Can I use the VA loan while living in the barracks?

Question

I was thinking of house hacking a multi-family. I am forced to live in the barracks but on the weekends I can live in the property. So i was thinking I could AirBNB the property on the weekdays while living in it on the weekends to fill the requirements. Will this work?

Joshua McMillion · Answer

@Fahadbin Alam

Depending on your rank, you need to have this conversation with your company commander. The Army and Marine Corps require single service members with pay grades E-5 and below to live in the barracks. You can have this waved, but you need to be transparent with your leadership. When I was a commander, I often granted waivers for single Soldiers given their motivation and goals. If you paint the WHY to your leadership, I am confident they will let you.

Sincerely,

JD Martin · Answer

As long as the military doesn't have any prohibition on you having a house/apartment as your "residence", then I don't see any reason you couldn't. *BUT* - when I was in the Navy, I had lots of apartments, but my "official" residence was always my ship. This wasn't the case for the guys who were married.

Emery Jensen · Answer

The VA loan requires you to live in the property as your primary residence which is defined as at least 51% of the time. That being said, I'm not sure if just living there for the weekends is satisfactory. I know of people that disregard this rule but it's ill-advised to do this because if the lender finds out about this fraud, they can call or the whole amount of the loan to be due.

As far as getting approved for the loan it shouldn't be an issue as long as your DTI is good. Remember they can add 75% of the potential income that the small multifamily will produce to your DTI ratio. Just be careful and don't overleverage! Good Luck!

Carlos Scarpero · Answer

Nope. Can't do that. The VA home loan needs to be for your primary residence.

Fahadbin Alam · Answer

@JD Martin I’m a bit confused what do you mean by prohibition? Are you saying if the army doesn’t allow me to buy a house?

Can I use the VA loan while living in the barracks?

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