Hello,
My wife and I purchased a house in 2009 and took the 1st time homebuyer credit in August. We're moving to a new city and will close on a house there in late May. We plan to keep the first house and convert it to a rental property AFTER 36 months have expired. My question is: will purchasing the new home give us any headaches? Can we still turn on the utilities in our new home, have a substantial amount of our property moved there, etc., as long as we keep our utilities and basic information (i.e. criteria for "Main Home" in the IRS literature) in the current location?

Will we have any trouble if our closing documents on the new house state that it will be the primary residence?

For what it's worth, we're not trying to cheat the system. I just want to be sure about the definition of "primary home". My wife and I will be abroad most of the summer and are thinking of moving before we leave, and are also thinking of asking my sister-in-law to house-sit for us in the new place.

Thanks for any information!