I occupy one as my primary residence and the other is a rental, this is my only property.

I think I am in a position where I'm ready to look for a primary residence and planned to use it to house hack to start my way into real estate investing.

My goal is to then hopefully buy a new primary at some point afterwards in 2022.

The IRS allows workers to relocate for up to 2-3 years (check with tax professional) and still maintain a permanent residence at another address.A way to avoid that may be to turn your primary unit into a STR 1 or 2 weeks/month. 

@Nathan G. that would be my concern - that he may be using it for some potential illegal activity.And as far as I know, his wife and him still have the primary residence residence in Chicago.

If they are investment properties and not a primary residence then you have two options for an exchange, a typical 1031 exchange that requires you to identify 3 potential up-legs within 45 days of closing escrow and close on one of those within 180 days of closing on the relinquished property. 

If we put solar on our current primary home, will it help with value?

Overall, the goal is to purchase a primary residence and rent to tenant's while still living in the property, hence, the objective of potentially living for free.

Can we do a cash out refinance to purchase the next property, to live in, if the duplex is currently our primary residence? 

cash out refi from primary residence How did you add value to the deal?