Renting out my primary residence

[Nick Causa]

Ok my wife and I are getting started and are going to take a page out of Set For Life and take a chunk out of our biggest expense (living and commute). Ive been an avid saver and notice the amount we could both put away by eliminating the commute all together is immense. Long story short we've decided to rent out our house and rent an apartment very close to work. Like, I can walk. This way we'll save $ on the mortgage and commute all at once. Our commute is 1hr+ drive one way for each of us. Ill have to double check with our lender but we'll be coming up on living here for 2 years so we should be ok renting it out. Anyone ever heard of that primary residence requirement being longer than 2 years? Since this will be our first renting go around and we absolutely LOVE our house (legit dream house) does anyone have any advice on screening tenants or advice in general for first timers to renting out? Also does anyone see any flaws in this plan to start out? This is a HUGE leap of faith for us and we're both a bit worried. Thanks for any help you can provide!