The one residential is moving out, so I could go with an owner-occupied FHA or conventional loan.  

Conventional loans require higher down payments and PMI.

talk to a conventional bank not a hard money lender.

Use a consistent naming convention - ex. 2024.03.25 Home Depot3.

Getting a 5% conventional loan and then doing a cash out refi to reinvest that back into another house hack is probably one of the best ways to go about it.

I think she is talking about the NONQM side of lending not conventional. 

I would use the HELOC for a down payment on the prospective investment property and then try to secure a conventional loan(right??).

With trying to refinance with conventional seems to be difficult to do with 6months title seasoning if the LTV can only be 50% because of the continuity of obligation you mentioned.

Given that I've been able to find brokers willing to give me a HELOC off my primary residence with a fixed rate are there any drawbacks of using a HELOC instead of a conventional loan vs a home equity loan? 

Should I save for a conventional loan, get a HELOC, or do a cash-out refinance with my first property?