If you need to tap into equity before institutional options are available, i would turn to private money and see if someone is willing to lend you their idol funds or self directed IRA funds. 

Depending on what state, I may know a private lender in that market.

Hello,My name is Chris and I am a member of of private equity group that buys apartments and hotels.

Also, if you'd prefer to talk privately feel free to DM me.Here are a few questions that might help me clarify everything:How much equity do you have in your investment properties?

Just toured the house today and it was in better condition than I expected.

Which is why, it seems my only options are conventional investment loan, seller finance/assumable, 2nd home loan, hard/private money?

If you're using the HELOC for just the down payment portion on the investment property, then you'll likely need to fund the rest with private money or a HML and then re-fi out to conventional once you've renovated and rented.

Have you tried looking in private or incognito mode to see what the public is seeing? 

For the past 15 years, private/hard money rates have averaged somewhere in the 12% to 15% ballpark for 6-to-12-month bridge loans.

Making your investors feel safer, syndications require a government-regulated private placement memorandum (PPM), which spells out how the investment is being set up and the returns and risks involved.On the negative side, real estate syndications are expensive and complicated with quite a learning curve.