Interest Deduction - First Home But Not Living In It

[Nicholas Sheridan, Jr.]

Hey BP community,

I am in a scenario as a first time home buyer in which I am going to purchase a fourplex in NJ most likely with conventional financing (I have been pre qualified). I was originally planning on house hacking and living in one unit and renting out the rest but I had a late night thought the other day. I am able to live with a family member that is close to the fourplex for an extended period of time and increase my cashflow on the fourplex. If I do this how does it affect my ability to deduct mortgage interest at the end of the year?

From my google searching I have came up with the following:

• If you have a second home and rent it out part of the year, you also must use it as a home during the year for it to be a qualified home. You must use this second home more than 14 days or more than 10% of the number of days during the year that the home is rented at a fair rental, whichever is longer. If you do not use the home long enough, it is considered rental property and not a second home.
• I would need to live in the house for 10% of 365 of 37 days

Most of what I could find only pertains to having a second home. Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks !