I learned so much along the way, including navigating the legal process needed to remove previous owners (squatters) who did not want to leave.

I had the opportunity to talk with the owner and he's a great guy, he did his best to make sure I was well taken care of. 

The other way to satisfy is to get the property owner to refinance but that is not always in your control. 

Because the property tax as a non-owner occupied property is about 3-4 times the amount of a owner occupied property.  

@Bryce MillerWelcome, and congratulations on making the decision to leverage the owner occupied loan to get started in real estate investing.

With the exception of building a trailer on the property (these are hard to finance), this sounds like a good plan AND if you are using it for your business AND your business pays more than 50% of the rent (if you have more than 1 tenant), then this is a more financeable property in the eyes of banks and credit unions as it would be consider a commercial "owner-occupied" property. 

We're still waiting for the owners bank to let us know if they'll actually help us or not.

I have a property that I could sell for somewhere around 400 K with owner financing.

Much bigger buyer pool and particularily is in a single family neighborhood with mostly owner occupants, appeals to owners. 

Just like the asking price, just because the owner suggests one interest rate or term doesn't mean you can't offer something different.