Buying a Vacation Rental to Live in Part Time

[Jeffrey Lee]

Long story, but I'll try to simplify: My wife got a one year contract job at a university about an hour away from our primary residence. It happens to be near a tourist destination (Oregon wine country). Originally, I was thinking we'd buy a rental property to live in for the year (which would get us the owner-occupied benefits), then rent it out to long term renters and move back to our current house. 

Another thought occurred to me though: What if we bought a vacation rental type home and rented it out on the weekends and only lived there during the week for the year (actually only 9 months) that she'll be employed out there, then turn it into a full time vacation rental when we're done (I don't think there's as strong of a long term rental market in the area). I know there are potential pitfalls and lots to figure out about this plan, but I'm specifically curious about how this type of arrangement would affect the owner-occupied mortgage situation. I'm wondering if there is a maximum number of days you're allowed to rent, or minimum number of days you have to live there to qualify for the benefits. Or if we rent it at all during the first year, is it a no-go? 

Anyone have experience with this? I suppose I could ask the mortgage broker, but I don't want to give away too much info before I have to...

[Chai Xiong]

First ask the County to see if there's any restrictions, then if there's a HOA ask if they also have restrictions.