How can I use the Slingbox away from my home?

Which type of loan should we use to get a mortgage for a home we are planning on living in?

• My husband is Active Duty military and we used a VA loan to buy our first home which we are now in the process of selling in North Carolina. We have moved overseas and live in military base housing. My husband has 4 years left in the military and we have always planned to move to Florida when he retires from the military since our families live there. The home prices in Florida right now are so low we want to take advantage of them and buy our post-military home now. From what I can tell the only home loans in Florida are primary residence and vacation homes (you can't get a mortgage for a rental property). Since we will not own a primary residence when we purchase this home and we do plan on this being a primary residence can we use a primary residence loan? The vacation loans require such a huge down payment and we cannot use a VA loan for a vacation home loan (which requires no down payment or PMI). We would like to have little to no down payment as we would have no trouble making the payments on the home since we live in military housing and the homes are soooo cheap! I don't want to empty my savings account to buy the home but I don't want to let these home prices slip us by when we are planning on living there in just a few years. What are our options for loans?

• Answer:

  -> "you can't get a mortgage for a rental property." I don't know where you got this idea. We have a vacation home that is also a rental in TX on a plain conventional loan in TX. These loans are government insured, so they do not vary state to state, another idea you seem to have which is inaccurate. True, VA does not lend on investment property. You say, "we always planned to move to FL when he retires," but you don't say WHERE you are living in military housing now. You ask: "Can we use a primary residence loan?" without moving in at closing, no. I have an idea. Why don't you go FHA and use the parental gift toward your expenses, offering the house to your parents for vacations in exchange? That way, you aren't defrauding and you don't have to deplete all your savings. I don't know what the limit is anymore, but you can check it at fha.gov.