Hi,I’m active duty military moving to Yuma, AZ looking to buy a primary residence(3 or 4bd/2ba) that I will convert to a rental property after one year of living in it.

If you are a bit older then for you it might be wiser to leave you equity untouched as you might want to reduce debt obligation as you get older.

Also, for house hacks generally, you cannot write off any % of your mortgage since it's your primary residence. 

I am getting only 1.5% returns without taking into account the equity building portion.Mortgage tax write off is 0 as I currently pay mortgage on my primary residence.I have used this property as my primary home for 2 years in last 5 years.

You should be able to roll in all your closing costs and loan amount so you have no out-of-pocket cost for the refi if you have additional equity you can also take that out up to 75% LTV. good luck! 

Since the loans are not for my primary residence I understand that FHA and VA will not work.

If you have equity, income and good credit, any lender will do this.

For smaller properties such as single-family residences (SFRs) or duplexes-4plxes valued under $1 million, this option may not be financially viable.

I have a non-qualified use question that's very specific:We relocated our family to the Midwest and we rented out our primary residence in Orange County on Feb 1, 2021.

I've been looking at cash-out refi options to put that equity towards purchasing more investment property(ies).