The rule I was told from the planning folks is at least 0.25 miles from existing STR and at least 250ft from nearest residence.

If you refinance it as your primary residence, then yes, you will be signing a new Mortgage at closing that says you intend to occupy for 12 months, essentially resetting your clock to another 12 months.But here's the huge kicker.

My primary residence is central PA but split time between New Hampshire, Central PA, Central Jersey, and NW PA.

Without going into too much detail, we had a mid-rise apartment building in our downtown collapse a little over a year ago which very sadly killed 3 of our residents.

From my employer, I have legal insurance through ARAG that covers 100% of attorney fees when buying a primary residence, filing fees are extra.

@Ian Stuart, Does equity in a primary residence count toward net worth?

I will be renting out my current primary residence and moving to the house I will be buying.

My question is would it make sense to save for down payment for another primary residence and rent this home out with negative cash flow to get into the REI game.

FHA will allow up 96.5% financing on a 1-4 unit property for a primary residence purchase. 

As a resident of the Gulf Coast of Florida (Bradenton) we just witnessed the strength of Mother Nature with the most recent passing of Hurricane Helene in the Gulf.