Me and my partner moved from Utah to Maryland for school recently and we have a townhouse that we are looking to rent. we are currently remodeling and changing a few things before renting. what are the first steps to change my primary to a rental I lived there for about two years.

House hacking is an incredible way to live affordably while building wealth through real estate.

Lenders will want a letter from your employer that states you are allowed to work remote from where you currently live and that this move will not affect your income. 

Are you saying you want to STR rooms in the unit you are living in?

Selling may trigger capital gains tax, but if you lived there for two of the last five years, you may qualify for a Section 121 exclusion.

This is where you live in one side.

Trying to get a split level (not a lot of sqft) on the market in the next three weeks and trying to decide on whether to open the wall between the dining and living room for a feel of openness or leave it as I have heard from two interior designers that the open concept is on the way out as we are more at home and liking our separate areas in the home.Pragmatically speaking the opening of the wall will be mostly a time drain with it being a load bearing wall and having to support the ceiling while rebuilding and all the drywalling necessary.

I have improved fair rental value and value by increasing the kitchen size; adding an island tearing down walls between the kitchen and dining area and living area, etc.It all depends on the particular property. 

(I actually didn't get my laptop/phone hooked up to it, because I live here.

They EASILY paid $30k extra to get seller financing with $150k down.