New Member- Refinance Strategy Question

[Obadiah Roszman]

Hi, I am a new member, and this is my first post. I have a question (or a few) that I'm sure has been talked about already but for the sake of staying up to date with the latest info, I'll ask anyway to see if we can get a good conversation going. 

First here's my situation; I've been a contractor/business owner for the past 13 years. I specialize in exterior renovations, mostly roofing, siding, windows etc. I have done a live-in slow-mo flip on my first residence and built quite a bit of equity. I sold that place, moved up and opened up a decent sized HELOC. That, coupled with my existing Business line-of-credit and cash on hand, I can pretty much buy houses to rehab and Flip at will, (up to a certain point). However, my long term goal is to acquire more passive income, namely, SFR and Duplexes, eventually with the end goal of owning complexes (and then passing Go and collecting $200). Currently, I am in the flipping phase of that plan.

My plan moving forward though is to make cash offers on the SFR and MFP to buy and hold. I have found so far that owners are much more willing to negotiate a better price if you offer cash and a quick close. So I gauge that I can acquire tenanted properties at 75-80% of market value if I purchase in this manner.

After talking to my bank, whom I have a great relationship with, I come to find out that if I buy a property to hold, and pay cash for it (using my cash on hand and equity lines), I have to wait 6 months to a year to be able to pull out any equity or Re-fi. To make matters worse they are only going to loan up to 75% on the purchase price of the property, not the Appraised Value!!! So if I negotiate a good purchase price, it does me absolutely no good in the eyes of the bank.  So, Here's my question in the midst of all of that gobbley-gook; 

Is my plan flawed or do I need to look elsewhere for a Refi/Equity pull? Are there lenders out there that will loan with low/no Season period or am I at the will of the institution here??

I look forward to any replies/links in the right direction. Thanks for reading!