Lenders telling me NO to a owner-occupied loan on triplex - Advice?

[Ross Markey]

I'm in the market for my next house-hack. I found a great triplex that is within my budget, but every lender I've talked to says they won't do a 3-5% down owner-occupied loan on a 3-unit property. My intention was to use a 5% down conventional owner-occupied loan, which apparently doesn't work for anything other than single-family. Then I was considering FHA with 3.5% down, where they indicated they would lend on the small multifamily, however because I'm applying for the mortgage together with my business partner (who will not occupy the property) I've now been told that FHA is also not an option.

Does anyone have any advice on this? I always heard on the podcast and read in the books that you could use these low downpayment loan products for owner-occupied house-hacks on small multifamily with up to four units. But now it seems like it won't work. Is this a new change with Fannie/Freddie, is it just not possible when applying with a non-owner-occupant, or is there something else I'm missing? 

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!