Loan recommendations for self employed investors

[Christina Gray]

Hi,

I left my W2 job 12 months ago and am now fully 1099.  I am in the same industry, and my income has risen.  I reached out to a mortgage broker and a large bank who both said I will need 2 years of tax returns to qualify for a home loan.  I know people have been able to get loans with a smaller time frame- can any self employed people share ways they were able to work around this?  I could easily go back to W2 employment but for quality of life reasons I really don't want to- but it is an option if all else fails.

I own my primary residence and have about 250K in equity.  I want to tap into that equity with either a heloc or refi, purchase a small multi family and move into one of the units, and convert my current primary residence into a rental.  

Thanks for any input!