Can I rent out my primary residence?

[Emily Shirk]

Hi,

My husband and I are currently renting a SFR in San Jose because of his new job but we are looking to buy our first home in Southern Orange County (where we were prior to this job and where we plan to return in the next year or two). We want to buy now because he is a W2 and once we move back to OC he will be a 1099 again. Our challenge is that we want to use a VA loan for the home (lender has approved it based on the agreement that we rent up here but I live down there enough to claim it as our primary residence). It seems like a poor financial move to buy a home and just let it sit empty so I want to either rent it out or airbnb it while we are away to cover the mortgage. The trouble is once we do that we need to claim the rental income on our taxes and the property is filed as a rental property. We fully intend on this property being our primary home for the next several years but just can't move into it straight away. What do you think? Is it flat out a bad idea (keep in mind that once this job ends we are 1099 again and won't be able to a loan for several more years, hence the urgency) or is the risk minimal that the lender would become aware of our filing status of rental property?

Added thought: I just did some research and learned what mortgage fraud was.  I do NOT want to get caught up in that kind of trouble and our intention is not to defraud anyone.  We fully intend to live in this property as our primary residence for years to come, we just want to cover part of the mortgage while we aren't there.  If fully renting the home or renting the whole house out on airbnb falls into the realm of "mortgage fraud" can we just rent our spare rooms out?  I know people who do that with their primary residences so maybe that would be an option?

Thanks for your advice!