There is no minimum number of years. You sign an occupancy affidavit saying you intend to move in, typically within 60 days, and honest intent at closing is the standard. That 60-day move-in expectation holds across programs: the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac security instrument, FHA, and VA all expect you to occupy within roughly 60 days of closing. None of them set a required number of years before you can convert the home to a rental. Life changes, and we have seen buyers legitimately convert to a rental and buy another owner-occupied home a few months later. That simply calls for a clear explanation of what changed. In practice, no one actively monitors whether an owner-occupied home gets rented early. It usually surfaces only when you apply for another owner-occupied loan soon after, because the new lender sees the existing mortgage and asks how you can occupy two primary residences at once. In decades of doing this we have not seen a borrower penalized for renting early with a legitimate story, though occupancy-verification checks do exist, so the intent at signing has to be real. On the refinance side, keep two clocks straight. A rate-and-term refinance can happen whenever the numbers genuinely improve your position, though many originators face an early-payoff penalty from their investor if the loan pays off within 180 days, so talk to your existing loan officer first. Using a new, higher appraised value for a cash-out generally takes about 12 months of seasoning on conventional and FHA loans, and VA's clock is 210 days. Program rules change, so confirm the current guideline for yours.