VA loan refi and convert to rental question

[Zenus Wilson]

Hello! First time posting in quite a while and wanted to get some advice on how to approach this scenario.

We've been living in our current home (condo) for 3 years which we purchased with a VA loan. We have done a VA refinance to a lower interest rate twice, most recently July 2020. I am planning to relocate (from CA to Texas) for a new job in July 2021. Because of the location/rental market (and to leave open for parents to retire at residence in 4-5 yrs) we had planned to start this condo as our first rental property. We've saved up and were planning to pay down the loan and refinance it, likely into a primary residence conventional loan in December-January 2020 (6 months after VA loan refi) and then start renting it out in July 2021 when we move so that we could free up our VA loan benefit for a new primary residence at our new location. Is this legal? I've seen most websites say you need to have lived there for 12 months or its fraud but also seen exceptions for job relocation.

We haven’t ruled out just cashing out and selling the condo with the small appreciation bump. Which is our alternative. Any advice appreciated. Thanks!

[Zenus Wilson]

@David Pere

Thanks for the reply! Definitely would appreciate more insight! I’m in San Diego now so not far from you. We’re moving to Houston and plan to come back to SoCal most likely in 4-5 years.

I've heard some people getting VA loan reinstated due to job relocation as you mentioned but there's not a lot of good resources online I can find!