Selling a primary residence? vs holding as a rental

[Bruce Ng]

So for background, I have been house hacking in North LA county for a few years now. Since then, I've come across Biggerpockets and last year I started seriously looking for a second property. This month I got a larger property under contract that will be my new house hack, and I'm trying to plan out what I'm going to do long term with the previous house. The rental market is very strong and I have an 2.25% VA loan. One of the current tenants just signed a lease to take over the whole house after I move out. It will be cashflowing $1k/mo. The other is going to move into the new house with me and I have one other already lined up whenever I finish rehab on the property. The 4th bedroom I'll be prepping for a travel nurse as it is across the street from a trauma 2 hospital.

Because I have lived in this property for at least 2 of the last 5 years, my current plan is to sell it in 2 years and then pick up some new properties with the cash. 

Without doing a 1031 down the road, is there any way I can get away with not sacrificing the $250k tax exclusion benefit without giving up that interest rate? 

I am definitely trying to do everything by the book. I also have an LLC if that helps.

Thanks for the input. If any of you tax folks know the answer to this, I'm also going to be looking for help with taxes and tax planning soon.  =]