While my credit score is not the greatest its slowly growing by the week!!

It's hard to stand out.There are some owner-occupied segments with people who share motivating factors for selling their home.Seniors with Long-time Ownership: often ready to downsize or transition to assistance.Homeowners with Low Financial Stability Scores (FSS): Struggling financially and likely ready to cash in on their asset.Both these categories have additional advantages in that they probably don’t haven’t been updated and may have deferred maintenance.

My credit score is 696, but is only 1.5 years long.

I knew this option would crush my credit score but didn't expect such a huge drop.

I have about 3 credit lines in good standing but still need a higher score.

Also, when I get rent estimates from rental websites, I always use a lesser rent estimate than what is provided.

Jeremy Karja If someone is going to pay full market value for your house, there is a good chance they will want to be an owner-occupant.Someone looking for a rental property is going to make a different offer (probably lower) as they will need to consider repairs, capex and all other things impacting their net cashflow on the investment.Some lenders will allow you to go up to 85% LTV on a primary residence HELOC, depending on your FICO score, DTI, other investment holdings, etc.If reducing your commute time is priority, than you wouldn’t need to be concerned with drafting up a lease agreement with the buyer anyway.

My wife is a W2 wage earner and I am 1.5 years self employed (yeah I know) though our adjusted gross income is decent, credit score is good, DTI is good I'm still concerned I'm missing something.

But one of them has a low credit score of 520.

I would encourage you to save as much as you can and build a good credit score.