Not living in owner-occupied financed home

[Brenna Sullivan]

Hello! I could use some advice please :)

 I am buying my first investment property, it will be my first second mortgage as well. The home will be designated solely as a residence for my mother and minor sisters for at least the first three years. My uncle is giving me a large sum of money as a 20% down payment in order to do this, to help both myself and my mom and sisters. The home is about 10 miles from my current home, and is in the school district that my sister needs to be in, while my current home is not. 

At first, I intended to buy the home as owner occupied, move out of my current home for a year and into that one, then move back in a year's time (once the owner occupied time had passed). But then I realized it would be a heck of a lot easier to just get investment financing (only 0.5% difference), stay in my current home, and go ahead and move my mom into the investment home. However, I just found out today that investment property cannot be bought with gifted funds (the money from my Uncle). The money has to be in my account for 30 days, which means I would need to push our closing date by three weeks and I don't think the seller will be willing to do that.     

My dad (who doesn't live with my mom), thinks I am crazy for thinking about moving 10 miles away for a year, trying to rent out my current home, possibly being stuck with both mortgages if my home doesn't rent quickly, and then moving back in a year. He thinks we should change our address, insurance, property taxes, etc., to reflect that we moved and rented my current residence to my mom, let her legally "move" to this address, and keep living arrangements the same. He swears there is no way the bank is going to care or know as long as payments are on time. 

I never wanted to do that, but I can't lie that it does sound rather appealing. Moving a whole household twice in one year, just swapping houses back and forth seems ridiculous. Could that really be that simple? Or would I be risking unleashing financial hell on myself?

 

[Bryan O.]

Ahh, you're right. I had too little coffee.

Is there a way to put the home in your name and your mother's? Then it is owner-occupied. Not sure how that works if you aren't planning to live there but she is. @Upen Patel, what is your thought on that?