First Time Invester- Hard money and Duplexes

[Sedgrid Lewis]

This is my first time investing so I am a total newbie. I have been presented an opportunity from a landlord that is older and way behind on his property taxes. He has listed his three duplexes on mls for 170K. Since I'm new to investment, conventional loans have become a problem because local lenders only want to place a mortgage on one property at a time.

Is it best to take out a hard money loan on just one duplex and try to refinance within 12 months or to secure all three with hard money? My strategy is to buy and hold instead of flipping.