Buying a Second Owner-Occupied Home Within 6 Months??

[Alissa Engel]

First time posting, so I hope this is the right place!

Does anyone know how long the wait period is between purchasing owner-occupied properties? 

My husband and I bought a owner-occupied duplex sight-unseen in October. We are military in AR, and the property is in MT. The seller was elderly and not business savvy (she ended up passing away before closing), so the sf was listed as "buyer will verify". The realtor estimated 900sf per side at the time of our offer. It's a hot market, so we had an offer in within 3 hours of finding the property, and didn't have time to verify exact sf. Turns out that each side is 750 sf. My husband moved in (October) and is remodeling the home. I am still in AR and haven't seen the home, but he's pretty sure we won't last long in that small space. We have an accepted back-up offer on another duplex (1200 sf), and would like to live there instead. We would move in around Feb if we get the property. My lender is saying that she doesn't feel comfortable doing another Owner-occupied loan that quickly, but she's not able to give me a specific amount of time that we need to live in the first duplex before buying another OO.

Is there a specific amount of time?

Anyone done this befor?

Thanks!

[Kevin Hunter]

@Alissa Engel, 12 months is the typical seasoning period for a owner occupied loan.  You need to plan to live there for at least 12 months.  In this case, because the decision to move to another place is based on your decision and preference, you cannot do it before 12 months.  There are always exceptions of course, so talk to your lender, be completely open and honest and they may work with you.  The key here is don't lie, or stretch the truth.  Just be totally honest and forthright.  Worst case scenario is you need to live in the current place for an additional 6 months and put an extra 10% down on the second property.