250k in cash but trouble finding lenders

[Ana Gomez]

Hello! My parents currently have 250k in cash and they would like to buy a SFH putting 50% down. They own a town house with a mortgage which they do not want to sell because it would rent for about 2k and the expenses are about 1.7k, so it would cashflow 300 or so.

They're having difficulties with conventional lenders (I have tried both banks and credit unions) because they don't take into account how much their current house would rent for without a lease and a tenant, and with their current income they can support one mortgage, but not two. I tried contacting private lenders listed in the Loans page. LendingOne only works with investors who have at least two properties. Aloha Capital and Civic have not replied. Maybe at this point a hard money lender makes sense? Or pay cash then do a cash-out refinance?

Thank you for your help! I'm new to real estate and everything is so overwhelming.