Lying About Primary Residence for a Refinance

Lying About Primary Residence for a Refinance

Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2013 · 43 posts · 12 votes

BP,

I have a situation I want to run by you to A) see if I'm doing anything wrong and B) understand if I should've taken action earlier...

January 2017 - I purchased a home in Pittsburgh with a 5% conventional loan as my primary residence

November 2017 - I relocated to Philadelphia to start a new career and had three friends (4BR house) sign a lease that would take me until the next full rental cycle.

I recently inquired about refinancing the loan and I was asked "Is this your primary residence"?  Obviously, it is not.  However, because I only have 3 individuals on the lease I'm wondering if it makes an incredible difference to pass a little white lie in this situation, as I would also like to use this income to qualify for a better refi.

I'm just confused as to why the lender would care about this during a refi?  It is clear that I didn't do anything wrong last year when purchasing, however, on the refi it would be a little bit of a lie to maintain the stance that I still live in the home.

Lastly, I'm curious if I had an obligation to the lender to inform them of my move in November?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Cam

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Rental Property Investor · Mercer Island, WA · Member since 2008 · 22k+ posts · 14k+ votes
8y

Generally there is no issue with buying a house with an OO loan then moving and renting the house with that loan in place. Especially when you have a job related move to a different city.

However, now when you want to refi, telling the lender its owner occupied when its not is not a "little white lie". Its fraud. Interest rates are lower for an OO refi and the allowable LTV is higher. For example, Fannie Mae eligibility matrix says a cash out refi on a primary SFR is 80%. For an investment property its 75%. Will you get caught? Maybe, maybe not. If you do, the consequences will be more severe than the benefit you gained from the lie.

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  • Member since 2019 · 8 posts · 4 votes
    6y

    Hi - similar scenario. I filled out an application to Refi. I bought a place as a primary residence and lived in it for a while and now renting it out. When I told the Refi people it’s a rental, they said they were going to process it as a primary mortgage for better rates. I don’t feel comfortable with that. I’m thinking of doing another bank for the Refi. 

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