Financing second house hack

[Bryce Renicker]

Hi BP community, looking for some thoughts on how others have moved on to their second property after using an FHA loan on their first house hack.

I purchased my first property a 2 flat as a house hack in December (2021) using a FHA 3.5% down loan. I am looking to repeat the process ASAP in to a second 4 unit property, but am getting stuck with how to finance it. 

I could refinance my current property into a traditional mortgage so I can re-use the FHA loan on my next property, but Im not sure how that would work if I dont have a lot of equity in the property, and with mortgage rates going up I dont think I would be able to cash flow on the property after re-financing at a higher rate. 

I am saving as much money as possible to use the option of the traditional 15-20% down on my next property but with average 4 unit property prices well above 4-500K in my area, this could take many years to save up a down payment of this size. It is my understanding that conventional loans require at least 15% down on multi-units even while owner occupied. 

Any thoughts or advice or possibly alternate loan products would be greatly appreciated!