Buying a HUD Home in Pittsburgh, PA - Allegheny County

[TJ Angelo]

This is primarily a question about how the HUD laws work in Pittsburgh PA, specifically Allegheny County (not sure if the rules are different by location or if they are the same across the state or country...).

Anyway, I found a HUD home that I would love to purchase in the same borough as current primary residence. From the looks of it, it's a B- property (assuming no major issues with the foundation, or otherwise) in an A neighborhood for the the cost of a D or less. The house certainly is going to need some repairs to make inhabitable from what I can see.

Hypothetically, let's say I wanted to do the work on the house myself and let's say this house takes me over a year to repair to a state that I feel is livable. Would I be able to put an offer in on the HUD house, and if accepted, be able to switch my current house to my secondary residence and the HUD house to my primary residence, but continue to live mostly in my current residence until all the repairs and renovations are complete on the HUD house?

If that is a possibility, then hypothetically, let's say after a year of work and the HUD house is finished, what if I decide I then don't want to live there anymore and I decide to either rent it out or sell it instead? Would I be able to switch my current house back (or another house if I don't decide not to stay in either place) to my primary residence after a year and switch the HUD house to an investment property as a rental or just sell it?

According to applicable laws, would this situation be legal?  Would I be breaking any rules here?

If nobody else is inhabiting the place during the first year except me doing the repairs, is it in alignment with the rules if I complete whatever paperwork is necessary to make the HUD house my primary residence on paper (although I won't be officially living there because the repairs aren't done)?

Last question - If this is all technically legal and possible, what other complication could I run into if I were to decide to move forward with such a plan?  

[Jeremy Taggart]

@TJ Angelo I'm assuming you are buying in the owner occupant period and need to be an owner occupant to bid on it since you are asking about it but you could just switch your mailing address to that property and live in your current place since it's close you would still be able to get the mail. I think the main thing they look at is the mailing address on tax returns and bills and such and of course you couldn't rent it out or sell it before the year is up. Even if that technically wouldn't be allowed I highly doubt you would get into trouble if it's empty while you are repairing it and it is your mailing address. After the year is up you can do whatever you want with it. As far as I know HUD operates the same in every state but I could be wrong. Could possibly get away with AirBnB if you finish repairs before the year is up and wanted to rent it out but then you are just risking them calling the loan due if the lender were to find out because they prohibit you using the home as a "hotel" in the loan details. Once again, slim chances of that actually happening but it's still a possibility. I think they just don't want people buying and either selling or renting with no intentions of making it their primary residence from the getgo.