Creative financing for my 2nd deal in a competitive market

[Brandon Gale]

I bought my 1st property (3 family rental) a little over a year ago with a 5% down owner occupied loan. I just finished a cash-out refi and want to use the money to buy my next rental property. My plan is to do another owner occupy loan, but my lender thinks it's risky to use the conventional option in my state (Mass Housing) since I just finished a refi and the underwriter may not like that its probably obvious im using the loan for investing. So that leaves with with only FHA for the low down-payment owner occupy.

I am in a very hot market (Worcester, MA) where the multifamilies are almost all over 100 years old, so getting an FHA loan accepted and then having it pass the strict rules has been practically impossible.

This is why I am now trying to explore other potential creative financing options. I don't have enough cash to buy a property for 20% down and do the necessary rehabs.

Any ideas, thoughts or suggestions are much appreciated!