As part of a VA loan application, the Arizona congressmen pledged the D.C. home was his ‘principal’ residence.
Ruben Gallego, aiming to take out Sen. Kyrsten Sinema in a hotly contested race next year may have to explain why he declared he was primarily a resident of the nation’s capital. | Francis Chung/POLITICOWhen Arizona Senate candidate Ruben Gallego bought a house near Capitol Hill last year, he claimed the Washington property as his primary residence as part of a special mortgage rate afforded to military veterans.
Gallego signed terms for a Veterans Affairs-backed loan in which he agreed to “occupy, establish, and use the Property as [the] Borrower’s principal residence within 60 days,” according to theThe program is designed to provide veterans with favorable loan rates on houses used as primary residences. According to the terms, Gallego was given a $940,000, VA-guaranteed loan in a mortgage market where interest rates have surged.
“Ruben’s primary residence is in Arizona,” Hannah Goss, a spokesperson for Gallego, said in a statement. “The VA loan is a benefit that Ruben earned by serving his country as a Marine combat veteran, and he’s well within his right to use it as a residence when he’s doing his job in D.C. It comes with being both a veteran and a congressman who needs to live and work in two places.
The Gallego campaign said the lender for the VA loan knew that Gallego was a congressman and approved the arrangement knowing how he would be occupying the house.. In an occupancy section, veterans are instructed to discuss “unusual circumstances of occupancy with the appropriate VA office or submit a description of the circumstances to the VA office for prior approval.
Gregg Busch, a loan officer at First Savings Mortgage who worked with Gallego on the loan, told POLITICO that he was aware of Gallego’s residency issue and that VA guidelines allow them to approve loans like this. He added that all mortgage servicers, upon buying a loan, put it through quality control.whose wife declared primary residenceGallego initially took out a VA-backed mortgage of more than $500,000 for a house in Phoenix in April 2020 with his then-fiancée Sydney.
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