How can I buy a leased/rented home with a conventional loan?

[Ian Schutt]

Hello,

Long-time listener, first time caller here. I tried searching the interwebs, and unfortunately I wasn't able to find an answer to my question - if there's a post on this already, please please point me to it!

My wife and I are looking to buy our first home in NC. The market here in our city is a bit crazy, so we're looking at less-than-traditional means of acquiring said home. I have seen and heard (on the BP podcast) some truly creative and inspiring ways people have purchased homes, so please understand that this is by no means any sort of crazy or unique situation.

Anyways, we are looking at a home downtown that's currently listed well below market and has been on the market for a few months now. Great condition, price, location, etc. The only caveat is the home is leased until the middle of next year. The only issue it presents us with is the need for a 20-25% down payment for the home. We want to save our cash reserves for future investments and were looking to purchase our primary residence with a conventional loan with a 3.5% DP.

So my questions:

1. Am I straight up ruled out of any sort of conventional loan on this property because it would be a rental when I purchased it (assuming I don't wait 9 months)?
2. Is it realistic to refinance from an "investment loan" (can someone please tell me the proper name for a non-conventional loan for a rental/investment property?) to a conventional loan when we move in down the road?
3. Does anything pop into anyone's mind about ways they've worked with the seller to enter a contractual agreement to sell the home later? Significant earnest money, etc?

Please let me apologize if this post is too long, misguided, uninformed, etc. I really do love the BP service and I want to be a part of its community.

Thank you all in advance!

Ian S.