Determining Primary Residence for Refinance

[Matthew Davis]

My wife and I recently got married in February and we are in the process of joining our lives together financially. We both currently own our own homes and are in the process of determining which house we should claim as our primary. We are not looking to sell either house at the moment. We spent an equal amount of time at both of the houses. We want to cash out refinance her home to pay off debt, but it only makes sense to do so as her primary. Because the two houses are located within 100 miles of each other, we can only refinance her house as a primary or an investment property. The two properties are too close together for one of them be refinanced as a secondary home (according to the lender I spoke to today). 

Would it be possible to refinance her house as a primary residence right now and still have the option to move back to my property in the future. Moving back to my property would then require us to declare my home as our primary for voting and tax matters, but her house's mortgage would still be as a primary.

[Todd Rasmussen]

@Matthew Davis

I think I read between the lines correctly here.

Why doesn't just cash out refinancing her house as an investment property and moving in a tenant make sense after you consolidate your debt? If this whole strategy balances on the interest rate difference between a primary property and an investment property it sounds pretty thin...