Owner occupant need to change to investment urgently.

[Antonio C.]

I recently did a refi on my primary home and on the closing docs it stated that it is going to be owner-occupied for 12 months. It has been a month but the situation changed, my elderly parents need to move in with us and need a bigger home (covid, sickness, financial, other reasons). We found one with a bedroom + full bathroom downstairs and it is perfect for them and for the rest of the family. We want to rent out our current home. 

Has anyone been in this situation before? I'm in underwriting for the new loan and already got asked about it. 

Should I let me refi lender know or is it just worth the risk? 

If I let my lender know, should I expect a letter with a response (might take a long time before I get an actual answer).

In my defense I did call the refi's 800 number and the agent I spoke to only said "as long as you keep paying, you're good" but, this is not making me at ease in case anything (court related) happens in the future.

[David P.]

Im doing this as well. I refi'd my current home that was investment to primary residence and this was completed about 2 months ago. Im currently in escrow for another property that I will be moving my parents into and I am purchasing it as owner occupied. The trick is to not use the same lender you refi'd with. The lender i been using for years told me they don't want to risk getting audited so didnt want to do the new purchase but i had two other lenders (one is loan depot and another broker) that told me what im doing is fine since i have a legitimate story. I told them I am my parents primary caregivers and i need to move them closer to me. Basically i will be spending a good amount of time 50% or more on this new purchase. They did not see a problem with going through as owner occupied. I haven't completed yet but the worst case scenario is you will just need to purchase the new property as investment and pay (.5-1% rate higher) plus more downpayment.