Legal Way to HELOC While Renting Out?

[Darren Elliott]

I bought my first and only property in April 2018 as a primary residence. Five months later, I accepted a job much farther away and have been living with my parents while renovating the property with plans to rent it out soon (within 2 months or less).

Meanwhile, my business partner and I are teaming up to find a property to BRRRR or Fix-and-Flip, but don't have much starting capital. I have about $39K in equity built up so far and I am thinking about opening a HELOC on my house to partially finance our next project. However, my understanding is that in order to HELOC I would need to keep my property listed as a primary residence (and therefore, unrented) for ~1 year after re-financing.

A loan officer stated that I could alternatively opt for a cash-out refinance, but that would take 30-45 days to execute and would mean I'm making loan payments before finding a deal.

Is there a legal way to open a HELOC that still allows me to rent my primary residence?

Is there another way that accesses my home's equity that I'm not thinking of?