Converting House Hacked Primary Residence into Rental

[Will Lee]

Hi Bigger Pockets family!  

Thank you all for any input in advance as I have been soaking up information these past few months. 

I have house hacked my primary home in Orange County, California for the last 5 years.  I recently got married, and we are planning on transitioning to live in my Wife's house.  My property is still considered my primary on paper right now since my marriage is so recent. 

Question:  What is my best strategy to move forward in this situation?  

1. Do I continue to keep my property as a primary residence and just "house hack" it as a rental? 

2.  Is there some transition where my property now becomes considered a fully "rental/investment property" as opposed to a live in primary? 

3. If I transition to out of my primary and convert it to a "rental/investment property", the concern is now if I sell it, I lose out on the tax savings (I think up to 200k  cap gain?)  for selling a primary live in property, as opposed to as a "rental/invst prop" which I only have the option to 1031 in order to save tax. 

Hope my question makes sense.  Not sure if I even have an option as I'm assuming I have to convert my primary residence into an investment since I'm moving in with my wife in her house. 

Thanks again!

Will

[Will Lee]

Hi @Keong Kam Thanks for the feedback!  So technically, I can rent it out for the next 3 years as a "rental" and still be able to reap the benefits  of the capital gains exemption? 

Note: Obviously I understand all advice I get here are from people who are not CPA's so I'll confirm with mine after I figure out what the right direction/questions to ask