Refinancing out of FHA and being misinformed about FHA loan

[Raymond Owens]

Hello all, 

Sooo I began my journey to becoming a real estate investor almost 2 years ago when I bought my first 2 unit property using the FHA (first time home buyers, 3.5%) Which is owner occupied. Fast forward to present time, I'm looking for something bigger. Potential a 3-4 unit or 6 flat and I'm speaking with lenders, each time they're saying they can't help me because I have a owner occupied loan and that the only way they can help is if I refinance out of the FHA loan into a conventional loan, so pretty much I have to pay 20% of what I paid for my 2 unit or have 20% of equity. Which would be around 47-50K. My biggest question is I feel that I am at a standstill in this investment process because no lender is willing to help because I am currently in the FHA loan. Are there any ways around this??? Thanks