Trying to Finance a Pre-Foreclosure into a Rental Property

[Scott Warhol]

Ok, long story short. A seller lead came to us (business partner and I) 2 days before their house was to go on Sheriff's Sale. We negotiated with them that we would pay the arrears and then purchase the house from them for $150,000. The current market value of the property is $230,000-$250,000. I would like to finance it and use it as a rental property. Aside from a hard money loan to purchase and then a conventional refinance... is there any way to approach a lender with this? I know you can't do a gift of equity for an investment property according to the couple lenders I've talked to already. We are also working on getting HELOC's in place to fund this deal and then do a conventional refinance. I just didn't know if anyone on here had done something similar or had any advice to share. It's backward from how I would have normally done it with more time on my side. This was all dropped in my lap so quickly I sort of slapped it all together more to save the house and seller's from getting kicked to the curb. Thanks!