Delayed Financing Issue

[Jonathan Welch]

I purchased a home in October with a hard money loan and am nearly finished renovations.  I plan to live in the house.  The value of the house has gone up SIGNIFICANTLY due partially to cash invested, and primarily due to sweat equity.  I am being told by my mortgage broker that the only valuation that would be looked at is the original purchase price of the house because I haven't owned it for more than a year. 

Is this a "find a different lender" type of issue, or are there laws about this? I basically want to make sure I can access my equity. I'd like to take as much as I can without paying a penalty in the form of PMI or much higher interest rate.

Are equity lines different?  Can I take a regular mortgage and get a new equity line immediately after for 85% of the NEW value?  Just trying to understand options here and while I'm not new to home renovations, the creative financing party is new to me.