Financing for multi-family investments

[David Ocampo]

Newbie question, so please forgive my ignorance.

I'm interested investing in multi-family (2 to 4 units) residential properties and, during the pre-approval process, the lender stated that I would need to put 25% down if using a conventional loan. It would be purely an investment property and not owner-occupied.

Is this down payment requirement the norm when dealing with multi-family residential properties? Does anyone know of any lenders in the Chicagoland area that would work with less, say 15-20% down? Aside from own-occupied, is there a different angle I can take?