How easy is it to refinance FHA to conventional?

[Ethan McRae]

My business partner and I are interested in househacking a duplex together. As of now, it appears with all the uncertainty and chaos that corona has brought, banks are a bit hesitant about lending doing 5% down conventional loans, which was our original plan.

That being said, FHA very well might be our best bet. However, we really want to avoid the cash flow killing mortgage insurance asap, and so we are thinking about building 20% equity as quickly as possible so we can refinance to a conventional loan.

My only concern with this strategy is that when it comes time to refinance, it might be difficult to do so. I would like to know how easy it is to refinance from FHA to conventional. I know that in some instances, its really not that easy at all but for our situation, would the process be straightforward?