It just requires 25% down on the second home.

Naqib Matin · Answer

@Lien Vuong Thanks

Naqib Matin · Answer

@Kyle Bambu Thanks for the insight.

Can you House-Hack multiple times in 1 year?

Most Popular Reply