Live-in Flip: Using private/hard money for renovations?

[Deaven Reed]

Hello all, long time lurker but first time poster!

Looking into getting into my first RE deal, I originally planned to house-hack a duplex but have been looking at the possibility of doing a live-in flip - since distressed SFH are more available than well-priced multi-units. The plan would be to live in the house while doing renovations, living there for a year and then renting out the house - or possibly selling.

My question is, has anyone done this with using private/hard money for the purchase price + renovations then refinancing out of that into a traditional mortgage? Since the property will likely not qualify for traditional financing and I do not have funds readily available for a medium-effort renovation, I figure I can use the traditional BRRR style method most flippers use.

Is there any difference doing this while living in the property? When it comes to refinancing with a traditional mortgage, since I would live there for a year - is it preferable to refinance with just 3.5-5% down or would I want to take out the mortgage with 80% LTV? Does it make sense to just put 5% down and take money out of the deal, or does what I leave into it depend on the numbers to make the rental cash flow.

Appreciate you thoughts and insights!